Adam Williams

Adam Williams

  • Birthday: 1922-11-26
  • Deathday: 2006-12-04
  • Place of birth: Wall Lake, Iowa, USA
  • Also know as: Adam William Berg

Biography

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). 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.

Filmography

Without Warning!

1952

As Carl Martin

The Space Children

1958

As Dave Brewster

Fear Strikes Out

1957

As Doctor Brown

Ladies Knight

2012

As Doofus (voice)

Vice Squad

1953

As Marty Kusalich

Gunfight at Comanche Creek

1963

As Jed Hayden

The Proud and Profane

1956

As Eustace Press

The Glory Guys

1965

As Pvt. Lucas Crain

North by Northwest

1959

As Valerian

Crashout

1955

As Fred Summerfield

The Last Sunset

1961

As Calverton

The Badlanders

1958

As Deputy Leslie

Benjy

1951

As Mr. Miller

The Big Heat

1953

As Larry Gordon

The Lonely Man

1957

As Lon

Flying Leathernecks

1951

As Lt. Bert Malotke

The Oklahoman

1957

As Bob Randell

Dragonfly Squadron

1954

As Capt. Wyler

The Rack

1956

As Sgt. Otto Pahnke

Convicts 4

1962

As Guard

The Yellow Tomahawk

1954

As Cpl. Maddock

Darby's Rangers

1958

As Heavy Hall

Follow Me, Boys!

1966

As Sergeant (uncredited)

Queen for a Day

1951

As Chuck

The New Interns

1964

As Wolanski

Helter Skelter

1976

As Terrence Milik

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