Paul Williams (songwriter)
Paul Hamilton Williams Jr.[1] (born September 19, 1940)[1][2] is an American composer, singer, songwriter, and actor. He is known for writing and co-writing popular songs performed by a number of acts in the 1970s, including Three Dog Night's "An Old Fashioned Love Song" and "Out in the Country", Helen Reddy's "You and Me Against the World", Biff Rose's "Fill Your Heart", and the Carpenters' "We've Only Just Begun" and "Rainy Days and Mondays". He also wrote "Cried Like a Baby" for teen idol Bobby Sherman.
For other people with the same name, see Paul Williams.
Paul Williams
Paul Hamilton Williams Jr.
September 19, 1940
Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
- Musician
- songwriter
- actor
- writer
1964–present
Williams is also known for writing the score and lyrics for Bugsy Malone (1976) and his musical contributions to other films, including the Oscar-nominated song "Rainbow Connection" from The Muppet Movie, and writing the lyrics to the #1 chart-topping song "Evergreen", the love theme from the Barbra Streisand film A Star Is Born, for which he won a Grammy for Song of the Year and an Academy Award for Best Original Song. He wrote the lyrics to the opening theme for the television show The Love Boat, with music previously composed by Charles Fox, which was originally sung by Jack Jones and, later, by Dionne Warwick.[3]
Williams had a variety of high-profile acting roles, such as Little Enos Burdette in the action-comedy Smokey and the Bandit (1977) and the villainous Swan in Brian De Palma's Phantom of the Paradise (1974),[4] which Williams also co-scored, receiving an Oscar nomination in the process.[5] Since 2009, Williams has been the president and chairman of the American songwriting society ASCAP.
Early life[edit]
Williams was born in Omaha, Nebraska,[6] the son of Paul Hamilton Williams, an architectural engineer, and his wife, Bertha Mae (née Burnside), a homemaker.[1]
One of his brothers was John J. Williams, a NASA rocket scientist, who participated in the Mercury and Apollo programs and was awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, their highest honor, in 1969.[7] His other brother was Mentor Williams, a songwriter as well who wrote Dobie Gray's 1973 hit "Drift Away".[8]
Film and television career[edit]
Although predominantly known for his music, Williams has appeared in films and many television guest spots, such as the Faustian record producer Swan in Brian DePalma's film Phantom of the Paradise (1974)—a rock and roll adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera, Faust, and The Picture of Dorian Gray, for which Williams wrote the songs[28]—and as Virgil, the genius orangutan in Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973).[29]
On February 9, 1973, Williams made a joke appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in which he sang a song in full make-up as Virgil.[30] He played Migelito Loveless, Jr. in The Wild Wild West Revisited (1979), a reunion film featuring the original cast of the television series The Wild Wild West. He played himself, singing a song to Felix Unger's daughter Edna, on the television series The Odd Couple in 1974. He made his film debut as Gunther Fry in the satire The Loved One (1965).[17]
After appearing on The Muppet Show in 1976, Williams worked closely with Jim Henson's Henson Productions on The Muppet Movie, working on the soundtrack and appearing in a cameo part as the piano player in the nightclub where Kermit meets Fozzie Bear. He was also the lyricist for Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas.[31]
Williams was hired by TV producers Paul Junger Witt and Tony Thomas to write title tracks for two of their ABC comedies, It Takes Two (1982–1983), on which he sang a duet with Crystal Gayle, and Condo (1983), in which Williams' theme was sung by Drake Frye. Williams composed and performed the theme to the McLean Stevenson sitcom The McLean Stevenson Show in 1976.[32]
Williams composed, and sang "Flying Dreams" for the animated film The Secret of NIMH.[33]
Williams has appeared in many minor roles. He provided the voice of the Penguin in Batman: The Animated Series. He appeared on an episode of Walker, Texas Ranger as a radio DJ covering a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde. He appeared in 2008 in an episode of Nickelodeon's children's show Yo Gabba Gabba! entitled "Weather", where he performed "Rainbow Connection". He has also appeared on Cartoon Network's Dexter's Laboratory[34] where he played Professor Williams[35] in an episode entitled "Just An Old Fashioned Lab Song".
He made numerous television appearances in the 1970s and 1980s, including on The Odd Couple, Hawaii Five-O, Match Game '79, Hollywood Squares, The Love Boat, Police Woman, Fantasy Island, The Hardy Boys, The Fall Guy, The Flip Wilson Special, Gimme A Break, and The Gong Show. He has also guest-starred in the Babylon 5 episode "Acts of Sacrifice" (Season 2 Episode 12) as Taq, the aide to Correlilmurzon, an alien ambassador whose species finalizes treaties and agreements by having sex with the other signees.[36]
In October 1980, Williams was host of the Mickey Mouse Club 25th Anniversary Special on NBC-TV. He stated that he tried out for the show in early 1955 and was turned down. He was a frequent guest and performer on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. He appears as the man making the phone call at the beginning of the music video for Hank Williams Jr.'s song "All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight". In 2014, he appeared on Community[37] as an illegal textbook dealer who declines to purchase a batch of misprinted chemistry textbooks.[38] Williams appeared in the 2017 film Baby Driver as the Butcher, an arms dealer.[39][40]
He portrayed the character of Little Enos Burdette in Smokey and the Bandit (1977), Smokey and the Bandit II (1980), and Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 (1983). He has a recurring role as a former lawyer and information source in 2018's season 2 and 2019's season 3 of Goliath.[41]
Personal life[edit]
Williams has been married three times. He has two children, Sarah and Cole Williams (born 1981),[42] from his first marriage (1971) to Kate Clinton. In 1993, he married Hilda Keenan Wynn,[43] daughter of actor Keenan Wynn. His third wife was writer Mariana Williams.[44]
An experienced skydiver, Williams completed over 100 jumps in the 1970s.[45]
In September 2011, director Stephen Kessler's documentary Paul Williams Still Alive premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.[46]
Williams struggled with alcohol and substance abuse during the 1970s and 1980s.[17] Sober since 1990, Williams has been active in the field of recovery from addictions and became a Certified Drug Rehabilitation Counselor[41] through UCLA. In 2014, he co-authored Gratitude and Trust: Recovery is Not Just for Addicts, with Tracey Jackson.[47]
Legacy[edit]
"Rainbow Connection" was inducted into the National Recording Registry in 2020.[61]