Tony Bill

Last updated

Tony Bill
Tony Bill 1977.JPG
Bill in 1977
Born
Gerard Anthony Bill

(1940-08-23) August 23, 1940 (age 83)
Other namesGerald Bill
Occupation(s)Actor, director, producer
Years active1959–present
Spouses
Toni Gray
(m. 1962;div. 1969)
Helen Buck Bartlett
(m. 1993)
Children4
Awards Academy Award for Best Picture (1974) – The Sting (shared with Michael Phillips and Julia Phillips)

Gerard Anthony Bill (born August 23, 1940) is an American actor, producer, and director. He produced the 1973 movie The Sting , for which he shared the Academy Award for Best Picture with Michael Phillips and Julia Phillips. As an actor, Bill had supporting roles in Come Blow Your Horn (1963), Shampoo (1975), Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985), and Less than Zero (1987). He made his directorial debut with My Bodyguard (1980) and directed movies Six Weeks (1982), Five Corners (1987), Crazy People (1990), Untamed Heart (1993), and Flyboys (2006).

Contents

Early life

Bill was born in San Diego, California, and attended St. Augustine High School. He majored in English and art at the University of Notre Dame, from which he graduated in 1962.

Career

Bill began his career as an actor in the 1960s, first appearing on screen as Frank Sinatra's ingenuous younger brother in Come Blow Your Horn (1963). The same year, he appeared in Soldier in the Rain starring Jackie Gleason and Steve McQueen. Thereafter, he was cast as Chris Herrod in the 1965 episode "An Elephant Is Like a Tree" of the drama series Mr. Novak .

Bill specialized in juveniles and young leads. In the mid-1960s, he made two appearances in the BBC's Play of the Month anthology series, he took the lead in Lee Oswald Assassin and played Biff to Rod Steiger's Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman (both 1966).

Often his characters were likeable but none too bright. Other acting credits include Marriage on the Rocks (1965), None but the Brave (1965), You're a Big Boy Now (1966), Never a Dull Moment (1968), How to Steal the World (1968), Ice Station Zebra (1968), Castle Keep (1969), Flap (1970), Shampoo (1975), Are You in the House Alone? (1978), Heart Beat (1980), The Little Dragons (1980), Freedom (1981), Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985), and Less than Zero (1987).

Bill continued to act in television movies, miniseries, and guest spots, though with decreasing frequency as he segued into directing. In 1965, Bill guest-starred in "An Echo of Bugles," the opening episode of Rod Serling's Western series The Loner, playing a hot-headed bully who taunts a Confederate veteran and challenges series star Lloyd Bridges to a duel. He appeared in the 1966 episode "Chaff in the Wind" of the western The Virginian and the 1966 episode "The Oath" of the western Bonanza . He was cast in the 1967 episode "The Predators" of The Road West]. He also starred in a 1968 episode of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. titled "The Seven Wonders of the World Affair, Parts 1 and 2." He was featured on an ABC movie titled Haunts of the Very Rich (1972), appeared in the 1977 miniseries Washington: Behind Closed Doors , and the drama anthology series as the narrator What Really Happened to the Class of '65? .

In 1980, Bill directed his first film My Bodyguard . He went on to direct Six Weeks (1982), Five Corners (1987), Crazy People (1990), A Home of Our Own (1993), Untamed Heart (1993), and Flyboys (2006), which Bill claims was one of the early features shot entirely with digital cameras. For television, Bill directed Truman Capote's One Christmas (1994), Harlan County War (2000), and Pictures of Hollis Woods (2007).

In 2009, Bill published the book Movie Speak: How to Talk Like You Belong on a Film Set. The book traces the etymology of the language of the movie set and is filled out with stories from Bill's career in film. [1]

From 1984 to 2000, he co-owned with Dudley Moore the 72 Market Street Oyster Bar and Grill, a restaurant in Venice, California.

Personal life

Bill married Toni Gray in December 1962. [2] They had a son, Peter Bill, born 1964 and a daughter, Francesca. Currently, he is married to his second wife, the former Helen Buck Bartlett, his producer/partner in Barnstorm Films in Venice. The couple have two daughters, Madeline and Daphne.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lee Remick</span> American actress (1935-1991)

Lee Ann Remick was an American actress and singer. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for the film Days of Wine and Roses (1962).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lloyd Bridges</span> American actor (1913–1998)

Lloyd Vernet Bridges Jr. was an American film, stage and television actor who starred in a number of television series and appeared in more than 150 feature films. He was the father of four children, including the actors Beau Bridges and Jeff Bridges. He started his career as a contract performer for Columbia Pictures, appearing in films such as Sahara (1943), A Walk in the Sun (1945), Little Big Horn (1951) and High Noon (1952). On television, he starred in Sea Hunt 1958 to 1961. By the end of his career, he had re-invented himself and demonstrated a comedic talent in such parody films as Airplane! (1980), Hot Shots! (1991), and Jane Austen's Mafia! (1998). Among other honors, Bridges was a two-time Emmy Award nominee. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 1, 1994.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Brolin</span> American actor (born 1940)

James Brolin is an American actor. Brolin has won two Golden Globes and an Emmy. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on August 27, 1998. He is the father of actor Josh Brolin and the husband of Barbra Streisand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pee-wee Herman</span> American comedy character

Pee-wee Herman is a comedy character created and portrayed by the American comedian Paul Reubens. He starred in films and television series during the 1980s. The childlike Pee-wee Herman character developed as a stage act that quickly led to an HBO special in 1981. As the stage performance gained further popularity, Reubens took the character to motion picture with Pee-wee's Big Adventure in 1985, toning down the adult innuendo for the appeal of children. This paved the way for Pee-wee's Playhouse, an Emmy Award-winning children's series that ran on CBS from 1986 to 1991. Another film, Big Top Pee-wee, was released in 1988.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Culp</span> American actor (1930–2010)

