58,047 articles
William Hanna
William Denby Hanna (1910-2001), American animator and producer, co-created Tom and Jerry at MGM with Joseph Barbera, winning seven Oscars, then co-founded Hanna-Barbera Productions, pioneer of limited television animation with The Flintstones.
William Hartnell
William Hartnell (1908–1975), English actor, the original First Doctor in Doctor Who (1963–1966, 1973), also a prolific British film star known for Brighton Rock and The Army Game.
William Hickey (actor)
William Hickey, also known as William Edward Hickey, was an American character actor and acting teacher, Oscar-nominated as the Mafia don in Prizzi's Honor (1985).
William Holden
William Holden (William Franklin Beedle Jr., 1918–1981), American actor; Oscar winner for Stalag 17, star of Sunset Boulevard, The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Wild Bunch, and Network; also a Kenya wildlife conservationist.
William Hopper
William Hopper (William DeWolf Hopper Jr., 1915-1970), American actor, son of DeWolf Hopper and Hedda Hopper; played Paul Drake in 271 episodes of CBS's Perry Mason (1957-1966), Navy frogman and Bronze Star recipient.
William Hung (孔庆翔)
William Hung (孔慶翔), born 1983, in Hong Kong, is the American Idol season 3 reject whose 2004 "She Bangs" audition went viral; he recorded three albums, later became an LA County crime analyst and motivational speaker.
William Hurt
William Hurt (1950-2022), American actor, Oscar winner for Kiss of the Spider Woman; starred in Body Heat, Broadcast News, A History of Violence, and five Marvel films as Thaddeus Ross.
William Jackson Harper
William Jackson Harper (born 1980, Dallas) is an American actor known as Chidi Anagonye on NBC's The Good Place, an Emmy 2020 nominee, also of The Underground Railroad, The Resort, Midsommar, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and Tony-nominated Uncle Vanya.
William Katt
William Katt (William Theodore Katt), American actor born 1951 in Los Angeles, son of Barbara Hale and Bill Williams; star of The Greatest American Hero (1981–83) and Tommy Ross in Carrie (1976).
William Kennedy Dickson
William Kennedy Laurie Dickson (1860-1935), British-born-in-France inventor, created the Kinetograph camera, Kinetoscope, 35 mm film standard, and Black Maria studio under Edison, then co-founded American Mutoscope and Biograph.
William Levy (actor)
William Levy (William Gutiérrez Levy, born 1980, Cojímar, Cuba) is a Cuban-American actor and producer, telenovela star of Cuidado con el ángel and Café con aroma de mujer, later Hollywood films and ViX/Secuoya streaming productions.
William Lipton
William Lipton (born 2003) is an American actor and musician, known as Cameron Webber on General Hospital (2018-2023) and as Charlie Cooper, lead singer-guitarist of the real band The Runarounds, in the 2025 Prime Video series of the same name.
William Lucking
William Lucking (Frederick William Lucking Jr., 1941–2021), American character actor from Vicksburg, Michigan; played Piney Winston on Sons of Anarchy and Colonel Lynch on The A-Team; over 150 screen credits; co-founded Santa Paula Theater Center.
William Mapother
William Mapother (William Reibert Mapother Jr., born 1965, Louisville) is an American character actor, Ethan Rom on Lost, Richard Strout in In the Bedroom, John Burroughs in Another Earth, and Tom Cruise's first cousin.
William Marshall (actor)
William Marshall (1924–2003), American actor, classically trained Othello, star of Blacula (1972) and Scream Blacula Scream; also Star Trek's Dr. Daystrom and Pee-wee's Playhouse King of Cartoons. Distinct from a 1995-born British horror actor and a 1917-born bandleader.
William McNamara
William McNamara, full name William West McNamara, is an American actor born in 1965, known for Stealing Home (1988) and the serial killer Peter Foley in Copycat (1995).
William Morris Agency
The William Morris Agency (WMA) was an American talent agency founded in New York in 1898 as a vaudeville booking service, merging with Endeavor in 2009 to form WME.
William Moseley (actor)
William Moseley (William Peter Moseley, born 1987, Sheepscombe, Gloucestershire) is an English actor best known as Peter Pevensie in the Narnia films (2005-2010) and as Prince Liam in E!'s The Royals (2015-2018).
William Petersen
William Petersen (William Louis Petersen, born 1953, Evanston, Illinois) is the American actor and producer famous as Gil Grissom in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and CSI: Vegas; earlier roles include Manhunter and To Live and Die in L.A.; distinct from the Minnesota senator and the sociologist of the same name.
William Powell
William Horatio Powell (1892–1984), American film actor of over 90 films, star of the six Thin Man movies with Myrna Loy, three-time Best Actor Oscar nominee, retired 1955.
William R. Moses
William R. Moses (William Remington Moses, born 1959, Los Angeles) is an American actor known for Cole Gioberti on Falcon Crest, Ken Malansky in the Perry Mason TV movies, Jack Davis in the Jane Doe films, and Jeff Webber on General Hospital.
William Ragsdale
William Ragsdale (Robert William Ragsdale, born 1961, El Dorado, Arkansas) is an American actor best known as Charley Brewster in Fright Night (1985) and Part 2 (1988), Herman Brooks on Herman's Head, Eugene Jerome on Broadway, and Gary Hawkins on Justified.
William Redfield (actor)
William Redfield, born William Henry Redfield, was an American actor best known as Dale Harding in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and for the memoir Letters from an Actor (1967).
William Riker
William T. Riker (Will Riker, Number One), fictional Starfleet first officer of the Enterprise under Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation, born 2335 in Valdez, Alaska; later captain of the Titan, husband of Deanna Troi, played by Jonathan Frakes.
William Roache
William Roache, also known as Bill Roache, born 25 April 1932, is the English actor who has played Ken Barlow in ITV's Coronation Street since its first episode on 9 December 1960, holding the Guinness World Record as the longest-serving TV soap star.
William Russ
William Russ (William Hardy Russ IV, born 1950) is an American character actor from Portsmouth, Virginia, known as Alan Matthews on Boy Meets World, Roger LoCocco on Wiseguy, and for Pastime and American History X; distinct from the silent-film and Doctor Who William Russells.
William Russell (English actor)
William Russell (William Russell Enoch, 1924-2024), English actor who played Ian Chesterton, Doctor Who's first male companion (1963-65), also Sir Lancelot and Coronation Street's Ted Sullivan; held the Guinness record for longest gap between TV appearances.
William S. Hart
William S. Hart (William Surrey Hart, 1864-1946), American silent-film Western star, director, and producer; creator of the 'good badman' persona; star of Hell's Hinges (1916) and Tumbleweeds (1925); former stage actor and friend of Wyatt Earp.
William S. Paley
William S. Paley (1901–1990), American broadcasting executive, bought United Independent Broadcasters in 1928 and built it into CBS, creating CBS News and leading television ratings for two decades.
William Sadler (actor)
William Thomas Sadler (born 1950, Buffalo, New York) is an American character actor known as the Grim Reaper in Bill & Ted, Heywood in The Shawshank Redemption, Colonel Stuart in Die Hard 2, and Sheriff Valenti in Roswell.