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Adam Williams

Actor

Adam Williams

Born November 26, 1922 in Wall Lake, Iowa, USADied December 4, 200628 films

Adam Williams (born Adam William Berg, November 26, 1922 – December 4, 2006) was an American film and television actor. A veteran "bad guy" actor of 1950s film and TV, he began his career after distinguished World War II military service as a United States Navy pilot, for which he received the Navy Cross. In 1952, Williams played the lead, a Los Angeles woman killer, in the film Without Warning! In 1953, he was cast as Larry, a car bomber, in The Big Heat. He had a leading role in the 1958 science fiction movie The Space Children. Other notable film roles include the psychiatrist in Fear Strikes Out (1957) and Valerian in North by Northwest (1959).

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During the 1950s and 1960s, he appeared on dozens of television series, including the syndicated Sheriff of Cochise, set in Arizona and starring John Bromfield, and Have Gun – Will Travel in the episode "The Reasonable Man". He portrayed private detective and murderer Jason Beckmeyer in the 1957 Perry Mason episode "The Case of the Runaway Corpse." In 1961, he was cast as Jim Gates in the episode "Frontier Week" on Joanne Dru's sitcom Guestward, Ho!, set on a dude ranch in New Mexico. In 1960, he played the role of a sailor hitching a ride in The Twilight Zone season 1 episode "The Hitch-Hiker", where he is picked up by a terrified driver played by Inger Stevens, who is compelled to pick him up so that he may offer protection and safety to her from a mysterious hitchhiker who shows up at various times and places along the road while she travels across country. Many reviewers have cited this episode as one of The Twilight Zone's "10 Greatest" of the series. He had also appeared in the Twilight Zone episode "A Most Unusual Camera". Between 1959 and 1967 he appeared in six episodes of The Rifleman and in four episodes of Bonanza, and in 1961 as Adam in "A Rope for Charlie Munday", in the ABC adventure series The Islanders. He was cast as Burley Keller in the 1961 episode "The Persecuted" of the ABC/Warner Brothers western series Lawman. He guest-starred in an episode of the 1961 NBC series The Americans, based on family conflicts stemming from the American Civil War, and in an episode of the 1961 series The Asphalt Jungle. One of his later roles was in the 1976 television movie Helter Skelter.

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The best way into Adam Williams's work
North by Northwest posterFirst watchNorth by Northwest19598.0as ValerianAdvertising man Roger Thornhill is mistaken for a spy, triggering a deadly cross-country chase.View film

Essential films

Ranked by acclaim and reach

Filmography

28 films as actor
  1. 2012Ladies KnightDoofus (voice)
  2. 1976Helter SkelterTerrence Milik
  3. 1973This Is a HijackSmitty
  4. 1966Follow Me, Boys!Sergeant (uncredited)
  5. 1965The Glory GuysPvt. Lucas Crain
  6. 1964The New InternsWolanski
  7. 1963Gunfight at Comanche CreekJed Hayden
  8. 1962Convicts 4Guard
  9. 1961The Last SunsetCalverton
  10. 1960Mission of Danger
  11. 1959North by NorthwestValerian
  12. 1958The BadlandersDeputy Leslie
  13. 1958The Space ChildrenDave Brewster
  14. 1958Darby's RangersHeavy Hall
  15. 1957The Lonely ManLon
  16. 1957The OklahomanBob Randell
  17. 1957The Garment JungleOx
  18. 1957Fear Strikes OutDoctor Brown
  19. 1956The RackSgt. Otto Pahnke
  20. 1956The Proud and ProfaneEustace Press
  21. 1955CrashoutFred Summerfield
  22. 1954The Yellow TomahawkCpl. Maddock
  23. 1954Dragonfly SquadronCapt. Wyler
  24. 1953The Big HeatLarry Gordon
  25. 1953Vice SquadMarty Kusalich
  26. 1952Without Warning!Carl Martin
  27. 1951Flying LeathernecksLt. Bert Malotke
  28. 1951Queen for a DayChuck