Robert Martin Culp was an American actor and screenwriter widely known for his work in television. Culp earned an international reputation for his role as Kelly Robinson on I Spy (1965–1968), the espionage television series in which co-star Bill Cosby and he played secret agents. Before this, he starred in the CBS/Four Star Western series Trackdown as Texas Ranger Hoby Gilman in 71 episodes from 1957 to 1959. The 1980s brought him back to television as FBI Agent Bill Maxwell on The Greatest American Hero. Later, he had a recurring role as Warren Whelan on Everybody Loves Raymond, and was a voice actor for various computer games, including Half-Life 2. Culp gave hundreds of performances in a career spanning more than 50 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joan Hackett</span> American actress (1934–1983)

Joan Ann Hackett was an American actress of film, stage, and television. She starred in the 1968 western Will Penny. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1981 film Only When I Laugh. She also starred as Christine Mannon in the 1978 PBS miniseries version of Mourning Becomes Electra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gene Barry</span> American actor (1919–2009)

Gene Barry was an American stage, screen, and television actor and singer. Barry is best remembered for his leading roles in the films The Atomic City (1952) and The War of The Worlds (1953) and for his portrayal of the title characters in the TV series Bat Masterson and Burke's Law, among many roles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Russell (actor)</span> American actor (1921–1991)

John Lawrence Russell was an American film and television actor, most noted for his starring role as Marshal Dan Troop in the ABC western television series Lawman from 1958 to 1962 and his lead role as international adventurer Tim Kelly in the syndicated TV series Soldiers of Fortune from 1955 to 1957.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Constantine</span> American actor (1927–2021)

Michael Constantine was an American actor. He is most widely recognized for his portrayal of Kostas "Gus" Portokalos, the Windex bottle-toting Greek father of Toula Portokalos, in the film My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002). Earlier, he earned acclaim for his television work, especially as the long-suffering high school principal, Seymour Kaufman, on ABC's comedy-drama, Room 222, for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 1970; he was again recognized by the Emmy Awards, as well as the Golden Globe Awards, the following year. After the conclusion of Room 222, Constantine portrayed night court magistrate Matthew J. Sirota on the 1976 sitcom Sirota's Court, receiving his second Golden Globe nomination. Constantine reprised his role as Gus Portokalos in My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (2016).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Vaughan</span> English actor

Peter Vaughan was an English character actor known for many supporting roles in British film and television productions. He also acted extensively on stage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gene Evans</span> American actor (1922–1998)

Eugene Barton Evans was an American actor who appeared in numerous television series, television films, and feature films between 1947 and 1989.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenneth Tobey</span> American actor (1917–2002)

Jesse Kenneth Tobey was an American actor who performed in hundreds of productions during a career that spanned more than half a century, including his role as the star of the 1957-1960 Desilu Productions TV series Whirlybirds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roy Jenson</span> Canadian American actor and football player (1927–2007)

Roy Cameron Jenson, also known and credited as Roy Jensen, was a Canadian American football player, stuntman, and actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leo Gordon</span> American actor (1922–2000)

Leo Vincent Gordon was an American character actor and screenwriter. During more than 40 years in film and television he was most frequently cast as a supporting actor playing brutish bad guys but occasionally played more sympathetic roles just as effectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don "Red" Barry</span> American actor (1912–1980)

Don "Red" Barry, also known as Red Barry was an American film and television actor. He was nicknamed "Red" after appearing as the first Red Ryder in the highly successful 1940 film Adventures of Red Ryder with Noah Beery Sr.; the character was played in later films by "Wild Bill" Elliott and Allan Lane. Barry went on to bigger budget films following Red Ryder, but none reached his previous level of success. He played Red Doyle in the 1964 Perry Mason episode "The Case of the Simple Simon".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Anderson</span> American actor (1926-2017)

Richard Norman Anderson was an American film and television actor. One of his best-known roles was his portrayal of Oscar Goldman, the boss of Steve Austin and Jaime Sommers in both The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman television series between 1974 and 1978 and their subsequent television movies: The Return of the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman (1987), Bionic Showdown: The Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman (1989) and Bionic Ever After? (1994).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brett Halsey</span> American actor

Brett Halsey is an American film actor, sometimes credited as Montgomery Ford. He appeared in B pictures and in European-made feature films. He originated the role of John Abbott on the soap opera The Young and the Restless.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jay Robinson</span> American actor (1930–2013)

Jay Robinson was an American actor specializing in character roles. He achieved his greatest fame playing Emperor Caligula in the film The Robe (1953) and its sequel Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954), and years later portraying the boss of the character played by Warren Beatty in Shampoo (1975).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alice Nunn</span> American actress (1927–1988)

Alice Elizabeth Nunn was an American film and theatre actress. She was born in Jacksonville, Florida, and died at her apartment in West Hollywood, California. Although she played many roles across her 31-year career, appearing in more than 50 films and TV series, she is primarily remembered for her role as Large Marge, the ghost of a storied truck driver, in Tim Burton's 1985 film Pee-wee's Big Adventure, which is number 5 on the IFC list of the 25 scariest moments in non-horror film history, and earned her a cult following.

Alan James Gwynne Cellan Jones was a British television and film director. From 1963, he directed over 50 television series and films, specialising in dramas.

References

  1. Los Angeles Times article – Hollywood Lingo from Tony Bill Retrieved February 12, 2012
  2. Bob Thomas, "An Overnight Success' Actually Fits Tony Bill" The Evening Independent (June 12, 1963), p.11