Spanish postcard by Ediciones Este, no. 18-T, 1964. Photo: Warner Bros. Van Williams in the TV series Surfside 6 (Charles R. Rondeau, a.o., 1960-1962). The Spanish title was Rompeolas.
Spanish postcard by Archivo Bermejo, no. C. 168, 1964. Photo: Warner Bros. Van Williams in the TV series Surfside 6 (Charles R. Rondeau, a.o., 1960-1962). The Spanish title was Rompeolas.
Spanish postcard by Postal Oscar Color.
An irresistible, clean-cut private eye
Van Zandt Jarvis Williams was born in 1934 in Fort Worth, Texas. Williams grew up on a ranch outside Fort Worth and later studied cattle farming at Texas Christian University. He and the famous singer/songwriter Townes Van Zandt were cousins. He moved to Hawaii in 1956 after differences with his father on how the ranch should be run. He worked there as a scuba diving instructor. His clients included film producer Mike Todd and his then-wife Elizabeth Taylor. Todd noticed Williams' good looks and suggested he pursue an acting career. Williams first went to college and got a degree. Todd died in a plane crash in 1958, but Williams followed his advice, moved to Hollywood and took voice and acting lessons.
He managed to get cast in episodes of General Electric Theatre (1958-1959), Lawman (1959) and Colt .45 (1959) and played minor theatre roles, including engagements on Broadway. Warner Brothers had a keen eye for photogenic hunks like Williams and signed him in 1959 for their television division. He was irresistible as the clean-cut private eye Kenny Madison on the Detective series Bourbon Street Beat (1959-1960), set in New Orleans. Although the show lasted only one season, Warner Bros. carried his Kenny Madison character into the more popular adventure drama Surfside 6 (1960-1962) about a Miami Beach detective agency set on a houseboat. His new colleagues were played by Troy Donahue, Lee Patterson, Diane McBain, and Margarita Sierra.
Surfside 6 was one of four detective TV series produced by Warner Bros. around that time, the others being 77 Sunset Strip (set in Los Angeles), Hawaiian Eye (set in Hawaii), and the aforementioned Bourbon Street Beat (set in New Orleans). Plots, scripts (changing the names and locales), characters, and almost everything else crossed over from one series to another, not a difficult feat since they were all actually shot on the studio's backlots in Los Angeles. Williams also briefly appeared in the film Tall Story (Joshua Logan, 1960) as a smug jock stepping stark naked out of the men's locker room shower, giving a young Jane Fonda quite an eyeful of him, comically saying: "If it is alright with you, it is alright with me".
During the run of Surfside Street, Van Williams occasionally guest-starred on other Warner Bros. shows, such as Cheyenne (1962) and 77 Sunset Strip (1961-1962). He appeared with Jack Webb in an anti-communist short, Red Nightmare / Freedom and You (George Waggner, 1962), produced for and financed by the Department of Defence during the Cold War. Williams also starred in a World War II television pilot titled The Leathernecks (1962), broadcast as an episode of The Gallant Men. He also appeared as a young doctor in the film The Caretakers (Hall Bartlett, 1963) starring Robert Stack and Joan Crawford.
When his contract expired at Warner, Van Williams tried a comedy series next, The Tycoon (1964-1965). Walter Brennan starred as a busy, self-made millionaire, and Williams was his young assistant. Williams was signed to the series to provide the romantic interest, and he took the part to learn comedy. He worked in television commercials and guest appearances on various television series such as The Dick Van Dyke Show (1965), The Beverly Hillbillies (1965) and The Milton Berle Show (1966). He also had an uncredited bit role in the Spy-Fi comedy Our Man Flint (Daniel Mann, 1966) that parodies the James Bond film series. The film starred James Coburn as master spy Derek Flint.
Vintage photo. Van Williams and Jane Fonda in Tall Story (Joshua Logan, 1960).
Spanish postcard by Oscarcolor, no. 16-T. Photo: Warner Bros. Troy Donahue, Lee Patterson, and Van Williams in the TV series Surfside 6 (1960-1962).
