Adam Williams
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- November 26, 1922
- Died
- December 4, 2006 (aged 84)
- Birthplace
- Wall Lake, Iowa, USA
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.
Known For
Filmography
Ladies Knight
Movie · as Doofus (voice)
Helter Skelter
Movie · as Terrence Milik
Switch
TV · as Henry Corwin · 1 ep
This Is a Hijack
Movie · as Smitty
Cannon
TV · 1 ep
Marcus Welby, M.D.
TV · as Dr. Schmidt · 1 ep
The High Chaparral
TV · as Burton · 1 ep
Mannix
TV · as Prosecutor, George Henderson · 1 ep
Follow Me, Boys!
Movie · as Sergeant (uncredited)
Felony Squad
TV · 1 ep
The Glory Guys
Movie · as Pvt. Lucas Crain
The F.B.I.
TV · as David Brice · 1 ep
Honey West
TV · as Gordon Forbes · 1 ep
The New Interns
Movie · as Wolanski
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
TV · as Chief · 1 ep
Daniel Boone
TV · as Mose · 1 ep
Gunfight at Comanche Creek
Movie · as Jed Hayden
Kraft Suspense Theatre
TV · as Ben Jorgenson · 1 ep
The Fugitive
TV · as Truck Driver · 1 ep
Temple Houston
TV · as Harmony Brown · 1 ep
Arrest and Trial
TV · as C.H. Littler · 1 ep
Convicts 4
Movie · as Guard
The Gallant Men
TV · 1 ep
Combat!
TV · as Lt. Col. Nash · 1 ep
The Virginian
TV · as Roper · 1 ep
Sam Benedict
TV · as Burton Harper · 1 ep
The Last Sunset
Movie · as Calverton
Dr. Kildare
TV · as Ralph Walker · 1 ep
The Asphalt Jungle
TV · 1 ep
The Americans
TV · 1 ep
Mission of Danger
Movie
Outlaws
TV · 2 eps
Thriller
TV · as Hymie Kralik · 1 ep
Guestward, Ho!
TV · 1 ep
The Roaring 20's
TV · 1 ep
Surfside 6
TV · as Willie Cleveland, Henry Gifford, Mel Walters · 1 ep
Stagecoach West
TV · as Arnie Ames · 1 ep
The Westerner
TV · as Pauk · 1 ep
North by Northwest
Movie · as Valerian
Hawaiian Eye
TV · as Harry Gulliver · 1 ep
The Twilight Zone
TV · as Woodward, Sailor · 1 ep
Rawhide
TV · as Kellino, Jeb, Hank Kale · 1 ep
Black Saddle
TV · as Brad Pickard, Clint Frome · 1 ep
Bonanza
TV · as Muller, Blackie Marx, Hardesty, Red Twilight · 1 ep
The Untouchables
TV · as Lloyd Barker, Paul Meadows · 1 ep
The Detectives
TV · as Eddie Furman, Soley, Felix · 1 ep
Darby's Rangers
Movie · as Heavy Hall
The Space Children
Movie · as Dave Brewster
The Badlanders
Movie · as Deputy Leslie
The Texan
TV · as Jebb Kilmer · 1 ep
77 Sunset Strip
TV · as Spud Morrison, Willie Lee Hanks, Chuck Lynch, Axel Derwent · 1 ep
The Rifleman
TV · as Corporal Troc, Russell Ganaway, Jake Pardee, Jax, Cory Platt, Mal Sherman · 1 ep
Lawman
TV · as Burley Keller · 1 ep
The Garment Jungle
Movie · as Ox
The Lonely Man
Movie · as Lon
The Oklahoman
Movie · as Bob Randell
Fear Strikes Out
Movie · as Doctor Brown
Perry Mason
TV · as Jason Beckmeyer · 1 ep
M Squad
TV · as Denny Sutton · 1 ep
Maverick
TV · as Sam Elkins · 1 ep
Alcoa Theatre
TV · as Wohlman · 1 ep
Trackdown
TV · as Cowboy · 1 ep
Have Gun, Will Travel
TV · as Simon Quill, Beckett, Frank Gault · 1 ep
The Proud and Profane
Movie · as Eustace Press
The Rack
Movie · as Sgt. Otto Pahnke
Wire Service
TV · as Wells · 1 ep
Telephone Time
TV · 1 ep
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
TV · as Harlan Breckenridge · 1 ep
Crashout
Movie · as Fred Summerfield
Cheyenne
TV · as Jeb Quinn · 1 ep
Gunsmoke
TV · as Slim Trent · 1 ep
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
TV · as Police Lt. King, Doctor · 1 ep
The Millionaire
TV · as Todd Burke, Jackson Greene · 1 ep
Dragonfly Squadron
Movie · as Capt. Wyler
The Yellow Tomahawk
Movie · as Cpl. Maddock
The Big Heat
Movie · as Larry Gordon
Vice Squad
Movie · as Marty Kusalich
General Electric Theater
TV · as Glen · 1 ep
Without Warning!
Movie · as Carl Martin
The Ford Television Theatre
TV · as Private Littauer · 1 ep
Four Star Playhouse
TV · as George · 1 ep
Chevron Theatre
TV · 2 eps
Flying Leathernecks
Movie · as Lt. Bert Malotke
Benjy
Movie · as Mr. Miller
Queen for a Day
Movie · as Chuck