On This Day

Birthday of Billy Dee Williams

April 6th 1937

09:15 6 April 2024

American actor Billy Dee Williams was born on this day in 1937. Williams made his film debut in ‘The Last Angry Man’ (1959). His breakthrough performance came in the television movie ‘Brian’s Song’ (1971), which earned him an Emmy nomination for Best Actor. He went on to star opposite Diana Ross in ‘Lady Sings the Blues’ (1972) and Mahogany’ (1975) and Sylvester Stallone in ‘Nighthawks’ (1981). 

His best known role is that of Lando Calrissian, which he played in ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ (1980) and ‘Return of the Jedi’ (1983). He reprised the role for ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’ (2019) which stands as one of the longest time periods between an actor portraying the same character onscreen in American film history. 

Williams also played Harvey Dent in ‘Batman’ (1989), a role that turned into Dent’s villainous alter-ego, Two-Face, which he voiced for ‘The Lego Batman Movie’ (2017). Happy Birthday Billy Dee.