Spanish postcard by CyA, no. 45. Photo: Warner Bros. Van Williams in the TV series Surfside 6 (Charles R. Rondeau, a.o., 1960-1962). The Spanish title was Rompeolas.
A mysterious masked hero and a charming newspaper editor
20th Century-Fox gave Van Williams his most vividly recalled part in The Green Hornet (1966-1967), as the mysterious masked hero and his alter ego, charming newspaper editor Britt Reid. Bruce Lee played his agile, Robin-like counterpart Kato. Inspired by the huge cult hit series Batman (1966), ABC-TV had William Dozier revive George W. Trendle's famous radio character in this new series. Williams played the role straight, unlike the comedy approach of the same producer's Batman show. He and Bruce Lee also made three guest appearances, in character, on the series Batman (1966-1967) and in the film Batman / Batman: The Movie (Leslie H. Martinson, 1966).
The Green Hornet enjoyed a fast start but, like its predecessor, met an equally untimely finish. By the time he starred in The Green Hornet, Williams had become successful investing in various commercial ventures. Williams later said, "By the time The Green Hornet came along, I had pretty well decided to get out of the television business. About the only thing I enjoyed about those years was the location work. Basically I'm a shy person. I know that public appearances and autographs and all that are a necessary part of the business, but it wasn't for me."
However, after The Green Hornet ended, Van Williams guest-starred on shows such as The Big Valley (1968), Mannix (1970), Love, American Style (1970), Nanny and the Professor (1970), Ironside (1971), Mission: Impossible (1972), Apple's Way (1974), Gunsmoke (1974), and The Manhunter (1975). He returned to the lead in a regular series with Westwind (Christian Nyby, 1975), a children's adventure series filmed in Hawaii.
He co-starred with Dorothy McGuire in the TV movie The Runaways (Harry Harris, 1975) about a homeless teenage boy (Josh Albee) and an escaped leopard (Spot). William then again guest-starred in popular TV series such as Bert 'DAngelo/Superstar (1976), The Streets of San Francisco (1976), Barnaby Jones (1977), How the West Was Won (1978), The Night Rider (1979), Mrs. Columbo (1979) and The Rockford Files (1979). Ironically, he turned down the offer of a role in Falcon Crest (1981) because it involved too much location shooting. Williams retired from acting in 1982 to open a communications company in Santa Monica.
He was also a longtime reserve deputy sheriff with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and worked at the substation in Malibu, California. In 1993, Williams made a cameo in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (Rob Cohen, 1993) as the director of The Green Hornet television program. In 2010, the filmmakers of the Green Hornet film adaptation wanted him to make a cameo appearance as a cemetery guard, but Williams turned it down. Williams married Vicki Flaxman in 1959. Together they had two children, and one from Vicki's prior marriage to Jeff Richards. He had nine grandchildren. He also had twin daughters from a previous marriage to Drucilla Greenhaw, which also included four grandchildren. Outside the studios, Williams was also privately closely affiliated with Batman star Adam West. They were neighbours in Sun Valley and spent much leisure time together. West also claimed that when people saw them together outdoors, they would comment about Batman and The Green Hornet being on a secret case together. Van Williams died in 2016 from kidney failure at the age of 82 in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Spanish postcard by Oscarcolor, no. 252. Photo: Warner Bros. Publicity still for the TV series Surfside 6 (1960-1962).
Vintage card, no. 1444. Van Williams and Bruce Lee in the TV series The Green Hornet (1966-1967).
French postcard by Editions F. Nugeron, no. E 283. French affiche by René Chateau for The Green Hornet (William Beaudine, Norman Foster, E. Darrell Hallenbeck, 1974). The French title was Le Retour du Dragon. After Bruce Lee's sudden death in 1973, several episodes of the TV series The Green Hornet (1966-1967) were edited and released as one feature.
Sources: Gary Brumburgh (IMDb), J.E. McKillop (IMDb), Wikipedia (German and English) and IMDb.
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