Bill Duke
Bill Duke ( born February 26, 1943 in Poughkeepsie, New York) is an American actor and director.
Life
Duke studied at Boston University Acting. Then he graduated from the Tisch School of the Arts and the AFI Conservatory. Getting started in the film business made Duke in the early 1970s, having appeared in several television series. At the same time he turned as a director episodes of TV series. His first notable film role was Bill Duke, 1976 in Car Wash - The freaky launderette. Four years later, he was seen on the side of Richard Gere in An American Gigolo. In the following 10 years Duke was mainly seen in action movies like Phantom command and Predator with Arnold Schwarzenegger. In 1990, he starred in A Bird on a Wire the opponent of Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn.
In 1991, Bill Duke tried again as a director. After 1985 he was awarded for the TV movie The Killing Floor the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, he'd take it easy behind the camera. His Harlem Drama Action ran among others in competition at Cannes. In 1993 he turned to Sister Act 2 - Back in the Habit the successor to the hit comedy Sister Act with Whoopi Goldberg. 2003 Duke received a Black Reel Award for the television movie Deacons for Defense.
After he retired in the mid-1990s as an actor, he is increasingly seen since 1998 in front of the camera.