Person Biography:
Van Williams was born on February 27, 1934, as Van Zandt Jarvis Williams, the son of a cattle rancher. He majored in animal husbandry and business at Texas Christian University but moved to Hawaii, which changed the course of his life. While operating a salvage company and a skin-diving school during the mid-1950s, he was approached by Elizabeth Taylor and husband/producer Mike Todd, who were filming there. Encouraged by Todd to try his luck, Van arrived in Hollywood with no experience. Todd perished in a plane crash before he was able to help Van, but the young hopeful ventured on anyway, taking some acting/voice lessons, and was almost immediately cast in dramatic TV roles.
Warner Brothers had a keen eye for camera-loving hunks and smartly signed Van up. Fitting in perfectly, he was soon showing just how irresistible he was as a clean-cut private eye on the series Bourbon Street Beat (1959). Although the show lasted only one season, Warners carried his Kenny Madison character into the more popular adventure drama Surfside 6 (1960) opposite fellow pin-up / blond beefcake bookend Troy Donahue.
Series-wise, Van tried comedy next opposite Walter Brennan in The Tycoon (1964). After his contract expired at Warners, 20th Century-Fox handed him his most vividly recalled role, that of the emerald-suited superhero The Green Hornet (1966) with the late Bruce Lee as his partner Kato. The show, inspired by the huge cult hit Batman (1966) enjoyed a fast start but, like its predecessor, met an equally untimely finish.
Never a strong draw in films, Van revealed quite a bit of himself (literally) in his debut in Tall Story (1960) coming out of a shower. Although handed a typically staid second lead in the drama The Caretakers (1963),he focused strictly on the TV medium. Continuing well into the 1970s to guest sporadically on such TV classics as The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961),Love, American Style (1969),Mission: Impossible (1966),The Big Valley (1965),Nanny and the Professor (1970),Barnaby Jones (1973),and The Rockford Files (1974).
Another starring series attempt with Westwind (1975) failed to make the grade and he soon let his career go. Van let his career subside and went quite successfully into business with telecommunications, real estate, and law enforcement supplies among his lucrative ventures. With his glossy, pretty-boy years far behind him, he had no need to look back at his show biz success with the exception of an occasional autograph convention. He died of renal failure in Scottsdale, Arizona, on November 28, 2016, at age 82.
