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Bill Walters

Bill Walters

Born in Columbus, Ohio in 1937, Bill attended Grandview Heights High School and the Ohio State University where he majored in fine arts hoping to get into advertising or cartooning. Among his many mementos are a sheaf of rejection slips from The New Yorker and Playboy. He was introduced to the theatre by volunteering to design the set for a friend's student production. He worked on the art staff of the OSU Motion Pictures Department and the University TV station, WOSU. In 1963, after the usual summer stock assignments, he arrived in New York City, where he worked at NBC as a page and as a production assistant. He became a backstage jack-of-all-trades with The New York Shakespeare Festival, The Playhouse of the Ridiculous, and many other regional and off-Broadway theater groups.

In 1966 he was hired by Peter Schickele as the stage manager for PDQ Bach, and became known to thousands of concert goers in New York and around the country as the irascible and irritable but always efficient apologist for Schickele's satiric presentations of the infamous "Evening of Musical Madness". Despite his crusty on-stage persona, Bill was for 46 years the technical coordinator, production manager, road manager, and the REAL stage manager of the series of concerts that had its first public performance in 1965 at Town Hall in New York. He once said that he felt like Sky Masterson, the gambler-hero of "Guys and Dolls", who noted that: "There are two things that have been in every hotel room in America: Sky Masterson and the Gideon Bible."

Walters continues to work in concerts, theatre, dabbles in background work in movies and TV, writes lots of unproduced plays and film scripts, and teaches film-making and video with kids. He also works for Gray Line New York Sightseeing as a tour guide riding around on the top of a double-decker bus telling lies about New York City to gullible and unwary tourists.

He is married to the actress Donegal Browne. Their daughter Samantha Browne-Walters is also an actress.

Can You Ever Forgive Me?

2018

as Homeless Man (uncredited)

The Dark Tower

2017

as Homeless Man in Alley (uncredited)

John Wick: Chapter 2

2017

as Homeless Man in Chinatown (uncredited)

Marjorie Prime

2017

as Old Jon (as W.A. Walters)

The Comedian

2016

as Homeless in Soup Line (uncredited)

Barry

2016

as Homeless Man in Stairwell (uncredited)

Sisters

2015

as Airport Traveler (uncredited)

The Night Before

2015

as Christmas Bartender (uncredited)

Ricki and the Flash

2015

as Salt Well Regular (uncredited)

True Story

2015

as Inmate (uncredited)

A Most Violent Year

2014

as Subway Rider (uncredited)

Annie

2014

as Soup Kitchen Guest (uncredited)

Shelter

2014

as Homeless Man with Cart (uncredited)

The Americans

2013

as Homeless at Soup Kitchen (uncredited)

Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life

2012

as Homeless Dude

Being Flynn

2012

as Homeless Man in Shelter (uncredited)

Man on a Ledge

2012

as Inmate

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

2011

as Homeless Man (uncredited)

The Extra Man

2010

as Panhandler

You Don't Know Jack

2010

as Michigan Inmate (uncredited)

Fair Game

2010

as Vietnam Vet at Rally (uncredited)

White Collar

2009

as Weird Guy in Lobby

Bored to Death

2009

as Barfly (uncredited)

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

2008

as Homeless at PABT (uncredited)

The Wrestler

2008

as Wrestling Fan (uncredited)

Enchanted

2007

as 42nd Street BG (uncredited)

Six Degrees

2006

as Subway Rider (uncredited)

Analyze That

2002

as Sing Sing Inmate (uncredited)

Riding in Cars with Boys

2001

as Hippie at Party (uncredited)

100 Centre Street

2001

as Perp (uncredited)

100 Centre Street

2001

as Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)

The Refrigerator

1991

as Eileen's Father

Midnight Cowboy

1969

as St. Bernard Owner (uncredited)

Wait Until Dark

1967

as BG with Dog (uncredited)

You're a Big Boy Now

1966

as Commerce Street BG (uncredited)