Billy Dee Williams

William December Williams, better known as Billy Dee Williams (born April 6, 1937), is a film, stage, and television actor and painter who played Lando Calrissian in the Star Wars saga. He starred in Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi, and Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker.
==Biography==
===Entering Empire===
Raised in Harlem, New York City, Williams performed on Broadway, television, and cinema productions at Hollywood, including 1971's Brian's Song, 1972's Lady Sings the Blues, and 1975's Mahogany. Williams' friend, author James Baldwin, wanted him to play Malcolm X in his screenplay about the American civil rights movement leader, but it was never produced. He had admired the work of a new wave of American film directors such as Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, and Steven Spielberg. He eagerly signed a contract for performing as Lando Calrissian for two films after hearing the character's name—he said "Calrissian" is an Armenian name—and thought that his cape gave a "bigger than life" aesthetic that he likened to the actor Errol Flynn.
Billy Dee Williams was introduced as Lando Calrissian in the 1980 film Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back. He was eager to play the first Black Star Wars character, having spoken with George Lucas about the antagonist Darth Vader in the first Star Wars film, voiced by the prominent Black actor James Earl Jones. Williams said that Lucas had wanted to express a dichotomous symbolism found in the Western film genre where a cowboy dressed in white fights a cowboy dressed in black, but he criticized the impression of a racialist contrast between the "black fear" of Darth Vader contrasted by the "white knight" of the Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi, played by veteran actor Alec Guinness. Williams credited Empire with detailing the "human dilemma" where Vader is revealed to be a man whose symbolism of darkness is contrasted by the clarity of the protagonists. He had previously discussed Eastern philosophy with Empire director, Irvin Kershner, in particular about the concept of Zen and Yoda, the Jedi teacher introduced in the film, and how Star Wars should not be about "shoot-'em-up" but realizing that the "body" houses the "better self" that is the "mind."
===Return of the saga===
Billy Dee Williams reprised his role for the 1983 film Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi, in which Lando Calrissian helped defeat the Galactic Empire as a rebel general. While Williams said he did not rewatch Star Wars films, the actor also said that he found it "difficult" to separate himself and Lando Calrissian, and he imagined his character as a gambler, showman, and entrepeneur akin to Steve Wynn running Las Vegas rather than just "a general running around shooting things." Williams returned in his role as Lando Calrissian for the final film of the Star Wars saga, Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker. Williams said he enjoyed the filming under the direction of J.J. Abrams, who he called "the young mogul" in a 2019 interview with the Esquire magazine in which he fashioned clothes of his own design. He appreciated Donald Glover playing a younger Lando Calrissian in the film Solo: A Star Wars Story released in the previous year.
After The Rise of Skywalker release in late 2019, when Williams was asked if there was a danger of "too much" Star Wars, he stated: "The only thing that's dangerous is lots of stupid people running around and shooting people." While Williams said that the real-world has been dominated by "a European western value system for centuries," he also emphasized that he does not think of himself as Black, just as he does not want to be Black-cast by Hollywood. Of those who he described as wanting to "go through the machinations" of politics and "spend most of their time pissed off," Williams stated that his preference is to handle oppression in other ways: "You take a negative and you make it into a positive." He characterized himself as someone who wants to present his points of view in creative ways to contribute "something that you haven't thought about, maybe." A grandfather and prolific painter, Williams had his memoir, What Have We Here: Portraits of a Life, published in 2024.
==Works==
Title 	Role 	Released
Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back	Lando Calrissian	1980
The Empire Strikes Back radio adaptation 	Lando Calrissian	1983
Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi 	Lando Calrissian	1983
Dark Empire radio adaptation 	Lando Calrissian	1994
Star Wars: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast 	Lando Calrissian	2002
Star Wars: Battlefront 	Lando Calrissian	2004
Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II 	Lando Calrissian	2008
Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron 	Lando Calrissian	2009
Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III 	Lando Calrissian	2010
LEGO Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles 	Lindo Calrissian	2013
Star Wars Rebels 	Lando Calrissian	2015
LEGO Star Wars: Droid Tales 	Lando Calrissian	2015
Star Wars Battlefront 	Lando Calrissian	2016
LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures 	Lando Calrissian	2016
Star Wars Battlefront II 	Lando Calrissian	2017
Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge – Adventure Awaits 	Narrator 	2019
Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker 	Lando Calrissian	2019
Star Tours: The Adventures Continue 	Lando Calrissian	2019
The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special 	Lando Calrissian	2020
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga 	Lando Calrissian	2022
LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy 	Lando Calrissian	2024
Star Wars Detours 	Lando Calrissian	TBA
==Sources==
*The Jedi Master's Quizbook
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*Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga – The Official Collector's Edition
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==Notes and references==
==External links==
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Category:Actors who have portrayed Lando Calrissian
Category:Dark Empire voice actors
Category:LEGO Star Wars: Droid Tales voice actors
Category:LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy voice actors
Category:LEGO Star Wars Summer Vacation voice actors
Category:LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures voice actors
Category:LEGO Star Wars: The Resistance Rises voice actors
Category:LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga voice actors
Category:LEGO Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles voice actors
Category:Star Wars Battlefront II voice actors
Category:Star Wars Battlefront voice actors
Category:Star Wars Detours voice actors
Category:Star Wars Rebels voice actors
Category:Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back actors
Category:Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi actors
Category:Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker actors
Category:Star Wars: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast voice actors
Category:The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special voice actors