Claude “Fiddler” Williams

Biography

Few great jazz music artists enjoyed such an extended life and profession as Claude “Fiddler” Williams, who outlasted practically all his contemporaries and achieved his ideal successes at a sophisticated age. Williams started playing electric guitar at age group ten; he was motivated to consider up violin after hearing Joe Venuti play a gig near his Muskogee, Fine, home. He performed around Oklahoma with bassist Oscar Pettiford, amongst others. His 1st professional experience arrived in 1927 when he became a member of Terrence Holder’s respectable territory music group in Oklahoma Town. Williams remained on after Holder was ousted by his sidemen due to bad administration and was changed by bassist Andy Kirk. The music group became referred to as the Clouds of Pleasure (also the Dark Clouds of Pleasure, 12 Clouds of Pleasure, Initial 11 Clouds of Pleasure, etc.) and loved significant amounts of achievement, credited in no little part towards the carrying out and composing skills of the youthful pianist Mary Lou Williams. Claude Williams performed within the Kirk band’s 1st recordings, but was pressured to keep around 1930 when sick health avoided him from completing a tour. Williams caused the rings of Alphonse Trent in 1932, George E. Lee in 1933, and Chick Stevens in 1934-1935; he also used Nat “Ruler” Cole and his sibling, bassist Eddie Cole, in Chicago during this time period. Williams played acoustic guitar with Count number Basie in 1936 and therefore became the very first guitarist to record using the music group. He was changed the next 12 months by Freddie Green. Through the past due ’30s and early ’40s, Williams caused the Four Tones of Tempo in Chicago, Cleveland, and Flint, MI. A number of the even more notable music artists he caused through the ’50s consist of pianist Jay McShann, saxophonist Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson, and pianist Hank Jones. Williams resolved in Kansas Town once more in 1953. There he spent a lot of the following twenty years leading his personal groups, however, not producing information. A gig with McShann in the first ’70s resulted in Williams’ 1st recordings in almost three years and Williams’ second profession was born. Within the ’70s and ’80s, he toured with McShann and worked well like a presented soloist at jazz celebrations. He played inside a Paris creation from the musical Dark and Blue and a fresh York time with pianist Roland Hanna and drummer Grady Tate. His superstar rose within the ’90s; he was highlighted on the tv screen program CBS Information Weekend Morning and performed at Carnegie Hall as well as the Lincoln Middle in NY. He also performed at the initial inauguration of Leader Bill Clinton, performed international celebrations, and recorded many extremely acclaimed CDs. He was also the very first inductee from the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Popularity. Getting into his ninth 10 years, Williams was still quite energetic, venerated by jazz music artists and fans as well. The venerable elder statesman of jazz passed on at age 96 in Apr of 2004.

Quick Facts

• Facts
• Filmography
• Awards
• Salaries
• Quotes
• Trademarks
• Pictures



#	Fact
1	Once described the characters he played in westerns as "prairie scum".
2	During the 1950s and 1960s he was active in Arthur Kennedy's Stage Society, along with Gary Cooper, Akim Tamiroff, Jeff Corey, Tony Curtis, Mildred Dunnock, Anthony Quinn and Patricia Neal.
3	In 1970 the First Annual Strother Martin Film Festival was held at Chicio State College in California.
4	In 1936 he won the National Junior Sringboard Division Championship at age 17. He never won the adult championship, finishing second in 1944 nd third in 1946. Although he barely missed making the 1948 Olympic Team, he did gain access to Hollywood by giving swimming lessons to Marion Davies at San Simeon and the children of Charles Chaplin. He was hired as a swimming extra in films between 1948 and 1950m including The Damned Don't Cry (1950).
5	The name Strother is old Teutonic for 'river.'.
6	The press dubbed him as "The Andy Devine for the Age of Anxiety" and "A Gabby Hayes without Honor.".
7	Played a character named Stoner in two unrelated movies: Sssssss (1973) and Up in Smoke (1978).
8	Appeared in six movies with John Wayne: The Horse Soldiers (1959), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), McLintock! (1963), The Sons of Katie Elder (1965), True Grit (1969) and Rooster Cogburn (1975).
9	He collaborated with friend and filmmaker J.D. Feigelson on dialog in the screenplay for the cult film Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981). Feigelson was writing the the film to star Strother, but before it could be set for production he passed away. Charles Durning replaced Martin in the lead role of Otis P. Hazelrigg. One of the memorable lines in the film was Martin's contribution: "He's thirty-three years old, Mrs. Ritter, he's physically mature.".
10	Interviewed in "Bad at the Bijou" by William R. Horner (McFarland, 1982).
11	No relation to Dewey Martin although erroneously claimed as such in some sources.
12	Frequently co-starred with L.Q. Jones, who in real life was one of his closest friends.
13	Frequently cast alongside Paul Newman, in Cool Hand Luke (1967), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), Slap Shot (1977) and several others.
14	Did an episode of the The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961) called "Baby Fat" in which he portrayed a playwright based on Tennessee Williams in 1965. Fifteen years later while hosting Saturday Night Live (1975), he admitted during the monologue that because of that part, many times he was actually mistaken for the famous playwright.
15	Interred at Forest Lawn (Hollywood Hills), Los Angeles, California, USA, in the Court of Remembrance, #G62420.
16	Bitten by a snake during filming of Sssssss (1973)



