Paul Williams

Paul Williams (born September 19, 1940, Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.) is an American singer, songwriter, composer, and actor known for his long and storied career in which he has written numerous award-winning songs, scored films, and acted in films and television.

Early life and interest in acting

Paul Williams is one of three boys born to Bertha Mae and Paul Williams, Sr. The family moved around quite a bit when he was young due to his father’s job as an architectural engineer. When Paul was 13, his father died in an auto accident, and he went to live with an aunt and uncle in Long Beach, California. There he attended Woodrow Wilson High School, where he acted in school productions and was a member of the school’s thespian club. After he graduated in 1958, he left town, winding up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he participated in community theater productions.

Career as a singer, songwriter, and actor in the 1960s–80s

Williams returned to California and continued to work in theater while also taking on small roles in film. With his youthful looks and his height of 5 feet 2 inches (1.57 meters), Williams, at age 24, successfully portrayed a 10-year-old boy genius in the 1965 film The Loved One. The following year, he appeared in The Chase with Marlon Brando. Williams then went on to act in comedy sketches for comedian Mort Sahl; while doing that, he met Biff Rose, a performer who would become one of Williams’s earliest songwriting partners. One of their collaborations, “Fill Your Heart,” was recorded by both Rose and Tiny Tim in 1968 and by David Bowie a few years later.

Discover the fascinating events that shaped the world, straight from our editors.

SIGN UP

By clicking “Sign Up”, you consent to the Britannica Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Britannica Quiz

Oscar-Worthy Movie Trivia

As Williams pursued music, he formed a short-lived band called the Holy Mackerel, which included one of his brothers; the band released its eponymous debut album in late 1968 but had broken up before it was released. He turned once again to songwriting, and his talent in that area soon brought him greater acclaim. He teamed up with lyricist Roger Nichols, and the duo went on to write a number of pop hits, including the Carpenters’ “We’ve Only Just Begun” (1970)—which Williams and Nichols initially wrote for a bank commercial, with Williams singing, before the Carpenters opted to record it—and “Rainy Days and Mondays” (1971). The songwriting duo also wrote Three Dog Night’s “Out in the Country” (1970), and Williams himself wrote another hit for Three Dog Night, “An Old Fashioned Love Song” (1971). He began writing with Kenny Ascher, and the two soon had a hit with “You and Me Against the World” (1974), recorded by Helen Reddy.

Williams released many albums of his own, including Someday Man (1970), Just an Old Fashioned Love Song (1971), and Ordinary Fool (1975). On his own albums, he sometimes included his songs that had been hits for other artists, as he did with “We’ve Only Just Begun” and “An Old Fashioned Love Song.” However, during the 1970s, he was becoming better known for composing scores for movies and for his contributions to movie soundtracks. In 1974 he scored the soundtrack for Brian De Palma’s rock film Phantom of the Paradise. Williams starred in the film as well, playing Swan, a diabolical music mogul. Although the film was a disappointment at the box office, it received Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for Williams’s music, and, as time passed, it developed a cult following.

He went on to compose other movie scores, notably for Alan Parker’s child-gangster film Bugsy Malone (1976), which also received Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for Williams’s music. He contributed several songs to the soundtrack of A Star Is Born (1976), for which his songwriting collaboration with Barbra Streisand on the film’s theme song, “Evergreen,” won a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Golden Globe. Williams and Ascher collaborated on the soundtrack for The Muppet Movie (1979), which won the Grammy for best recording for children. A song they wrote for the film, “The Rainbow Connection,” garnered Oscar and Golden Globe nominations; in 2020 the song was inducted into the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry for being aesthetically, historically, or culturally significant. Other soundtracks Williams worked on include Ishtar (1987), for which he was told to write intentionally bad songs to fit with the movie’s storyline about an inept songwriting duo. He also composed the theme songs of many television shows, most notably for The Love Boat (1977–87).

In addition to his career in music, Williams continued to act in television and feature films. He portrayed Virgil in Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973) and had a small role in The Muppet Movie. He also appeared as Little Enos in all three Smokey and the Bandit films (1977, 1980, and 1983) and starred in the pilot episode of his own television comedy, The Paul Williams Show (1979), though it was not picked up as a series. Williams guest starred on many television shows during the 1970s and ’80s and was a frequent guest on The Tonight Show; by his estimate, he appeared 48 times on the late-night talk show.

Explore Britannica Premium!

The trusted destination for professionals, college students, and lifelong learners.

SUBSCRIBE

Addiction, sobriety, and his career since the 1990s

Williams battled drug and alcohol dependence for many years, particularly during the 1980s. He has said he stopped drinking in 1989 and considers March 15, 1990, to be his sober birthday. After undergoing treatment, he became a licensed drug rehabilitation counselor and worked with others who were battling substance abuse. In the decades since he became sober, he has often talked about substance abuse and the path to recovery.

Alongside his counseling and recovery advocacy work, Williams remained active in the entertainment world. He contributed most of the songs for The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) soundtrack. After attending an event in Nashville in the mid-1990s, he went on to write a number of songs for country music artists. Returning to soundtracks, Williams, with Jerry Goldsmith, wrote “If We Could Remember,” the title song for the film The Sum of All Fears (2002). Williams then brought his songwriting talent to the stage, writing the music for the 2006 theatrical production Happy Days—A New Musical, based on the popular television series of the 1970s and ’80s.

Williams collaborated with Daft Punk—the French musical duo known for appearing as robots, with their faces hidden beneath metallic helmets—on their 2013 album Random Access Memories. He cowrote two of the album’s songs, “Beyond” and “Touch,” and sang on the latter track. The album won several Grammys, including one for best album that recognized Williams and several other collaborators as featured artists. Williams was asked to give the acceptance speech for the award, during which he quipped, “Back when I was drinking and using, I used to imagine things that weren’t there that were frightening. And then I got sober and two robots called me and asked me to make an album!”

In 2011 Williams was the subject of a documentary, Paul Williams Still Alive, for which he wrote a new song, “Still Alive.” He continued to contribute to soundtracks: with Gustavo Santaolalla, he wrote songs for the animated film The Book of Life (2014), including “The Apology Song.” He teamed up with Santaolalla again to write “If It’s Meant to Be” for the animated television miniseries Maya and the Three (2021).

Acting has remained a constant in Williams’s life. He appeared in films such as Oliver Stone’s The Doors (1991), The Rules of Attraction (2002), and Georgia Rule (2007). Williams has had many guest-starring roles on television too, including prominent recurring roles on the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful and on the drama Goliath (2016–21). He lent his voice to several animated films and television series, including The Pirates of Dark Water (1991–92), The Savage Dragon (1995–96), Future-Worm! (2016–18), and Superman: Red Son (2020). Williams was also the voice of The Penguin in Batman: The Animated Series (1992–95) and other related DC Comics cartoons.

Family, other work, and honors

Williams has been married to Mariana Hastings since 2005. He has two children from a previous marriage.

Williams is an advocate for music creator rights and has been president of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) since 2009. He is also a published author, having written, with Tracey Jackson, Gratitude and Trust: Six Affirmations That Will Change Your Life (2014), a self-help book that applied the principles of addiction recovery to strategies for overcoming behavioral challenges in areas other than addiction.

In addition to several Grammy, Oscar, and Golden Globe awards, Williams has received numerous other awards and honors over the course of his long career, including being inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001. He received that organization’s highest honor, the Johnny Mercer Award, in 2022.