Billy Dee Williams is an American actor, writer, and musician who became popular through movies like Batman, which happens to be one of his earliest works and the Star Wars movies. This highly versatile talent has appeared in well over a hundred films and television shows to date.
Billy Dee Williams Biography and Age
William December Williams Jr. was born on April 6, 1937, in New York City, New York, and grew up with his twin sister with parents, Loretta Anne and William December Williams Sr. The bigger responsibility for the upbringing of the actor, however, had his grandmother on his mother’s side because his parents had to work very hard to provide for the family.
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For his education, Williams attended the High School of Music & Art (now the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art).
Like many other actors, Billy Dee Williams started to play on stage before he finally switched to the big screen. The Last Angry Man was his first movie, followed by his first television appearance in Look Up and Live. While both took place in 1959, in the 1960s he appeared primarily on television shows, including The Defenders and The New People.
The 70s and 80s were very busy years for him, during which he took part in many productions, including the popular Batman movie in 1989. There were also works like Dynasty and the television series Mission Impossible. His great achievements continued through the 90s and into the 2000s. His most recent works are The Lego Batman Movie, Lego Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures, and Dirty Dancing, all in 2017.
His acting career to date has been crowned with many films and awards, including the African American Film Critics Association (AAFCA) Award, Image Awards, Indie Series Awards, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In addition to his work as an actor, he is also active as a musician and writer. His solo LP Lets Misbehave was released in 1961 and was quite successful, while his books PSI/Net and JUST/In Time were published in 1999 and 2001 respectively.
Williams has also been portrayed in several films for which he was the narrator, including Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, and Let It Die.
Net Worth
The legendary actor has been around for a very long time and has played roles in very successful and interesting movies like the Star Wars franchise. In essence, it can be said that Billy Dee Williams has fully paid for his contribution to Hollywood with the currency of hard work and talent. As a result, he has an estimated net worth of over $9 million.
Spouse
In his heyday, Williams was a very handsome man, of whom one can easily assume that he would interest many women. However, he met a number of the aforementioned interested women and married more than twice in the past.
The first woman who became his wife was Audrey Sellers, whom he married in 1959 when he was in his early twenties. By 1963 the marriage had reached its elastic limit and the two went their separate ways.
Next, the actor got married to Marlene Clark in 1968. Clark was an actress and model who was known for movies like Ganja & Hess and Night of the Cobra Woman as well as the sitcom Sanford & Son. The marriage between the two lasted only three years before it broke up.
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Billy Dee soon recovered, and in 1972 he made a third marriage with Teruko Nakagami, and somehow the two managed to stay together. Still, it wasn’t always rosy for them, because in 1993 their marriage seemed to have fallen apart, and they even went separate ways, only to come back four years later. Just like the actor, Teruko Nakagami was married to the American jazz saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter before she met her husband. Her marriage with the musician lasted only from 1961 to 1964.
With one child from their marriage, both have one child each from their previous marriages. Billy Dee’s first child Corey Williams was born to him in 1960 by his first wife Audrey Sellers. His next child, Hanako Williams, was born by Teruko in 1973, while Teruko had a daughter, Miyako Shorter, from her previous marriage.
Is Billy Dee Williams Dead or Alive?
Since many people wondered whether the legendary actor is dead or still alive, we did some research and found out that he is still alive, though not as difficult as he was used to because of his advanced age.