William Michael Hootkins was born on July 5, 1948, in Dallas, Texas. He moved to London, England in the early '70s and lived there up until 2002. Hootkins was an actor at Theatre Intime while attending Princeton University where he learned how to speak fluent Mandarin Chinese. He also trained as an actor at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, and attended St. Marks, where he was in the same theater group as Tommy Lee Jones. The imposingly bulky and heavyset Hootkins first began acting in films and TV shows alike in the mid '70s. His more noteworthy parts include the first of the Rebel fighter pilots to get killed while attacking the Death Star in "Star Wars", scientist Topol's bumbling oaf assistant in "Flash Gordon", Major Eaton, sent by the US government in "Raiders of the Lost Ark", one of Rod Steiger's demented sons in "American Gothic", a corrupt police lieutenant in "Batman", a disgusting sleazy voyeur in "Hardware", a coarse South African police chief in "Dust Devil", the mysterious and duplicitous Mr. X in "Hear My Song", a haughty corporate executive in "Death Machine", Santa Claus in "Like Father, Like Santa", and an opera-singing vampire in "The Breed". Moreover, Hootkins had small parts in two "Pink Panther" pictures: he's a taxi driver in both "The Trail of the Pink Panther" and "Curse of the Pink Panther".
Among the TV shows he did guest spots on are "Yanks Go Home", "Agony", "Play for Today", "Tales of the Unexpected", "The Life and Times of David Lloyd George", "Brett Maverick", "Cagney and Lacey", "Taxi", "Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense", "Poirot", "Chancer", "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles", "The Tomorrow People", "The West Wing", and "Absolute Power". Hootkins received many accolades for his outstanding performance as Sir Alfred Hitchcock in Terry Johnson's hit play "Hitchcock Blonde". In addition to his substantial film and TV credits, Hootkins was also a popular and prolific voice artist who recorded dozens of plays for BBC Radio Drama; he supplied the voices for such iconic individuals as Orson Welles, J. Edgar Hoover, and Winston Churchill. William Hootkins died of pancreatic cancer on October 23, 2005. IMDb Mini Biography
Películas destacadas de William Hootkins
Estas son las películas más destacadas en las que ha trabajdo:
Series
Las series más importantes en las que ha participado son las siguientes:
Mac McDonald
William Hootkins y Mac McDonald han colaborado 5 veces (la última el 26 de octubre de 1994) en las películas: La historia interminable III: Las aventuras de Bastian, Hardware: Programado para matar, Batman, Superman IV: En busca de la paz, Terrorífica luna de miel.
Herbert Lom
William Hootkins y Herbert Lom han colaborado 4 veces (la última el 21 de junio de 1991) en las películas: The Pope Must Die, La Maldición De La Pantera Rosa, Tras la pista de la pantera rosa, La dama del expreso.
Eugene Lipinski
William Hootkins y Eugene Lipinski han colaborado 3 veces (la última el 24 de julio de 1987) en las películas: Superman IV: En busca de la paz, Contratiempo, La Calle Del Adiós.
Weston Gavin
William Hootkins y Weston Gavin han colaborado 3 veces (la última el 12 de agosto de 1983) en las películas: La Maldición De La Pantera Rosa, Tras la pista de la pantera rosa, The Ambassadors.
Harrison Ford
William Hootkins y Harrison Ford han colaborado 3 veces (la última el 12 de junio de 1981) en las películas: En busca del arca perdida, La Calle Del Adiós, La guerra de las galaxias.
Henry Goodman
William Hootkins y Henry Goodman han colaborado 2 veces (la última el 06 de octubre de 2005) en las películas: Colour Me Kubrick, Hamilton Mattress.
David Thewlis
William Hootkins y David Thewlis han colaborado 2 veces (la última el 01 de enero de 2002) en las películas: Hamilton Mattress, La isla del Dr. Moreau.
