Biography
This page uses content from the Guy Williams biography page on the English version of Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This list of authors can be seen in the page history. Rotten Tomatoes disclaims any and all warranties as to the accuracy or reliability of the content.
Guy Williams (born Armando Joseph Catalano) (January 14, 1924 - May 7, 1989) was an American actor and former male fashion model, who played swashbuckling action heroes in the 1950s and 1960s, but never quite achieved movie star status[1] despite his good looking hazel eyes, imposing appearance (6'3" height, 190 lb. weight) and charisma, which helped launch his early successful photographic model career.
His greatest achievements were the two memorable TV classics: Zorro (in black and white -- years later restored to color by the Disney enterprise) and Lost in Space, characterizing the father of the Robinson family.
Early life
Born as Armando Catalano at the Fort George area in New York City, he was the son of Attilio (son of a wealthy timber grower in Messina who purchased a land in New Jersey), who was working as insurance broker, and Clare Catalano. His parents, who arrived from Sicily (Italy), were by then living in poverty. He grew up in the Little Italy, Brooklyn neighborhood. When he was seven, he began taking fencing lessons from his father, who was a professional in a tradition inherited from his Italian ancestors.
In NYC's P.S. 189, Armand stood out in mathematics. Later he attended George Washington High School, where he occasionally worked in its soda fountain. He then left to attend the Peeskill Military Academy, where he was an enthusiastic student. His interests included football and chess.
First artist steps
Williams wanted to be an actor, spurred by his good looks and 6'3" height. When Armand decided not to continue studying, his mother (who later became an executive of a foreign film company) was very disappointed because they expected that he continue the traditional insurance broker career.
After working as welder, cost accountant and aircraft-parts inspector during World War II, Armand became a salesman in the luggage department at Wanamakers. While there, he decided to send his photos to an agency to start his model career. He quickly found great success in graphic media. Spanning newspapers, billboards, magazines (like Harper's Bazaar) and book covers, he received good paying and became famous. He then adopted the name Guy Williams.
In 1946 he signed a single-year contract offered by MGM and moved to Hollywood. He only appeared in a few films and soon moved back to New York.
In 1948, to advertise cigarettes while skiing, Guy Williams did an extensive filming trip accompanied by Janice Cooper (beautiful Powers model). During the long photographic sessions they felt in love, marrying just after they returned to New York City (December 8). Several years later they, had two children, Guy Steven Catalano (1953) and Toni Catalano (1956).
By 1950, Guy Williams had begun to film some of the pioneering television commercials in USA, so he became very popular. Unfortunately, his father died in 1951, never to witness his son's full rise to fame. Guy Williams then obtained a new one-year contract with Universal-International in 1952, and moved to Hollywood.
Early Hollywood (1952 to 1957)
Guy Williams did small supporting roles in the Universal productions, Including:
- Bonzo Goes to College --- as Ronald Calkins,
The Mississippi Gambler --- as Andre,
The Golden Blade --- as Baghdad's town crier,
The Man from the Alamo --- as a sergeant,
Take Me to Town --- as a small hero
I Was A Teenage Werewolf--- as police officer
In 1953 Guy Williams suffered a serious accident when he fell from a horse and was dragged over 200 meters, resulting in a long scar on his left shoulder. Because of this, at some point he even returned to New York (acting and modeling there) and abandoning his career, but in 1953 he left the Universal and became a freelancer for movies produced by Allied Artist and Warner Brothers.
Zorro (1957 to 1959)
In 1957 the Disney enterprise carried out a casting for Disney's Zorro, a new television series based on the character (created by Johnston McCulley) already famous on the silver screen performed by Douglas Fairbanks and Tyrone Power.
To play Zorro, the chosen actor would have to be handsome and have some experience with fencing. Walt Disney himself interviewed Guy Williams, telling him (comically) to start growing a mustache "neither very long or thick". The exclusive contract paid Williams the then very high wage of $2,500 per week, as he had demanded. Williams resumed his professional training of fencing with the Belgian champion Fred Cavens (who also trained Douglas Fairbanks, Errol Flynn and Tyrone Power), since the show used real epees without protection. He also took guitar lessons with the famous Vicente Gomez.
