Bill Cable (born William Laurence Cumpanas; May 2, 1946 – March 7, 1998) was an American actor, model, and stunt performer.

Biography

Cable was the grandchild of Thomas Ante and Katherine Pezo. In 1914 his grandfather left the village of Klenovac in Dalmatia,

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

, and moved to Gary, Indiana. He became a member of the former Hrvatski Sinovi CFU Lodge 396 and would eventually serve as the lodge's president. After Cable's grandfather died in 1950, his family moved to California. Cable was a standout football player for

North Hollywood High School North Hollywood High School (NHHS) is a public high school in the North Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. It is located in the San Fernando Valley and enrolls approximately 2,500 students. Several neighborhoods, in ...

as an offensive tackle, and became a varsity captain in his senior year. He continued playing football after enrolling at the University of Nevada, but eventually stopped after a serious head injury. His other hobbies included motorcycles and guns. He married Shirley Cumpanas in

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

in 1985 and she had an affair with

Christian Brando Christian Devi Brando (May 11, 1958 – January 26, 2008) was an American actor who was one of the eleven children of actor Marlon Brando, and the only one Brando had with his first wife, former actress Anna Kashfi. On May 16, 1990, Brando ...

, son of actor Marlon Brando, which led to their divorce, according to an interview and essay with Shirley to ''

Penthouse Penthouse most often refers to: *Penthouse apartment, a special apartment on the top floor of a building *Penthouse (magazine), ''Penthouse'' (magazine), a British-founded men's magazine *Mechanical penthouse, a floor, typically located directly u ...

'' magazine. He and Cable remained friends. A few years earlier, they both interviewed by Skip E. Lowe on the ''Skip E. Lowe Globe''. In October 1996, Cable was involved in a motorcycle accident in

Laurel Canyon Laurel Canyon is a mountainous neighborhood in the Hollywood Hills region of the Santa Monica Mountains, within the Hollywood Hills West district of Los Angeles, California. The main thoroughfare of Laurel Canyon Boulevard connects the neighb ...

in which he sustained a fractured

vertebra The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates, Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristi ...

in his neck, leaving him paralyzed from the chest down. Cable died of these injuries on March 7, 1998, at the age of 51. His funeral was attended by Cassandra Peterson and

Paul Reubens Paul Reubens (; born Rubenfeld; August 27, 1952) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and children's entertainer. He is known for his character Pee-wee Herman. Reubens joined the Los Angeles troupe The Groundlings in the 1970s, an ...

. Cable was cremated. The William Laurence Cumpanas Fund was established after his death, supporting the

Croatian Fraternal Union The Croatian Fraternal Union ( hr, Hrvatska bratska zajednica) (CFU), the oldest and largest Croatian organization in North America, is a fraternal benefit society of the Croatian diaspora based out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US. History and ...

Lodge 170 in

Merrillville, Indiana Merrillville is a town in Ross Township, Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 35,246 at the 2010 census. Merrillville is in east-central Lake County, in the Chicago metropolitan area. On January 1, 2015, Merrillville became the ...

Model

From 1970, Cable was a model for COLT Studio Group, where he was photographed by Jim French. He was photographed by Bob Mizer for the Athletic Model Guild. Cable later posed for the book ''More Nudes'', photographed by

Kenn Duncan Kenn Duncan (September 22, 1928 - July 27, 1986) was an American dance photographer. Biography Kenneth Duncan was born September 22, 1928, in New Jersey. He began his career as a skater and then a dancer. After breaking his foot and taking a six- ...

, whose collection was donated to the New York Public Library by Kenn Duncan's brother and sister in 2003. He was also photographed by Tommy Marshall, Ray Allen, Robert Scott Hooper, Dave Sands, Jeff Dunas and for ''

Playgirl ''Playgirl'' was an American magazine that featured general interest articles, lifestyle and celebrity news, in addition to nude or semi-nude men. In the 1970s and 1980s, the magazine printed monthly and was marketed mainly to women, although ...

'' by David Meyer, Raul Vega and Mr. Blackwell. Pornographic pictures of Cable having sex with women were published in ''Hollywood Hotline'', ''Star Nudes'', and ''Hollywood Rated X'' in the 1970s. Photos of him have been published in many magazines and catalogues, such as: '' Vanity Fair'', ''

'', ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's Lifestyle magazine, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from H ...

'', ''Oui (magazine), Oui'', Ah Men catalog, That Look! catalog, Frederick's of Hollywood catalog, ''QQ Magazine'', ''After Dark (magazine), After Dark'', ''California Scene'', ''Honcho'', ''The Best of Gallery'', ''Manpower!'', ''David'', ''In Touch'', ''Blueboy (magazine), Blueboy'', ''Barfly'', ''Groovy Guy'', ''Vector'', ''Celebrity Sleuth'', ''H.E.L.P. Drummer'', ''Drummer (magazine), Drummer'', ''Body'', ''Q International'', ''Entertainment West'', ''Hit & Fun'', ''Scream Queens'', ''Playgirl Advisor'', ''Torso'', ''Olympus'' (first edition in January 1972) and ''Mandate (magazine), Mandate'' (first edition in April 1975).''

Actor

Cable acted in mainstream films, including gay and straight erotic films, as a film stuntman and for TV productions. His first cinematic movie, ''Bijou (film), Bijou'' (1972), was directed by Wakefield Poole. Cable starred in the short erotic gay film ''Cooling It'' in 1973. Cable's most famous role in mainstream film was the rock star Johnny Boz, who is murdered with an ice pick in the opening scene of the suspense film ''Basic Instinct''. He worked on ''Elvira's Movie Macabre'' in 1984 (Episode: ''Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks''). Cable also appeared in the films ''Pee-wee's Big Adventure'', ''Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (film), Elvira, Mistress of the Dark'', '':it:La posta in gioco (film), La Posta in Gioco'', ''The Deadly Cure'' and in 4 films with director Carlos Tobalina (filmmaker): ''The Last Tango in Acapulco'', ''Jungle Blue'', ''Flesh and Bullets'' and ''What's Love''.

Filmography

References

Citations

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cable, Bill 1946 births 1998 deaths American actors in gay pornographic films Male pornographic film actors American male film actors 20th-century American male actors Male actors from Indiana People from Gary, Indiana Road incident deaths in California American people of Croatian descent North Hollywood High School alumni