Actor

Actor

Title	Year	Status	Character
Hotwire	1980		The Weasel
Tajna Nikole Tesle	1980		George Westinghouse
Better Late Than Never	1979	TV Movie	J.D. Ashcroft
The Villain	1979		Parody Jones
Nightwing	1979		Selwyn
The Champ	1979		Riley
Love and Bullets	1979		Louis Monk
Stubby Pringle's Christmas	1978	TV Movie	Old Hollander
Vega$	1978	TV Series	Hank Jenner
Up in Smoke	1978		Arnold Stoner
Steel Cowboy	1978	TV Movie	Pinky Pincus
The End	1978		Dr. Waldo Kling
Baretta	1975-1977	TV Series	Harris Stump / Lyman P. Dokker / Doc Stockwell / ...
ABC Weekend Specials	1977	TV Series	Bill Driscoll
Slap Shot	1977		Joe McGrath
The Rockford Files	1977	TV Series	Thomas Tyler 'T.T.' Flowers
The Great Scout & Cathouse Thursday	1976		Billy
Movin' On	1975	TV Series	Cabe Miller
Rooster Cogburn	1975		McCoy
Hard Times	1975		Poe
One of Our Own	1975	TV Movie	LeRoy Atkins
Petrocelli	1975	TV Series	Clate Dobie
Gunsmoke	1956-1974	TV Series	Ben Snow / Timble / Billy / ...
Paper Moon	1974	TV Series
Hawkins	1973-1974	TV Series	R.J. Hawkins
The Rookies	1974	TV Series	Teacher
Sssssss	1973		Dr. Carl Stoner
Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color	1973	TV Series	Buckshot
Bonanza	1964-1972	TV Series	Cole Younger / Joad Bruder / Lonnie Stern / ...
Pocket Money	1972		Bill Garrett
Nichols	1972	TV Series	Zachariah
Hannie Caulder	1971		Rufus Clemens
Fools' Parade	1971		Lee Cottrill
The Brotherhood of Satan	1971		Doc Duncan
Red Sky at Morning	1971		John Cloyd
Love, American Style	1970	TV Series	Dennis Wright (segment "Love and the Old Boyfriend")
The Ballad of Cable Hogue	1970		Bowen
Marcus Welby, M.D.	1970	TV Series	Terry Riggs
The Virginian	1965-1970	TV Series	Luther Watson / Finley
Daniel Boone	1969	TV Series	Tarbot
The Name of the Game	1969	TV Series	Nanyface
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid	1969		Percy Garris
The Wild Bunch	1969		Coffer
True Grit	1969		Col. G. Stonehill
The Doris Day Show	1969	TV Series	Tyrone Lovey
The Guns of Will Sonnett	1967-1968	TV Series	Joby / Harvey Bains
It Takes a Thief	1968	TV Series	Willard Knox
The Danny Thomas Hour	1968	TV Series	Paul Rooney
He & She	1968	TV Series	The Rev. Mr. Anderson
Run for Your Life	1968	TV Series	Holly Amberton
Gentle Ben	1968	TV Series	Reed Olmstock
Tarzan	1967	TV Series	O'Keefe / Captain Boggs
Cool Hand Luke	1967		Captain
Iron Horse	1966-1967	TV Series	Applegate / Johnny Burke
The Flim-Flam Man	1967		Lovick
The Invaders	1967	TV Series	Charlie Coogan
Death Valley Days	1964-1967	TV Series	Ed Schieffelin / Alfred Hall / Charlie Neal / ...
The Big Valley	1966-1967	TV Series	Fludd / Dan'l Hawkes
The Road West	1967	TV Series	Grady Couts
Gilligan's Island	1967	TV Series	George Barkley
The Rounders	1966	TV Series	Cousin Fletch
Lost in Space	1966	TV Series	Nerim
An Eye for an Eye	1966		Trumbull
Nevada Smith	1966		Barney (uncredited)
A Man Called Shenandoah	1966	TV Series	Cowboy
Harper	1966		Claude
The Legend of Jesse James	1966	TV Series	Meeker
Perry Mason	1961-1965	TV Series	Roy Hutchinson / Gerald Sommers / Joe Mead / ...
The Sons of Katie Elder	1965		Jeb Ross
Shenandoah	1965		Train Engineer
Rawhide	1959-1965	TV Series	Bates / Meeker
Brainstorm	1965		Mr. Clyde
The Dick Van Dyke Show	1965	TV Series	Harper Worthington Yates
Kentucky Jones	1965	TV Series	Boney Benton
Profiles in Courage	1965	TV Series
The Fugitive	1964	TV Series	Deputy Shirky Saulter
Invitation to a Gunfighter	1964		Fiddler
The Lieutenant	1964	TV Series	Taxi Driver
McLintock!	1963		Agard
Glynis	1963	TV Series	Dance Hall Customer
Showdown	1963		Charlie Reeder
The Dakotas	1963	TV Series	Pvt. Antrim Copang
77 Sunset Strip	1963	TV Series	Charles Sloane
Ben Casey	1962	TV Series	Calvin 'Rabbits' Ross / Adam Raemecker
Stoney Burke	1962	TV Series	Buck Buckley
