Guy Williams, a charismatic performer with a serene baritone voice, was born Armand Joseph Catalano on January 14, 1924, in New York City, to Italian parents.
He was raised in the Washington Heights area and attended Peekskill Military Academy during his formative years. Initially, he broke into the entertainment field as a male fashion model before joining New York's Neighborhood Playhouse, which led to TV assignments such as Studio One in 1948.
Guy debuted in films with a featured role as the bombardier on the Enola Gay in the feature film The Beginning or the End in 1947, the story about the first US-deployed atom bomb.
In 1952, he was given a screen test and signed by Universal Pictures, where he began paying his dues in unbilled bits in such standard movies as Back at the Front, All I Desire, The Golden Blade, and Take Me to Town.
When he managed to receive billing, he was rather benignly used: Bonzo Goes to College, The Mississippi Gambler with Tyrone Power, and The Man from the Alamo with Glenn Ford.
Guy eventually left Universal and freelanced in films, which would include a minor role as a cop in the cult horror classic I Was a Teenage Werewolf in 1957 starring Michael Landon, and also added scattered TV appearances such as Highway Patrol and The Lone Ranger to his résumé.
Nothing, however, of major significance happened until Walt Disney came into the picture, signing him at age 33 to play Don Diego de la Vega, aka Zorro in 1957, thrusting him immediately into the celebrity limelight.
His dashing good looks, eloquence, and charm had female hearts fluttering, while the male audiences admired his fencing dexterity and effortless ladies'-man appeal.
The Disney series was so popular that certain episodes were culled together and released into two feature films: The Sign of Zorro in 1958 and Zorro, the Avenger in 1959.
Further propelled by Disney with his captivating role in The Prince and the Pauper: The Pauper King in 1962, Guy was handed fully-bearded heroes to play in a couple of fantasy film adventures, portraying Damon in the costumer Damon and Pythias in 1962 and the title role in Captain Sindbad in 1963.
In 1964, he reunited with "Teen Werewolf" Michael Landon when he arrived on the Bonanza set to play cousin Will Cartwright for a few episodes.
The cult science fiction series Lost in Space in 1965 would be Guy's last hurrah in show business.
Although overshadowed extensively by the nefariously campy antics of Jonathan Harris' Dr. Smith character, Guy nevertheless provided a necessary strong anchor to the family show, which included June Lockhart as the silver-suited wife and mother of his three intergalactic offspring.
Battling aliens and the forces of nature, the show's popularity went stratospheric at first. However, much like Batman, it faded very quickly and ended up having a short life of three seasons.
When Guy first visited Argentina in 1973, he was quite taken by the signs of admiration and fascination the Argentines expressed for him and his signature character of "El Zorro." In turn, Guy fell in love with the people and culture of Argentina.
Eventually, he retired, except for personal appearances, to Recoleta in the 1970s, an upscale neighborhood of Buenos Aires. He died there of a brain aneurysm at the age of 65 on April 30, 1989. Long married since 1948 to Janice Cooper, he was survived by their two children.
