William H. Marshall
| William Marshall | |
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| Born |
William Horace Marshall August 19, 1924 Gary, Indiana, U.S. |
| Died | June 11, 2003 (aged 78) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Years active | 1952–2002 |
| Children | Claude Marshall (1954-2012) Malcolm Juarez (1969-2005) Gina Loring (b. 1978) Tariq Marshall (b. 1986) |
William Horace Marshall (August 19, 1924 – June 11, 2003) was an American actor, director, and opera singer. He is best known for his title role in the 1972 blaxploitation classic Blacula and its sequel Scream Blacula Scream (1973), as the "King of Cartoons" on the 1980s television show Pee-wee's Playhouse beginning with its second season, and an appearance as Dr. Richard Daystrom on the original Star Trek television series. He had a commanding height of 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m), as well as a deep bass voice.
Marshall was born in Gary, Indiana, the son of Thelma (née Edwards) and Vereen Marshall, who was a dentist. He attended New York University as an art student, but then trained for a theatre career at the Actors Studio, at the American Theatre Wing, and with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse.
He made his Broadway debut in 1944 in Carmen Jones. Among his many other Broadway appearances, he understudied Boris Karloff as Captain Hook in Peter Pan in 1950, then played the leading role of De Lawd in the 1951 revival of The Green Pastures (a role he repeated in a BBC telecast of the play in 1958). He performed in Shakespeare plays many times on the stage in the United States and Europe, including the title role in at least six productions of Othello. His Othello (which was later captured in a video production in 1981), was called by Harold Hobson of the London Sunday Times "the best Othello of our time," continuing:
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