Billy Dee Williams
- Style
- Pencil
- Peak Era
- 1980s
- Born
- 1937
- Fan Votes
- 0 legendary · 0 meh
About Billy Dee Williams
William December Williams Jr. was born in New York City in 1937 and was performing on Broadway by age seven. He studied painting at the National Academy of Fine Arts and acting with Sidney Poitier's teacher, Paul Mann, before a stage and television career led him to his breakthrough as football player Gale Sayers in the TV movie Brian's Song (1971), which earned him an Emmy nomination.
He starred opposite Diana Ross in Lady Sings the Blues (1972) and Mahogany (1975), becoming one of the defining romantic leading men of the decade. Then, in The Empire Strikes Back (1980), he introduced the world to Lando Calrissian, the cape-wearing administrator of Cloud City, and reprised the role in Return of the Jedi (1983) and The Rise of Skywalker (2019). He also played Harvey Dent in Tim Burton's Batman (1989).
Williams is a serious painter whose work is held in museum collections, and his decades of Colt 45 commercials made the phrase "works every time" a pop-culture staple. His memoir, What Have We Here?, was published in 2024.
Why the Stach Became Iconic
The Billy Dee mustache is the mustache of pure charm. Thin, neat, and perfectly tuned to a smile that could talk its way out of a Cloud City deal gone wrong, it was the suave counterpoint to the rugged Selleck-and-Reynolds school.
Lando's mustache is also one of the few in the Star Wars universe, and easily the best. It kept its cool while wearing a cape, which is not as easy as he made it look.
Appearances
- Brian's Song (1971)
- Lady Sings the Blues (1972)
- Mahogany (1975)
- The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
- Return of the Jedi (1983)
- Batman (1989)
- Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
- He received an Emmy nomination for playing Gale Sayers in Brian's Song (1971).
- He is an accomplished painter whose work has been shown in galleries and museums.
- His Colt 45 malt liquor commercials ran for decades and made "works every time" a catchphrase.
- He returned as Lando Calrissian in The Rise of Skywalker (2019), 36 years after Return of the Jedi.
- His memoir, What Have We Here? Portraits of a Life, was published in 2024.
