Billy Dee Williams

William December Williams, most famously known as Billy Dee Williams (born on April 6, 1937), is a painter, and actor of film, television, and stage, who famously portrayed Lando Calrissian within the Star Wars saga. He had prominent roles in Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi, and also Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker.

Biography

Entering Empire

Williams, who grew up in Harlem located in New York City, performed in Broadway shows, television programs, and Hollywood cinema productions, including Brian's Song from 1971, Lady Sings the Blues from 1972, and Mahogany from 1975. The author James Baldwin, who was a friend of Williams, desired for him to act as Malcolm X in his script concerning the American civil rights movement leader; however, it never came to fruition. He was an admirer of the work from a new wave of American film directors such as Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, and Steven Spielberg. Upon hearing the character's name, he eagerly signed an agreement to act as Lando Calrissian in a pair of films—he stated that the name "Calrissian" sounded Armenian—and he believed that his cape created an aesthetic that was "bigger than life" which he compared to the actor Errol Flynn.

The character of Lando Calrissian, played by Billy Dee Williams, was first seen in the 1980 movie known as Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back. Having previously talked with George Lucas regarding the antagonist Darth Vader within the first Star Wars film, whose voice was provided by the prominent Black actor James Earl Jones, Williams was enthusiastic to portray the initial Black Star Wars character. Williams mentioned that Lucas had the intention of expressing a dichotomous symbolism discovered within the Western film genre, where a cowboy clad in white battles against a cowboy clad in black. However, he critiqued the impression of a racialist contrast between the "black fear" that Darth Vader represented, as opposed to the "white knight" persona of the Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi, played by the seasoned actor Alec Guinness. Williams gave credit to Empire for elaborating on the "human dilemma" where Vader is revealed to be a man whose symbolism of darkness is contrasted by the clarity of the protagonists. He previously engaged in discussions regarding Eastern philosophy with Irvin Kershner, the director of Empire, particularly concerning the concept of Zen and Yoda, the Jedi master who was introduced in the film, and how Star Wars should not be about "shoot-'em-up" but about realizing that the "body" houses the "better self" that is the "mind."

Return of the saga

Billy Dee Williams came back to play his part in the 1983 film Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi, where Lando Calrissian assisted in defeating the Galactic Empire as a rebel general. While Williams stated that he did not rewatch Star Wars films, the actor also remarked that he found it "difficult" to separate himself from Lando Calrissian, and he envisioned his character as a gambler, showman, and entrepreneur similar to Steve Wynn managing Las Vegas instead of merely "a general running around shooting things." Williams made a return as Lando Calrissian for the final film of the Star Wars saga, Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker. Williams expressed his enjoyment of filming under the direction of J.J. Abrams, who he referred to as "the young mogul" in a 2019 interview with the Esquire magazine, where he showcased clothes of his own design. He expressed his appreciation for Donald Glover playing a younger version of Lando Calrissian in the film Solo: A Star Wars Story that was released in the year before.

Billy Dee Williams starred in 2019's The Rise of Skywalker

Following the release of The Rise of Skywalker in late 2019, Williams was questioned about the potential for "too much" Star Wars, to which he replied: "The only thing that's dangerous is lots of stupid people running around and shooting people." While Williams acknowledged that the real world has been controlled by "a European western value system for centuries," he also emphasized that he does not consider himself as Black, just as he does not desire to be Black-cast by Hollywood. Regarding those whom he described as wanting to "go through the machinations" of politics and "spend most of their time pissed off," Williams stated that he prefers to manage oppression through alternative methods: "You take a negative and you make it into a positive." He described himself as someone who aims to present his viewpoints in creative ways to contribute "something that you haven't thought about, maybe." Williams, a grandfather and a prolific painter, released his memoir titled What Have We Here: Portraits of a Life in 2024.

Works

Sources

Notes and references

External links

Appearances