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance	1962		Floyd
The Dick Powell Theatre	1962	TV Series
Pete and Gladys	1962	TV Series	Harold Horton
Outlaws	1962	TV Series	Garvey
The New Breed	1962	TV Series	Benny Kohler
Have Gun - Will Travel	1957-1962	TV Series	Boise Peabody / Carew / Dooley Delaware / ...
The Twilight Zone	1961	TV Series	Mothershed
The Deadly Companions	1961		Parson
The Americans	1961	TV Series	Wadd
Sanctuary	1961		Dog Boy
The Law and Mr. Jones	1961	TV Series
Hotel de Paree	1959-1960	TV Series	Aaron Donager
Lawman	1959	TV Series	Jack Foley
The Rebel	1959	TV Series	Jess
The Horse Soldiers	1959		Virgil
Whirlybirds	1959	TV Series	'The Great Herman'
The Wild and the Innocent	1959		Ben Stocker
The Texan	1959	TV Series	Polk Blackston
Black Saddle	1959	TV Series	Pit Thatcher
The Shaggy Dog	1959		Thurm
Jefferson Drum	1958	TV Series	Pete Henke
Trackdown	1958	TV Series	Benny French
Bitter Heritage	1958	TV Movie	Earle Eheeler
The Walter Winchell File	1958	TV Series	Little Julie
Studio One in Hollywood	1958	TV Series
The Lineup	1957-1958	TV Series
Panic!	1958	TV Series	Hank Judson
Playhouse 90	1958	TV Series	Earle Wheeler
Navy Log	1958	TV Series	D'Amico
Cowboy	1958		Cowhand Bitten by Snake (uncredited)
Broken Arrow	1957-1958	TV Series	Joe Roman / Renton
General Electric Theater	1956-1958	TV Series	Obie / Gunnery Officer Daly
Man Without a Gun	1958	TV Series
The Adventures of Jim Bowie	1958	TV Series	Leopold Vaupel
Boots and Saddles	1958	TV Series	Slocum
Black Patch	1957		Deputy Petey Walker
The Web	1957	TV Series
Copper Sky	1957		Pokey
Lassie	1956-1957	TV Series	Lem Boots
Telephone Time	1957	TV Series
Matinee Theatre	1957	TV Series	Phil
The Millionaire	1957	TV Series	Pete Hill
Zane Grey Theater	1957	TV Series	Joby
The Gray Ghost	1957	TV Series	Michael
The New Adventures of Charlie Chan	1957	TV Series	Tomar
The Black Whip	1956		Thorny
I Love Lucy	1956	TV Series	Cafe Waiter
Attack	1956		Sgt. Ingersol
Johnny Concho	1956		Townsman (uncredited)
Schlitz Playhouse	1953-1956	TV Series	Bellhop / Mr. Ralph
Frontier	1956	TV Series	Lee / Mayes
Crusader	1956	TV Series	Ray Dutcher
World Without End	1956		Nihka (uncredited)
Cavalcade of America	1955	TV Series	Wilkins
Target Zero	1955		Pvt. Dan O'Hirons (uncredited)
Crossroads	1955	TV Series	Landry Kersh
Stage 7	1955	TV Series	Pete / Lt. Bob Handley
The Big Knife	1955		Stillman (uncredited)
Kiss Me Deadly	1955		Harvey Wallace
Strategic Air Command	1955		Airman (uncredited)
The Man Behind the Badge	1955	TV Series	Brother Daniel
The Silver Chalice	1954		Father (uncredited)
Drum Beat	1954		Scotty
Studio 57	1954	TV Series	Pete Dutton
A Star Is Born	1954		Delivery Boy (uncredited)
Mystery Is My Business	1954	TV Series
The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse	1954	TV Series
Prisoner of War	1954		Man on Crutches (uncredited)
The Lone Wolf	1954	TV Series	Nick Davis
World for Ransom	1954		Corporal (uncredited)
Treasury Men in Action	1954	TV Series
Four Star Playhouse	1953	TV Series	Tom Blair
South Sea Woman	1953		Marine in Audience at Court-martial (uncredited)
Hollywood Opening Night	1953	TV Series
The Magnetic Monster	1953		Co-Pilot
Big Town	1952	TV Series	Paul Evans / Eddie Benson
Androcles and the Lion	1952		Soldier (uncredited)
Fireside Theatre	1951-1952	TV Series
Chevron Theatre	1952	TV Series
Storm Over Tibet	1952		Co-pilot
Invitation Playhouse: Mind Over Murder	1952	TV Series
Dragnet	1952	TV Series
Scandal Sheet	1952		Man on crutches (uncredited)
Dangerous Assignment	1952	TV Series	Riri
Rhubarb	1951		Michael 'Shorty' McGirk (uncredited)
The Red Badge of Courage	1951		Corporal (voice, uncredited)
Stars Over Hollywood	1951	TV Series
The Asphalt Jungle	1950		William Doldy (uncredited)
The Damned Don't Cry	1950		Springboard Diver (uncredited)

