William the Conqueror See William I (England)
William the Good See William II (Sicily)
William the Silent See William I (Netherlands)
Williams, Daniel Hale (b. Jan. 18, 1858, Hollidaysburg, Pa., U.S.—d. Aug. 4, 1931, Idlewild, Mich.) U.S. surgeon. He graduated from Chicago Medical College. In 1891 he founded Provident Hospital in Chi¬ cago, the first interracial hospital in the U.S., to provide training for black interns and nurses. There in 1893 he performed the first successful heart surgery; the patient lived at least 20 years after Williams opened the tho¬ racic cavity, sutured a wound of the pericardium (the sac around the heart), and closed the chest. In 1913 he became the only black charter member of the American College of Surgeons.
Williams, (George) Emlyn (b. Nov. 26, 1905, Mostyn, Flintshire, Wales—d. Sept. 25, 1987, London) Welsh actor and playwright. He made his acting debut in 1927 and won acclaim in London and New York City for his performance in his own play, the macabre Night Must Fall (1935; film, 1964). His most popular play was the autobiographical The Corn Is Green (1938; film, 1945), the story of a boy and his teacher in a Welsh mining town. He also acted in many films and was renowned for his pub¬ lic readings from Charles Dickens, Saki, and Dylan Thomas.
Williams, Eric (Eustace) (b. Sept. 25, 1911, Port of Spain, Trin.—d. March 29, 1981, St. Anne, near Port of Spain) First prime minister of independent Trinidad and Tobago (1962-81). He received a doctorate from the University of Oxford and served on the faculty of Howard Uni¬ versity in the U.S. before founding the People’s National Movement (PNM) in 1956 and taking his nation into the Federation of the West Indies in 1958 only to withdraw in favour of independence in 1962. Oil reserves helped boost the nation’s income, and Williams remained popular until 1970, when an economic downturn led to unsuccessful revolts. He served as prime minister until his death. Capitalism and Slavery (1944) and From Columbus to Castro: The History of the Caribbean, 1492—1969 (1970) were among his many books.
Williams, Hank orig. Hiram King Williams (b. Sept. 17, 1923, Georgiana, Ala., U.S.—d. Jan. 1, 1953, Oak Hill, W.Va.) U.S. singer and guitarist. Williams was born into poverty. He began playing guitar at age 8, made his radio debut at 13, and formed his first band, Hank Williams and his Drifting Cowboys, at 14. With the help of Fred Rose, his “Lovesick Blues” became a smash hit in 1949, and he joined the Grand Ole Opry that year after an extraordinary debut appearance. Among his best-selling recordings were “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” “Jambalaya,” “Your Cheatin’ Heart,” and “Hey, Good Lookin’.” He wrote almost all the songs he recorded. His death from heart failure at 29 may have resulted from drug and alcohol abuse. He remains perhaps the most revered figure in the history of country music. His son, Hank Williams, Jr., has had an exceptional recording career, and grandson Hank Williams III is also a musician.
Williams, Jody (b. Oct. 9, 1950, Putney, Vt., U.S.) American activist who in 1992 helped found the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL). In 1997 she and the ICBL were named corecipients of the Nobel Prize for Peace. She coordinated the launch of the ICBL with the coop¬ eration of six international organizations, with the mission to abolish the use of antipersonnel land mines, of which tens of millions lay unexploded in more than 70 countries. Her efforts bore fruit in December 1997, when the Mine Ban Treaty was signed by more than 100 countries in Ottawa. By 2003 some 130 nations had ratified the treaty, but not the major mine- producing ones, such as the United States, Russia, and China. Williams was coauthor, with Shawn Roberts, of After the Guns Fall Silent: The Enduring Legacy of Landmines (1995).
Williams, Joe orig. Joseph Goreed (b. Dec. 12, 1918, Cordele, Ga., U.S.—-d. March 29, 1999, Las Vegas, Nev.) U.S. singer and actor. Williams worked with Coleman Hawkins and Lionel Hampton before join¬ ing Count Basie’s band in 1954. The success of “Every Day I Have the Blues” established Williams as a sophisticated blues singer with a pow¬ erful bass-baritone voice. After leaving the Basie band in 1961, Williams led small ensembles singing popular songs, ballads, and blues. During the 1980s he played the role of Grandpa A1 on the television series The Cosby Show. His album Nothin’ but the Blues (1984) won a Grammy Award.
