Billy December Williams (yes, his middle name is December) was and has always been the ultimate “cool guy.” From his walk to the way he speaks, the New York-born actor has a smooth nature.
He was raised by his maternal grandmother while his parents worked several jobs. As soon as being seen on camera, Williams was known as a handsome actor and even dubbed as a “sex symbol” by many, but that’s one aspect of the legendary 88-year-old.
Billy Dee The Actor Isn’t Like Billy Dee in Real Life
It wasn’t until after he starred in “Lady Sings the Blues” is when Williams confessed, “I decided to become a romantic figure on the screen,” he said.
And that decision took awhile to manifest, because his idea started with he was young. “Yeah. I’ve always wanted to be. I used to tell my mom I want to be like Rudolph Valentino!”
Williams didn’t stop at Rudolph Valentino; he added a little Errol Flynn, as a suave swashbuckler in a cape in “The Empire Strikes Back.” His introductory line to Princess Leia – “Hello, what have we here?” – became the title of his new memoir. It details his public and personal life; his close friendship with James Baldwin; backstage conservations with Laurence Olivier; and his love of being in love. He writes: “I had a weakness when it came to love and romance. The first moment of eye contact, a glance indicating interest, a mischievous smile, a sexy walk, a playful touch. That was my song.”
“I became a real romantic figure on the screen,” Billy Dee shared. “A really heroic, romantic figure with a kind of vulnerability, which I managed to use in playing these characters. Marcello Mastroianni was one of my favorite actors because I loved his vulnerability. And I always tried to bring a kind of vulnerability to all these kinds of heroic figures.”
Yet, for all that charm and sex appeal, Williams said, “I’m really very insecure. Because I don’t really like to talk about myself, and I like to keep to myself.”
Even before he began acting, Williams attended the National Academy of Fine Arts and Design in New York. In the late 1980’s, he resumed painting. He has had solo exhibitions in various galleries around the United States and his work hangs in the National Portrait Gallery, the Smithsonian Institution and the Schomburg Museum. The covers of the Thelonious Monk Competition programs since 1990 are by Williams.
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“I always found myself to be an artistic person,” the 85-year-old Williams says. “I would look at things and see the beauty and want to give my own personal take on it.”
The Man He Is Today is Credited to His Mom
He grew up in Harlem on 110th Street, between Lenox and 5th, adjacent to Central Park North–110th Street station. He used to go to Central Park to see the Negro league players and the Cuban baseball league, “They were fantastic, and I wound up working with a lot of those guys,” (in The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings (1976)). He has a twin sister, Loretta, and they were raised by their maternal grandmother while their parents worked several jobs.
His mom had studied opera for years, becoming an accomplished opera star who wanted to break into movies; the family was richly cultured, exposing the children early on to drawing, painting, theatre and similar creative experiences; Billy Dee would remain a fan of the arts including opera.
“My sister and I went to a music and art high school,” said Williams. “And from music and art, I got a scholarship to the National Academy, and what I learned is art is gentle, art is incisive, allowing yourself to use your five senses. It allows you to look at things, to be a sponge. To be receptive. It allows you to appreciate.”
In March 1945, he made his Broadway debut at age seven, portraying a page in The Firebrand of Florence, Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin’s operetta starring Lotte Lenya.
Having broken through, Williams became one of America’s most well-known black film actors of the 1970’s after starring in a string of critically acclaimed and popular movies, many of them in the “blaxploitation” genre.
In 1972, Williams starred as Billie Holiday’s husband Louis McKay in Motown Productions’ Holiday biopic Lady Sings the Blues.
It became one of the highest-grossing films of the year and received five Academy Award nominations.
Motown paired him with Diana Ross again three years later in the successful follow-up project Mahogany.
The early 1980’s brought Williams the role of Lando Calrissian, which he played in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, solidifying him as a bonafide star of sci-fi movies.
What’s Next for Billy Dee and How Does He Want to be Remembered?
He’s captured so much of his incredible journey in his memoir, “What Have We Here: Portraits of a Life” — the title being a famous callback to his suave introduction as Lando in “The Empire Strikes Back.”
“All of [the accolades] isn’t important to me, and never really was,” he explains. “But if people enjoy seeing me that way, well, I suppose my job is to offer enjoyment. I’d like to also think of myself as a man who’s also concerned with the important things in life. Like those of a man, a husband, and a father. Family is what’s important to me. Beyond that, I try to always discipline myself so that I can be even better.”
“I always tried to bring something extra to any role that I did, on stage or on screen. I took my roles seriously and put every ounce of effort and more that I had into them.”
“I want to be remembered as being a hard working performer. I always tried to give my very best.”
