General articles: Arts and culture

Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner

Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner: Warner Bros. cartoon duo created by Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese, debuting in 1949's Fast and Furry-ous. Known for the nine Jones rules, Acme products, Paul Julian's beep-beep, and the 2026 film Coyote vs. Acme.

Wiley (musician)

Wiley (Richard Kylea Cowie, born 1979), also Eskiboy, the Godfather of Grime: East London producer-MC who created Eskibeat, founded Roll Deep and Eskimo Dance, and scored UK hits including Wearing My Rolex and Heatwave.

Wilford Brimley

Wilford Brimley (1934–2020), American character actor of Cocoon, The Natural, The Thing, and The Firm; also Quaker Oats pitchman and Liberty Medical diabetes spokesman famous for "diabeetus."

Wilfrid Brambell

Wilfrid Brambell (1912–1985), Irish actor born Henry Wilfrid Brambell in Dublin, played Albert Steptoe in the BBC sitcom Steptoe and Son and Paul McCartney's grandfather in A Hard Day's Night (1964).

Wilfrid Hyde-White

Wilfrid Hyde-White (1903–1991), English character actor of stage, film, and TV; also billed Hyde White. Best known as Colonel Pickering in My Fair Lady (1964), Crabbin in The Third Man, twice Tony-nominated.

Wilfrid Scawen Blunt

Wilfrid Scawen Blunt (1840–1922), English poet, diplomat, and anti-imperialist; husband of Lady Anne Blunt, cofounder of the Crabbet Arabian Stud; imprisoned in Ireland 1887; author of Love Sonnets of Proteus, The Future of Islam, and My Diaries.

Wilhelm Busch

Wilhelm Busch (1832–1908), German humorist poet, draftsman, and painter, creator of Max und Moritz (1865) and precursor of the modern comic; also wrote Die fromme Helene and Eduards Traum.

Wilhelm Küchelbecker

Wilhelm Küchelbecker (Вильгельм Кюхельбекер) was a Russian poet and playwright of German descent, a classmate of Pushkin who took part in the Decembrist uprising of 1825 and died in Siberian exile in 1846.

Wilhelm Lehmann

Wilhelm Lehmann (1882–1968) was a German poet, novelist, and essayist, born in Venezuela, who won the Kleist Prize in 1923 and shaped younger poets like Günter Eich.

Wilhelm Lindemann

Wilhelm Lindemann (1828–1879) was a German Catholic priest and literary historian whose Geschichte der deutschen Literatur (1866) was the first Catholic history of German literature.

Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship

Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship (Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre) is a novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, published in 1795/96 and widely treated as the founding, paradigmatic Bildungsroman.

Wilhelm Meyer (German philologist)

Wilhelm Meyer (1845–1917) was a German classical philologist and medievalist, recorded as a co-founder of medieval Latin philology, who held the Göttingen chair from 1886.

Wilhelm Molitor

Wilhelm Molitor (1819–1880) was a German Catholic priest, poet, novelist, and canonist of the Rhine Palatinate, known for the Marian hymn "O Königin voll Herrlichkeit" and the "Domlieder".

Wilhelm Raabe

Wilhelm Raabe, who debuted as Jakob Corvinus with Die Chronik der Sperlingsgasse in 1856, was a German novelist of poetic realism ranked with Fontane and Storm.

Wilhelm Raabe Literature Prize

The Wilhelm Raabe Literature Prize (Wilhelm Raabe-Literaturpreis) is an annual German literary award worth 30,000 euros, given by Braunschweig and Deutschlandfunk for a narrative work in German.

Wilhelm scream

The Wilhelm scream is a stock male scream recorded in 1951 for Distant Drums, named after Private Wilhelm in The Charge at Feather River, revived by Ben Burtt in Star Wars and used in over 400 films.

Wilhelm von Homburg

Wilhelm von Homburg, stage name of Norbert Grupe (1940–2004), German boxer, wrestler, and actor; famous for his silent 1969 ZDF Sportstudio interview and as Vigo the Carpathian in Ghostbusters II, with his voice dubbed by Max von Sydow.

Wilhelm Wagenfeld

Wilhelm Wagenfeld (1900–1990) was a German industrial designer and silversmith who trained at the Bauhaus in Weimar and became known for its 1924 table lamp and mass-produced glassware.

Wilhelmina Cooper

Wilhelmina Cooper (Gertrude Behmenburg, 1939-1980), Dutch-born model known as Wilhelmina, record Vogue cover model who co-founded Wilhelmina Models in New York in 1967 with husband Bruce Cooper.

Wilhelmina Geddes

Wilhelmina Geddes (1887–1955) was an Irish stained-glass artist of the Arts and Crafts movement, known for the Ottawa war memorial and Ypres Te Deum window.

Wilhelmina Models

Wilhelmina Models, founded 1967 in New York by model Wilhelmina Cooper and Bruce Cooper, is a fashion model and talent agency with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and London, run by publicly traded Wilhelmina International (WHLM), organized into Women, Men, Direct, Curve, Showroom, and Fitness boards.

Wilhelmus

The Wilhelmus (Wilhelmus van Nassouwe) is the national anthem of the Netherlands, written in the voice of William of Orange during the Dutch Revolt and official since 1932.

Wilkie Collins

Wilkie Collins (1824–1889), English novelist, playwright, and short-story writer, friend of Dickens and master of the sensation novel; author of The Woman in White and The Moonstone, pioneer of full-length detective fiction.

Wilking Sisters

The Wilking Sisters, Miranda and Melanie Wilking of Michigan, were a TikTok dance duo (@wilkingsisters) with over 3 million followers by 2020. The duo ended when Miranda joined 7M Films and Shekinah Church, becoming estranged from her family, the subject of Netflix's Dancing for the Devil.

Wilko Johnson

Wilko Johnson (John Peter Wilkinson, 1947-2022), Canvey Island guitarist and Dr Feelgood founder whose choppy rhythm-and-lead style shaped punk; later a Blockhead, Game of Thrones executioner, and pancreatic cancer survivor.

Will (TV series)

Will is the 2017 TNT drama series, created by Craig Pearce, starring Laurie Davidson as young William Shakespeare in 1589 London; one 10-episode TV-MA season, 56% on Rotten Tomatoes, canceled after a single run.

Will & Grace

Will & Grace is an American NBC sitcom (1998–2006, revived 2017–2020) created by David Kohan and Max Mutchnick, starring Eric McCormack, Debra Messing, Sean Hayes, and Megan Mullally; the first hit sitcom with gay leads, winner of 18 Emmys.

Will & Harper

Will & Harper is a 2024 Josh Greenbaum Netflix documentary following Will Ferrell and Harper Steele, his SNL collaborator who came out as a trans woman in 2022 at 61, on a 16-day New York-to-LA road trip; Sundance premiere, 99% Tomatometer, 2024 Peabody winner.

Will Arnett

Will Arnett (William Emerson Arnett), Canadian-American actor and comedian born 1970 in Toronto, known as Gob Bluth in Arrested Development, voice of BoJack Horseman and Lego Batman, SmartLess cohost, and star of Is This Thing On? (2025).