System Mechanic - Clean, repair, protect, and speed up your PC!Guy Williams, Actor-Zorro, Lost in Space
January 14, 1924 - May 07, 1989
Guy Williams was born Armand Joseph Catalano (nicknamed "Armando" by family) on January 14, 1924 in New York City and grew up in the Washington Heights area. His parents had come to the U.S. a short time before. Guy's grandfather, a wealthy land owner from Palermo, Italy, had given Guy's father, Attilio, some farmland in upstate New York. Attilio settled in New York City and became an insurance broker. As a youngster, young Armand learned the basics of fencing from his father, who was an expert swordsman. This was a tradition in the Catalano family, as it was with many Europeans, but none of them could know the impact it would have on young Armand's life.
Attilio was eager for his son to join him in the business world, but young Armando had other ideas. Guy attended Peekskill Military Academy in his junior years. After graduation, Armand decided not to pursue his formal education beyond high school. But he never stopped learning and expanding his considerable wealth of knowledge. He was an exceptional student of mathematics, earning several awards. His other areas of interested included astronomy and chess.
Out of school, the young man looked for a job that would allow him to enjoy life without taking up a lot of his time. His good looks soon gained him successes as a male print model, appearing in newspapers, on billboards and magazine and book covers. It was while modeling that Armand Catalano became Guy Williams. During a photo shoot in 1948, Guy met Janice Cooper, a beautiful young Powers model. It was love at first sight and, after a whirlwind courtship, the two were married in December of that year.
Switching to acting, Guy made one film in 1946 about the bombing of Hiroshima. It went nowhere. In 1952, Guy and Janice moved to California to pursue his career. It was in 1957, that he would earn the role that would change his life. Guy went on a "casting call" at the Disney studios, which was developing a new series based upon the character, Zorro. When Disney saw how well Guy could wield a sabre. they signed Guy to an exclusive contract.
In October, 1957, the Adventures of Zorro debuted on ABC. The series was an immediate hit and continued through the 1958-1959 season. Disney, in the midst of a struggle with ABC over ownership of the series, pulled the plug in May, 1959. The show was dead as a weekly series. Four hour long specials were aired as part of the Disney weekly show in 1960. While Disney continued the legal battle with ABC and to be sure Guy was unavailable to continue his duel role of Don Diego/El Zorro should ABC prevail, Disney kept Guy under an exclusive contract but offered him no work. Guy's last project for Disney Studios was the award winning The Prince & The Pauper.
Having completed his contract with Disney, Guy did some writing and in 1964, appeared in the recurring role of Will Cartwright on the Bonanza. After completing his contractual obligation, Guy decided to leave the series without further appearances. Guy did several movies in Europe (where Guy was wildly popular) over the next few years, including Sindbad (Germany) and Damon & Pythias (Italy).
In 1964 Guy was lured back to weekly television in the sci-fi classic series Lost in Space, portraying Professor John Robinson. The series continued for three seasons as the Robinson family and their party traveled from galaxy to galaxy. In the mid-1980's Guy was maintaining residences in Argentina as well as the United State. Sadly, Guy passed away in his Buenos Aires apartment in May 7, 1989 from a brain aneurysm, at age 65. Guy and Janice had two children, Guy Steven and Antoinette (Toni).
In 2000, Guy's hometown honoured him with a street sign on the Bronx Walk of Fame. Also in 2000, thousands of Guy's fans banned together to petition the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce to honour Guy with a long-overdue Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. That star was dedicated on August 2, 2001, amid one of the largest fan turnouts for such an event in the history of the famous walk. Another campaign, this one to garner a commemorative US postal stamp in honour of Guy Williams began while back in 1998, The fans set an initial goal to have the stamp issued in 2004 commemorating the 80th anniversary of Guy's birth.