Williams, John (Towner) (b. Feb. 8, 1932, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. composer and conductor. Williams studied music at UCLA and Juilliard. He began his career as a jazz pianist but began to compose for TV and film in the 1960s. He has scored over 75 films, including Jaws (1975), the Star Wars trilogy, Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), E.T. (1982), Schindler’s List (1993), and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001), and has won five Academy Awards. He has also written many concert works. From 1980 to 1993 he was conductor of the Boston Pops.
Williams, Mary Lou orig. Mary Elfrieda Scruggs (b. May 8,
1910, Atlanta, Ga., U.S.—d. May 28, 1981, Durham, N.C.) U.S. pianist, composer, arranger, and bandleader. A child prodigy, she had her profes¬ sional debut with big bands at age 12. Beginning in 1929, Williams wrote arrangements for many swing bands, including those of Andy Kirk (1898- 1992) and Duke Ellington. Her 12-movement Zodiac Suite was performed by the New York Philharmonic in 1946. A pianist with strong roots in the blues and early jazz, Williams embraced the innovations of bebop and later free jazz, performing with a diverse array of jazz musicians, including Dizzy Gillespie and Cecil Taylor (b. 1933). In the 1960s and ’70s she com¬ posed a number of liturgical pieces for jazz ensembles, including Music for Peace (1970), popularly known as “Mary Lou’s Mass.”
Williams, Ralph Vaughan See Ralph Vaughan Williams
Williams, Roger (b. 1603?, London, Eng.—d. Jan. 27/March 15, 1683, Providence, R.I.) English clergyman, colonist, and founder of Rhode Island. He arrived in Boston in 1631 and became pastor of the separatist Plymouth colony (1632-33). Banned from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his beliefs, including his support for religious toleration and the rights of Indians and his opposition to civil authority, he founded the colony of Rhode Island and the town of Providence (1636) on land purchased from the Narragansett Indians. The colony established a demo¬ cratic government and instituted separation of church and state, and it became a haven for Quakers and others seeking religious liberty. He obtained a charter for the colony (1643) and served as its first president, maintaining friendly relations with the Indians and acting as peacemaker for nearby colonies.
Williams, Ted orig. Theodore Samuel Williams (b. Aug. 30, 1918, San Diego, Calif., U.S.—d. July 5, 2002, Inverness, Fla.) U.S. baseball player, one of the greatest hitters of all time. Williams began playing professionally at age 17. He became an outfielder with the Bos¬ ton Red Sox in 1939 and remained with the team until his retirement in 1960. Tall and thin, he was dubbed “the Splendid Splinter” but was also known more simply as “the Kid.” A left-handed hitter, he compiled a life¬ time batting average of .344, the eighth highest on record. He batted .406 in 1941, becoming the last .400 hitter of the century. His career slugging percentage (.634) is second only to that of Babe Ruth. Williams is the only player besides Rogers Hornsby to have twice won the batting Triple Crown (best average, most home runs, and most runs batted in in the same sea¬ son). Despite losing five years of his career to service as a flyer in World War II and the Korean War, he hit a total of 521 home runs, capping his career with a home run in his final at bat. After retiring as a player, he managed the Washington Senators (1969-72) and became an accom¬ plished fisherman.
Williams, Tennessee orig. Thomas Lanier Williams (b. March 26, 1911, Columbus, Miss., U.S.—d. Feb. 25, 1983, New York, N.Y.) U.S. playwright. The son of a traveling salesman and a clergyman’s daughter, he lived in St. Louis from age 12. After attending several colleges he graduated from the University of Iowa (1938). He first won recognition for his group of one-act plays American Blues (1939). Wider success came with The Glass Menagerie (1944) and mounted with A Streetcar Named Desire (1947, Pulitzer Prize; film, 1951), Camino Real (1953), and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955, Pulitzer Prize; film, 1958). His plays, which also include Suddenly Last Summer (1958; film, 1959) and The Night of