Treat Williams Dead at 71 After Motorcycle Accident
By Movieguide® Staff
Actor Treat Williams, known for 12 MIGHTY ORPHANS and CHRISTMAS ON THE SQUARE, died following a motorcycle accident on June 12. He was 71.
Williams’ agent of 15 years, Barry McPherson, confirmed the news of his death on Monday night.
“He was killed this afternoon. He was making a left or a right [and] a car cut him off,” McPherson said. “I’m just devastated. He was the nicest guy. He was so talented.
“He was an actor’s actor. Filmmakers loved him. He’s been the heart of Hollywood since the late 1970s,” McPherson added. “He was really proud of his performance this year. He’s been so happy with the work that I got him. He’s had a balanced career.”
Williams’ first major acting role came in 1975 in the movie, DEADLY HERO. In more recent years, Williams appeared in several Hallmark movies, and Dolly Parton’s in CHRISTMAS ON THE SQUARE.
He has also made appearances in the Movieguide® Award-winning series BLUE BLOODS since 2016.
CNN reported of Williams:
Born Richard Treat Williams in Rowayton, Connecticut, he studied theater in college and moved to New York shortly after graduating. There, he nabbed the understudy role to John Travolta in “Grease” and later replaced him as Danny Zuko.
Williams’ versatile screen career included an early role in director Milos Forman’s adaptation of the musical “Hair” in 1979, followed by a starring vehicle with another A-list director, Sidney Lumet, in the gritty undercover crime drama “Prince of the City” two years later.
While Williams appeared destined for major stardom, his next several movies didn’t equal that early promise, though he continued to work steadily, including in a TV movie remake of “A Streetcar Named Desire” and additional TV movies in which he played boxer Jack Dempsey and FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover.
Williams subsequently found new success in television, starring in the CW series “Everwood” for four seasons in the aughts and a more recent stint on “Chicago Fire.” He was also part of the core cast of “Chesapeake Shores,” appearing in 53 episodes between 2016 and 2022. He last year also co-starred in the HBO miniseries “We Own This City,” producer David Simon’s chronicle of corruption and internal politics in the Baltimore police department.
- Content: +1Share:
- Content: +4