Halroy Candis Williams (born December 14, 1938) is an American actor, best known for his recurring roles as Police Officer Smith ("Smitty") on ''

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'' (1972–1976), Harley Foster on ''

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'' (1973-1980), and as the patriarch Lester Jenkins, the husband of

Marla Gibbs Marla Gibbs (born Margaret Theresa Bradley; June 14, 1931) is an American actress, singer, comedian, writer, and television producer whose career spans seven decades. She is known for her role as George Jefferson's maid, Florence Johnston, on th ...

's character, on the

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sitcom '' 227'' which originally aired from 1985 until 1990. His film credits include '' Private Benjamin'' (1980), '' Guess Who'' (2005), and ''

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'' (2012).

Early life and career

Williams was born and raised in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

.Hill, Anthony D. (2018).
Historical Dictionary of African American Theater
'. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 555. . In the early 1960s, he began acting in community theater in Ohio. Williams worked as a postal worker and corrections officer before moving to Hollywood to pursue an acting career in 1968. Williams began pursuing his acting career full-time in 1970. Since then, Willams has appeared in movies such as

Paul Schrader Paul Joseph Schrader (; born July 22, 1946) is an American screenwriter, film director, and film critic. He first became known for writing the screenplay of Martin Scorsese's ''Taxi Driver'' (1976). He later continued his collaboration with Scor ...

's '' Hardcore'',

Howard Zieff Howard Burton Zieff (October 21, 1927 – February 22, 2009) (pronounced Zeef) was an American director, television commercial director, and advertising photographer. Early life Zieff was born to Jewish parents in Chicago, Illinois, then mo ...

's '' Private Benjamin'' (he also portrayed the role of Sgt L.C. "Ted" Ross in the television series of the same name), and

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western (genre), Western TV series ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Ma ...

's '' The Rookie''. In the early to mid-1990s, he starred in many of comic Sinbad's productions, including ''

The Sinbad Show ''The Sinbad Show'' is an American television sitcom starring comedian Sinbad (comedian), David "Sinbad" Adkins that premiered on September 16, 1993, on Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox. The show's main plot is about a bachelor taking in two orphan ...

'' and ''

The Cherokee Kid ''The Cherokee Kid'' is a 1996 American made for television western film directed by Paris Barclay for HBO. The film's stars were Sinbad, James Coburn, Burt Reynolds, Gregory Hines, A Martinez, Ernie Hudson, Dawnn Lewis and Vanessa Bell Callow ...

''. In one of his latest films, Williams portrayed the grandfather in the

Bernie Mac Bernard Jeffrey McCullough (October 5, 1957 – August 9, 2008), better known by his stage name Bernie Mac, was an American stand up comedian, actor and film producer. He joined fellow comedians Steve Harvey, Cedric the Entertainer, and D. L. H ...

film '' Guess Who'' which was released in 2005. Williams appeared as a guest star in the 3rd season, 24th episode of the television series, Kung Fu as a friend of Caine named Caleb.

Personal life

Williams has been married twice and has three children. On April 11, 1975, Williams married Gay Anderson; they were divorced in November 1976.

Selected credits

Theater

Film

Television

References

External links

*
Williams talks about his role in Bernie Mac movie "Guess Who" on movies.about.com website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Hal 1938 births Living people American male film actors Male actors from Columbus, Ohio 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors American male television actors 20th-century African-American male actors 21st-century African-American male actors