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
113 acting credits
Acting · 113
The West Wing
1999
Agatha Christie's Poirot
1989
NOVA
1974
Star Wars
1977
Cagney & Lacey
1982
Taxi
1978
Bergerac
1981
Tales of the Unexpected
1979
BBC Play of the Month
1965
Playhouse
1974
Remington Steele
1982
Blackadder
1983
Raiders of the Lost Ark
1981
Aaahh!!! Real Monsters
1994
Justice League
2001
Batman
1989
Van der Valk
1972
The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles
1992
The New Statesman
1987
American Playhouse
1982
Iron Man
1994
Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense
1984
A River Runs Through It
1992
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
1987
Laurence Olivier Presents
1976
Extreme Machines
1997
Flash Gordon
1980
Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime
1983
Lytton's Diary
1985
The NeverEnding Story III
1994
Philip Marlowe, Private Eye
1983
White Nights
1985
The Island of Dr. Moreau
1996
Hardware
1990
The Cement Garden
1993
Hanover Street
1979
Curse of the Pink Panther
1983
Death Machine
1995
Water
1985
Yanks Go Home
1976
Trail of the Pink Panther
1982
Bad Timing
1980
Valentino
1977
Clouds of Glory
1978
The Lost Boys
1978
The Miracle Maker
2000
Hussy
1980
Dear Wendy
2005
Town & Country
2001
Haunted Honeymoon
1986
Twilight's Last Gleaming
1977
American Gothic
1987
This World, Then the Fireworks
1997
The Breed
2001
Blessed
2004
The Lady Vanishes
1979
Colour Me Kubrick
2005
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Espionage Escapades
2000
Biggles
1986
Hear My Song
1991
The Omega Code
1999
Dreamchild
1985
Zina
1985
The Billion Dollar Bubble
1978
The Pope Must Die
1991
The Princess and the Goblin
1991
Dust Devil
1992
Sphinx
1981
Funny Bones
1995
The Magnificent Ambersons
2002
U.S. Marshals: Waco & Rhinehart
1987
Virgin Mary
1995
Like Father, Like Santa
1998
The Milky Life
1993
American Gangster
2000
Come Back, Little Sheba
1977
Charlie Muffin
1979
The Life and Times of David Lloyd George
1981
The Lost Boys
1978
Something to Believe In
1998
Big Zapper
1973
The Return of Sherlock Holmes
1987
Predators of the Wild: Cheetah and Leopard
1992
Monkeys
1989
The Paradise Run
1976
Age of Treason
1993
Black Carrion
1984
Rabbit Pie Day
1980
The Tempest
1982
Predators of the Wild: Killer Whale
1992
A State of Emergency
1986
Hamilton Mattress
2002
Rhinoceros Hunting in Budapest
1997
Predators of the Wild: African Survival
1994
Animated Epics: Moby Dick
2000
Mars: Pioneering the Planet
2003
Survivor Science: The Dead Man Walking
1999
Predators of the Wild: Hawk
1993
Predators of the Wild: Hunters and Hunted
1992
Predators of the Wild: Giant Tarantula
1993
Predators of the Wild: Snake
1993
The Ambassadors
1977
Predators of the Wild: Tiger
1993
Time Life Animal Oddities: The Meanest Animal Alive
1995
Predators of the Wild: Shark
1992
Before Water Lilies
1981
Predators of the Wild: Crocodiles and Alligators
1994
Predators of the Wild: Bats
1991
Predators of the Wild: Grizzly Bear
1992
Predators of the Wild: Wolf
1993
Predators of the Wild: Lion
1992
Gummed Labels
1992
Predators of the Wild: Polar Bear
1993