John Williams (actor)

John Williams (April 15, 1903 – May 5, 1983) was a British stage, film, and television actor.

Born in The Chalfonts in Buckinghamshire, England, he began acting on the Broadway stage in 1924 and went on to appear in thirty more Broadway plays over the next four decades. He first acted in Hollywood films in 1930, debuting in director Mack Sennett's "The Chumps". In his career he appeared in more than forty movies and also made more than forty guest appearances on television shows. He was part of the regular cast for the 1967 season of the family comedy, "Family Affair".

Outside his movie career, Williams gained fame as the star of a television commercial for "120 Music Masterpieces", a four-LP set of classical music excerpts from Columbia Records. This became the longest-running nationally seen commercial in U.S. television history, for 13 years from 1971 to 1984. It began, "I'm sure you recognize this lovely melody as 'Stranger in Paradise.' But did you know that the original theme is from the Polovetsian Dance No. 2 by Borodin?" The commercial became so familiar that it was spoofed by Charles Rocket on "Saturday Night Live".

In 1953 Williams was awarded a Tony Award for Best Supporting or Featured Actor (Dramatic) for his role as "Chief Inspector Hubbard" in "Dial M for Murder" on Broadway. When Alfred Hitchcock took over the script to make a movie of the play in 1954, he cast Williams for the same role.

Williams also played in several episodes of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" on TV, including "The Long Shot" with Peter Lawford (November 27, 1955), "Back for Christmas" (1956) [http://members.liwest.at/holzner/back_f3.gif] , "Whodunit" (1956), "Wet Saturday" (1956), the 3-part episode "I Killed the Count"(1957), and "Banquo’s Chair" (1959).

One of his last appearances was in "Battlestar Galactica: War of the Gods" (1979) alongside Lorne Greene.

He was educated at Lancing College.

Filmography

*"Mr. Deeds Goes to Town" (1936)
*"The Foreman Went to France" (1942)
*"The Paradine Case" (1947)
*"Dial M for Murder" (1954)
*"Sabrina" (1954)
*"To Catch a Thief" (1955)
*"Witness for the Prosecution" (1957)
*"Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?" (1957)
*"Midnight Lace" (1960)
*"Double Trouble" (1967)
*"The Hound of the Baskervilles" (1972)

Television

* "The Doll", "Night Gallery", hosted by Rod Serling, with actor Henry Silva
* "Wet Saturday", "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", hosted by Alfred Hitchcock, with actor Sir Cedric Hardwick
* "I Killed the Count", "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", hosted by Alfred Hitchcock, a 3-part episode running 90 minutes with commercials.
* commercial for recordings of classical music

External links

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* [http://www.retrojunk.com/details_commercial/4700/ Later (1980s) version of "120 Music Masterpieces" / "30 Piano Masterpieces" ad campaign, originally produced in 1971]
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