From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
William T. Orr (September 27, 1917 – December 25, 2002) was an American television producer associated with a series of western and detective programs of the 1950s-1970s. On most of his Warner Bros. series, he was billed as "Wm. T. Orr".
Orr began his career as an actor; his film credits include The Mortal Storm, The Gay Sisters, and The Big Street.
As the first head of Warner Bros. Television department, Orr forged a fruitful alliance with ABC, which resulted in the network having a number of prime time hits, such as Maverick, 77 Sunset Strip, and F Troop. At the height of this relationship in the early 1960s, Orr had nine programs in prime time simultaneously. Of these, no program was more significant than one of his earliest, Cheyenne. It was a groundbreaking series that was both the first hour-long western and the first series of any kind made by a major Hollywood film studio consisting entirely of content wholly exclusive to television.
A curator at The Paley Center for Media (previously named The Museum of Television and Radio) once encapsulated Orr's importance to Warner Bros. by saying, "Television began as a step-child. But because of Orr, it became equal with film in creating revenue and jobs for the studio." One of the key reforms he made to effect this change was to move Warner's nascent television department from cramped quarters in New York City to Los Angeles studios separate from the film division.
His impact on the genre of western fiction was recognized with a Golden Boot Award upon the announcement of his death.
1993
as Himself
1962
as Mr. Frink
1952
as Self
1945
as voice
1945
as Phil
1943
as Don Bates
1943
as Young Flier
1942
as Decatur Reed (as William Orr)
1942
as Dick Tone
1942
as Johnny Allison
1941
as Tommy Jarvis
1941
as 'Mac'
1941
as Joe La Rue
1941
as Self
1941
as Kenneth Patterson
1941
as George Formsby
1941
as Arthur Westlake
1940
as Kansas Potter
1940
as Charles Corbin
1940
as Paul Malette
1940
as Jack
1940
as Erich Von Rohn
1939
as Bellboy (uncredited)
1939
as Dick Bannersly
1938
as Member of the Guard