Soundtrack

Soundtrack

Title	Year	Status	Character
Saturday Night Live	1980	TV Series performer - 1 episode

Self

Self

Title	Year	Status	Character
Saturday Night Live	1980	TV Series	Himself - Host
Steve Martin: A Wild and Crazy Guy	1978	TV Special	Turtle Ranch Boss
Mitzi and a Hundred Guys	1975	TV Special	Himself
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson	1973	TV Series	Himself

Archive Footage

Archive Footage

Title	Year	Status	Character
Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade	2004	TV Movie documentary	Himself
The Winds of Whoopie	1983	TV Movie	Turtle Ranch Boss
AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to James Stewart	1980	TV Special documentary	Actor 'The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance' (uncredited)
Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color	1978	TV Series	Thurm
Frontier Justice	1958	TV Series	Toby

Nominated awards

Nominated awards

Year	Award	Ceremony	Nomination	Movie	Award shared with
1974	Golden Globe	Golden Globes, USA	Best Supporting Actor - Television	Hawkins (1973)



Looks like we don't have salary information. Sorry!



#	Quote
1	[on his career] Maybe there has been some diamond dust and gold glitter in my life . . . but among so much shit, it didn't have much luster.
2	[Three days before his death] No man can achieve immortality. We don't live for what comes after we are dead, but for what we can achieve in this life - the only chance we have.
3	[interviewed in March, 1980] The character actor's struggle for survival is a bitch today. There was a time when people like me would have been approached, at least, to be under contract to the studio and farmed out picture by picture. It's true that a man like myself does not know after this movie--this may be the last movie I ever do in my life. I have no assurance.
4	Age is as much an asset for character players as it is for good wine. Human experiences, both good and bad, leave their marks on one's face and bearing. A few lines on the face and a few gray hairs coupled with the idiosyncrasies an actor adopts throughout life help out round out the actor's personality. So far as I'm concerned, the older a character actor gets, the firmer his position is.



#	Trademark
1	Often played grimy, unlikeable villains



Source: Celebrity Pictures & Images