William Sackter (April 13, 1913 – June 16, 1983) was an American man with an intellectual disability whose fame as the subject of two television movies and a feature-length documentary helped change national attitudes on persons with disabilities.

Profile

Early life

Bill Sackter was born in St. Paul,

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

in 1913, the son of Sam and Mary Sackter, Russian

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

immigrants who ran a

grocery store A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop or grocer's shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a retail store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday US usage, however, "grocery store" is a synon ...

. When Sackter was 7 years old, his father died from complications of the Spanish Flu. It was 1920, and Bill was having difficulty learning in school, and after taking a mandatory intelligence test, he was classified as "subnormal". The State of Minnesota determined that he would be a "burden on society" so he was placed in the Faribault State School for the Feeble-Minded and Epileptic. Sackter remained there for 44 years, never again seeing his mother or two older sisters, Sarah and Alice. He was diagnosed as intellectually disabled, although diagnoses performed decades later would prove his intelligence was near normal. He was never taught to read or write or even how to use a

telephone A telephone, colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that enables two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most ...

Later life

In 1964, when new light was being shed on the treatment of the mentally ill and disabled, Sackter was moved to a halfway house and worked odd jobs to support himself. He eventually became a handyman at

the Minikahda Club The Minikahda Club is a private country club in southwest Minneapolis, Minnesota. The club is located just west of Bde Maka Ska and is the oldest country club west of the Mississippi River. The clubhouse, which is situated on a high hill, overloo ...

, where

filmmaker Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

Barry Morrow Barry Morrow is an American screenwriter and producer. He wrote the story and co-wrote the screenplay for ''Rain Man''. He is the father of Emmy Award-winning animator, writer, and storyboard artist, Clayton Morrow, and father-in-law of animator ...

and his wife, Bev, befriended him. Morrow began slowly to make life a bit more comfortable for Bill, getting him new

dentures Dentures (also known as false teeth) are prosthetic devices constructed to replace missing teeth, supported by the surrounding soft and hard tissues of the oral cavity. Conventional dentures are removable ( removable partial denture or comp ...

and becoming his friend. Morrow became his guardian, and when he took a post at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

, Sackter followed him to

Iowa City Iowa City is the largest city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. At the time of the 2020 census the population was 74,828, making it the state's fifth-most populous city. The Iowa City metropolitan area, which enc ...

, and became the sole proprietor of Wild Bill's Coffee Shop on the campus, in which he excelled.

Recognition

Sackter was named Handicapped Iowan of the Year in 1976, attending a ceremony in Washington, D.C. President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

gave him special recognition in 1979.

Movie depictions

Sackter's story was related in a

television movie A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

entitled '' Bill'', first broadcast in December 1981. This starred

Mickey Rooney Mickey Rooney (born Ninnian Joseph Yule Jr.; other pseudonym Mickey Maguire; September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014) was an American actor. In a career spanning nearly nine decades, he appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last survivi ...

in the title role. Rooney won a

Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Janua ...

and an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

. The movie also won an Emmy as Outstanding Drama Special. A

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music, or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

'' Bill: On His Own'', with Helen Hunt, was released in 1983. Raymond Babbitt, the fictional autistic savant featured in '' Rain Man,'' was initially based, in part, on Sackter. Morrow, having met savant

Kim Peek Laurence Kim Peek (November 11, 1951December 19, 2009) was an American savant syndrome, savant. Known as a "megasavant", he had an exceptional memory, but he also experienced social difficulties, possibly resulting from a developmental disability ...

, who had a unique neurological condition, conceived of a character based on Peek and Sackter. Reworkings of the script defined Babbitt as an autistic savant. Barry Morrow's audio commentary for ''Rain Man'' from the DVD release.

Biographical works

Sackter's story is told in the 1999 book ''The Unlikely Celebrity: Bill Sackter's Triumph Over Disability'' by Thomas Walz. ''A Friend Indeed – The Bill Sackter Story'', a feature-length

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

, was completed in June 2008.''A Friend Indeed – The Bill Sackter Story''
documentary film website Created by filmmaker Lane Wyrick, the documentary explores the life of Bill Sackter using historic

photograph A photograph (also known as a photo, or more generically referred to as an ''image'' or ''picture'') is an image created by light falling on a photosensitivity, photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor. Th ...

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

and

video Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...

footage, along with interviews with those closest to Bill. Much of the archival footage was taken by Barry Morrow as early as 1972. The documentary shows how Bill Sackter was allowed to develop as an individual with help from many others, and become an important member of the Iowa City community as proprietor of Wild Bill's Coffee Shop. It also follows his rise in becoming a national figure that helped change society's perception of people with disabilities. The documentary was voted the "#1 Audience Favorite" in five film festivals: The Kansas International Film Festival, Hardacre Film Festival, Omaha Film Festival, Cedar Rapids Independent Film Festival, and the New Strand Film Festival.

References

External links

Uptown Bill's small Mall

Wild Bill's Coffee Shop
(archived)
''A Friend Indeed – The Bill Sackter Story''
documentary film website {{DEFAULTSORT:Sackter Bill 1913 births 1983 deaths American people of Russian-Jewish descent American people with disabilities People from Saint Paul, Minnesota