The series of half-hour episodes finally debuted on the American "ABC" network on October 10 (1957). It was an instant hit in the USA, attaining the highest rating of its era.
The show spanned 78 episodes (two seasons, from 1957 to 1959) and a movie edited from TV episodes: The Sign of Zorro (1958) with its theme-song (composed by Norman Foster and George Burns) reaching #17 of the Hit Parade, performed by The Chordettes.
The release of this series created an epidemic of "Z" graffitiing on school desks across America. Some examples of this can still be seen on desks from the time.
Ironically, Disney and the series have been frequently criticized for not using a Hispanic actor to play Zorro by people who fail to realize that Williams' real name was Catalano and that he was as Hispanic as Zorro himself.
After the finishing of the contract with Disney enterprise, Guy Williams went to Europe to film two movies. Damon and Pythias (MGM production filmed in Italy in 1962, directed by Curtis Bernhardt), as Damon, classic Greek tale of Damon who offers his life as warrant of the word of Pythias, his friend who was condemned to death for political reasons. Captain Sindbad (MGM super production filmed in Germany in 1962, directed by the American adventures director Byron Haskin, based on the classic tale of the Arabian Nights), as Sindbad.
Bonanza (1964)
In 1964 Guy Williams returned to Hollywood to resume his career, being added to the cast of the NBC's smash-hit TV series Bonanza (1959-1973) as Mexican-born cousin Will Cartwright.
Williams found himself unexpectedly forced out of the series by circumstances after only 5 episodes despite being originally slated to become one of the four permanent leads. Pernell Roberts (Adam Cartwright), who had planned to leave the show at the end of that season while overlapping with Williams, who was essentially going to be Roberts' replacement in the four-Cartwright format, decided late in the season to stay for one more year before departing, so the woman Adam was originally going to marry wound up unexpectedly choosing to leave with Will Cartwright instead, with Adam's selfless blessing. Williams lost his berth on the popular series, which ran for nine more years, because of Roberts' decision to remain for one more season.
Lost in Space (1965 to 1968)
In 1965, Guy Williams returned to weekly television in the extremely popular CBS science-fiction children's series Lost In Space.
Guy Williams played Professor John Robinson, expert in astrophysics and geology, who commanded the mission of the Jupiter 2 spaceship, taking his family in a voyage to colonize the Alpha Centauri star system.
After the series Guy Williams decided to retire in order to better enjoy his wealth, which had been largely generated by investments in several businesses.
Retirement in Argentina (1973 to 1989)
In subsequent years, Guy Williams also brought to Argentina some of the original cast-members of the Zorro, including Henry Calvin -- the fat Sgt. Garcia. Williams even formed a circus (Circo Real Madrid), with the local fencing champion Fernando Lupiz, traveling all along South America (1977).
Later in 1989, while spending solitary months in Argentina, Guy Williams (65 years old) suddenly disappeared. The local police searched his apartment in La Recoleta on 29 of April, finding his dead body. He had suffered a brain aneurysm a week before that day. He was still wearing the characteristic Zorro's sideburns and mustache when they found him.
Following his wishes, Guy Williams' ashes were spread over the Pacific Ocean, at Malibu (California).
Homages
- In 2000, Guy Williams was the first local celebrity in the Bronx Walk of Fame, of New York City.
- In 2001, (August 2) Guy Williams was incorporated in the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 7080 Hollywood Blvd (La Brea's corner), after massive petitions of thousands of manifesting admirers in front of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce (the previous year).
- In 2002, (August 2) the family of Guy Williams dedicated to him a bench of the New York's Central Park.
- In 2003, (August 2 --also--), Disney enterprise placed a commemorative badge in the mansion of the Mission San Luis Rey de Francia at Oceanside, California, where the Zorro series was filmed in 1957.
- The impression of an US Postage Stamp commemorative of Guy Williams is canceled due to the change of the US Postal Service's protocol. Though the fans were in campaign for this since 1998.
Books
- Zorro Television Companion. A meticulously researched book on the making of the The Walt Disney Company series. ISBN 0786420588
- Guy Williams: The Man Behind the Mask. A thorough bio of the actor. ISBN 159393016X
External links
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