William Hootkins

William Michael Hootkins was born on July 5, 1948, in Dallas, Texas. He moved to London, England in the early '70s and lived there up until 2002. Hootkins was an actor at Theatre Intime while attending Princeton University where he learned how to speak fluent Mandarin Chinese. He also trained as an actor at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, and attended St. Marks, where he was in the same theater group as Tommy Lee Jones. The imposingly bulky and heavyset Hootkins first began acting in films and TV shows alike in the mid '70s. His more noteworthy parts include the first of the Rebel fighter pilots to get killed while attacking the Death Star in "Star Wars", scientist Topol's bumbling oaf assistant in "Flash Gordon", Major Eaton, sent by the US government in "Raiders of the Lost Ark", one of Rod Steiger's demented sons in "American Gothic", a corrupt police lieutenant in "Batman", a disgusting sleazy voyeur in "Hardware", a coarse South African police chief in "Dust Devil", the mysterious and duplicitous Mr. X in "Hear My Song", a haughty corporate executive in "Death Machine", Santa Claus in "Like Father, Like Santa", and an opera-singing vampire in "The Breed". Moreover, Hootkins had small parts in two "Pink Panther" pictures: he's a taxi driver in both "The Trail of the Pink Panther" and "Curse of the Pink Panther".

Among the TV shows he did guest spots on are "Yanks Go Home", "Agony", "Play for Today", "Tales of the Unexpected", "The Life and Times of David Lloyd George", "Brett Maverick", "Cagney and Lacey", "Taxi", "Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense", "Poirot", "Chancer", "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles", "The Tomorrow People", "The West Wing", and "Absolute Power". Hootkins received many accolades for his outstanding performance as Sir Alfred Hitchcock in Terry Johnson's hit play "Hitchcock Blonde". In addition to his substantial film and TV credits, Hootkins was also a popular and prolific voice artist who recorded dozens of plays for BBC Radio Drama; he supplied the voices for such iconic individuals as Orson Welles, J. Edgar Hoover, and Winston Churchill. William Hootkins died of pancreatic cancer on October 23, 2005. IMDb Mini Biography

Filmography (116 Appearances)

Ancestors Of Ancient Rome: The Etruscans

Colour Me Kubrick

Dear Wendy

Blessed

Mars: Pioneering the Planet

The Magnificent Ambersons

Hamilton Mattress

Justice League

The Breed

Town & Country

American Gangster

The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Espionage Escapades

The Miracle Maker

Animated Epics: Moby Dick

The Omega Code

The West Wing

Survivor Science: The Dead Man Walking

Like Father, Like Santa

Something to Believe In

This World, Then the Fireworks

Extreme Machines

Rhinoceros Hunting in Budapest

The Island of Dr. Moreau

Virgin Mary

Funny Bones

Death Machine

Time Life Animal Oddities: The Meanest Animal Alive

Aaahh!!! Real Monsters

The NeverEnding Story III

Iron Man

Predators of the Wild: African Survival

Predators of the Wild: Crocodiles and Alligators

Age of Treason

The Milky Life

The Cement Garden

Predators of the Wild: Hawk

Predators of the Wild: Tiger

Predators of the Wild: Snake

Predators of the Wild: Wolf

Predators of the Wild: Polar Bear

Predators of the Wild: Giant Tarantula

A River Runs Through It

Gummed Labels

Dust Devil

The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles

Predators of the Wild: Lion

Predators of the Wild: Hunters and Hunted

Predators of the Wild: Grizzly Bear

Predators of the Wild: Cheetah and Leopard

Predators of the Wild: Shark

Predators of the Wild: Killer Whale

Hear My Song

The Pope Must Die

The Princess and the Goblin

Predators of the Wild: Bats

Hardware

Batman

Monkeys

Agatha Christie's Poirot

The New Statesman

American Gothic

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace

U.S. Marshals: Waco & Rhinehart

The Return of Sherlock Holmes

A State of Emergency

Haunted Honeymoon

Biggles

White Nights

Zina

Dreamchild

Water

Lytton's Diary

Black Carrion

Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense

Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime

Curse of the Pink Panther

Blackadder

Philip Marlowe, Private Eye

Trail of the Pink Panther

Remington Steele

The Tempest

Cagney & Lacey

American Playhouse

Bergerac

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Before Water Lilies

The Life and Times of David Lloyd George

Sphinx

Flash Gordon

Rabbit Pie Day

Oppenheimer

Hussy

Bad Timing

Charlie Muffin

Hanover Street

The Lady Vanishes

Tales of the Unexpected

The Lost Boys

The Lost Boys

Taxi

Clouds of Glory

The Billion Dollar Bubble

Come Back, Little Sheba

Premiere

Valentino

Star Wars

The Ambassadors

Twilight's Last Gleaming

Laurence Olivier Presents

Yanks Go Home

The Paradise Run

Playhouse

NOVA

Big Zapper

Van der Valk

BBC Play of the Month

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