 |
|
|
Lugar y fecha de nacimiento. William Hickey (1928 - ) Actor, acting teacher Also: Dancer Born: September 19, 1928, Brooklyn, NY A slight, craggy-faced veteran of the Broadway stage and legendary acting teacher, Hickey made his film debut in 1957 and later carved a niche for himself in the 1980s and 90s as a prolific screen character player. He began performing on the radio at age nine and made it to off-Broadway in Bury the Dead a decade later. Hickey also began studying acting at the famed HB Studios, where, later in the 50s, he would take up residence as an acting teacher over the next four decades. Hickey also kept busy on early TV anthologies including Philco TV Playhouse and made his screen debut in the powerful study of drug addiction, A HATFUL OF RAIN. After appearing in OPERATION MAD BALL (1957), Hickey would not return to features for a decade until he took small roles in THE PRODUCERS (1968) and THE BOSTON STRANGLER (1968). Stage work kept him busy; over the years Hickey has appeared on and off-Broadway in plays including Tovarich, On the Town, Thieves, Happy Birthday Wanda June, Troilus and Cressida y Next. He was also part of the American Shakespeare Festival Theater for six years in the 60s. His acting students, meanwhile, included the likes of James Woods, Judd Hirsch, Billy Crystal, Carol Kane, Christine Lahti, Tom Berenger and Amy Wright. Feature work picked up slightly for Hickey in the 70s, and, though some of the films were obscure, they included such intriguing items as A NEW LEAF (1971) and John Huston WISE BLOOD (1979). Huston remembered the diminutive and feisty actor when he was casting the key supporting role of an elderly, amusing but still deadly Mafia Don in EL HONOR DE LOS PRIZZI (1985); Hickey's splendid turn in the role won him an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor and kicked off a highly prolific period in film that has lasted for over a decade. He has played a variety of patriarchal and avuncular figures since then, often crotchety, occasionally villainous and sometimes quite funny, in a wide range of films including EL NOMBRE DE LA ROSA (1986), DA (1988), PROHIBIDA OBSESION (1989), MI CIELO AZUL (1990) and MAJOR PAYNE (1995)) Hickey also enjoyed himself immensely supplying the voice of the evil scientist for the animated hit, EL EXTRAÑO MUNDO DE JACK (1993). More recent stage work for Hickey included the Broadway revival of Arsénico y Encaje Antiguo (1986-87), with Hickey as the deadly Jonathan Brewster's ferrety sidekick Dr. Einstein. TV credits, meanwhile, have included TV-movies including STRANDED (1986) and MOB BOSS (1990). Hickey also tried a series with the itcom Baby Boom (ABC, 1991-92), and got laughs with a recurring role as the obnoxious, babbling Carlton on the hit sitcom Wings.
|
|
|
