Van Williams
Van Zandt Jarvis Williams ( born February 27, 1934 in Fort Worth, Texas ) is an American actor.
Life
Williams grew up on a ranch in Texas and studied animal husbandry at Texas Christian University. He then moved to Hawaii, where he worked as a diving instructor. His clients were on the film producer Mike Todd and his then wife Elizabeth Taylor; Todd realized his talent and recommended him to pursue an acting career. Williams moved to Hollywood and took acting lessons. After minor theater roles, including engagements on Broadway, eventually he received a contract with the television division of Warner Bros., and played from 1959 one of the main roles in the detective series New Orleans, Bourbon Street. This was indeed adjusted after the first season, his role as Ken Medison has been inserted in the spin-off Surfside 6. By means of action overlaps, he joined in the same role in a few episodes of the series also produced by Warner 77 Sunset Strip. After four seasons Surfside 6 was set, whereupon Williams alongside Walter Brennan a starring role in the sitcom The Tycoon took over, which, however, was discontinued after the first season. After his contract expired at Warner, he moved to 20th Century Fox. He played his most famous role as The Green Hornet on the side of Bruce Lee. Although only one season was produced by the series 1966-1967, she remained in the memory of the U.S. television audience. In addition, three episodes of the series were re-edited into a feature film entitled Bruce Lee - The Green Hornet also released in Germany came. During the same period, he joined in a few episodes of Batman as a Green Hornet.
From the late 1960s he was mainly seen in guest roles, including series such as Mannix, The Boss and Cobra, accept. In 1975 he received the last time a series lead role, but emerged from the adventure series Westwind only 13 half-hour episodes. In the late 1970s he retired from show business. He had his so far last film appearance in 1993 in a cameo role as a director of the Green Hornet TV series in Dragon - The Bruce Lee Story. For a cameo in the feature film adaptation of The Green Hornet, it did not come in 2010 for health reasons.