The American Black Film Festival Honors has announced that Billy Dee Williams will be receiving its Hollywood Legacy Award in 2018. Like its name suggests, the award is meant to recognize those who have made a lasting contribution to both movies and TV shows by inspiring people, meaning that in this case, it is well-deserved.
For those who are unfamiliar with Billy Dee Williams, he is an African-American actor, singer, and writer who has been involved in an incredible number of projects over the course of his career. Something that should come as no surprise when one realizes that he became part of the entertainment industries in 1959 and has remained active since that time.
Primarily, a lot of people will recognize Billy Dee Williams for his role as Lando Calrissian in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. In said role, he managed to make a significant impact on Star Wars fans, which is why he reprised the role in a succession of Star Wars projects. For example, Williams has provided the voice for the character in Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast as well as other video games such as Star Wars: Battlefront II and Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron. Furthermore, he made similar contributions to Star Wars: Rebels as well as a radio version of The Empire Strikes Back for NPR. As a result, it should come as no surprise to learn that his name was not one of those that were chosen to make a return in Episode VII, there was something of a uproar from a significant segment of the Star Wars fandom.
Besides Lando Calrissian, there are also a fair number of people who will recognize Williams as the actor who played Harvey Dent in the movie Batman from 1989. He was set to play Two-Face as well in Batman Returns, but that fell through when Two-Face was replaced by another character from Batman’s rogue gallery. Furthermore, when Joel Schumacher was chosen to direct Batman Forever where he did decide to make use of Two-Face, he decided to go with Tommy Lee Jones rather than Williams. With that said, it is amusing to note that Williams did end up getting to play Two-Face in The Lego Batman Movie, which came out in 2017.
Otherwise, Williams has appeared in a wide range of other projects as well, which explain the extent of his influence. For example, he had roles on TV shows that range from Dynasty to The Jeffersons. Furthermore, he made a jazz LP back in 1961, which turned out to be enough of a commercial success that he was able to appear in the TV special called Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever. On top of that, he has even done a fair number of painting, with the result that some of his works can be found in the National Portrait Gallery, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Schomburg Museum. Summed up, Williams has accomplished a great deal over the course of his career, meaning that his upcoming award is well-earned.
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