American Black Film Festival Career Achievement Award, Lifetime achievement Directors Guild of America
William Henry Duke Jr. (born February 26, 1943) is an American actor and film director. Known for his physically imposing frame, Duke works primarily in the action and crime drama genres often as a character related to law enforcement.[1] Frequently a character actor, he has starred opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in Commando and Predator, and has appeared in films like Car Wash, American Gigolo, No Man's Land, Bird on a Wire, Menace II Society, Exit Wounds, Payback, X-Men: The Last Stand, and Mandy. In television, he is best known as Agent Percy Odell in Black Lightning.
He has directed episodes of numerous television series including Cagney & Lacey, Dallas, Hill Street Blues, Miami Vice, The Twilight Zone, and American Playhouse. He has also directed the crime films Deep Cover and A Rage in Harlem, for which he was nominated for a Palme d'Or, as well as the comedy Sister Act 2.[2]
^"ACTOR BILL DUKE MOVES FROM PLAYING HEAVIES TO ACTING OUT HIS DREAMS AS DIRECTOR OF 'HARLEM'". DeseretNews.com. May 16, 1991. Retrieved July 11, 2018.
^Duke, Bill. My 40-Year Career on Screen and behind the Camera. Rowman. Retrieved December 18, 2019.
names BillDuke to the National Council on the Humanities". White House. October 16, 2000. Retrieved December 19, 2019. Duke, Bill (2018). BillDuke : my...
American television film featuring Dennis Haysbert, Ernie Hudson and BillDuke. When a strange werewolf virus threatens to decimate first New York and...
Lawrence 2001, p. 77 Gutman, Bill. Duke: The Musical Life of Duke Ellington, New York: E-Rights/E-Reads, 1977 [2001], p. 35. Duke Ellington Music is my Mistress...
(Betsy), was born in 1949. As a boy, Duke and his brother Bill made model aircraft. A congenital heart defect caused Bill to drop out of strenuous sports,...
James Buchanan Duke established The Duke Endowment and the institution changed its name to honor his deceased father, Washington Duke. The campus spans...
Grant (in his final appearance), Julia Fox, Frankie Shaw, Ray Liotta, and BillDuke. No Sudden Move had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on...
open the door and barges in with backup, including police chief Hinges (BillDuke). Useldinger shoots Boyd and as he is about to shoot him again, George...
A Rage in Harlem is a 1991 American crime film directed by BillDuke and loosely based on Chester Himes' novel A Rage in Harlem. The film stars Forest...
The Rosses' methods of managing Duke's career were often unscrupulous and exploitative. They consistently billedDuke as being two years younger than...
Easily Broken is a 2009 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by BillDuke. The film is written by Brian Bird based on T. D. Jakes' 2006 novel of...
The Cemetery Club is a 1993 American comedy film directed by BillDuke. The film stars Olympia Dukakis, Ellen Burstyn, Diane Ladd and Danny Aiello. Jerry...
Martin Scorsese, Robert Mulligan, John Landis, Ivan Reitman, John Sturges, BillDuke, George Roy Hill, Richard Fleischer, John Frankenheimer, and Henry Hathaway...
Me' (Exclusive)". Peoplemag. Retrieved August 7, 2023. "Wayne Brady and BillDuke are now Honorary Members of Phi Beta Sigma". Watch The Yard. June 15,...
2008, he starred in the 20th Century Fox thriller Cover, directed by BillDuke, and starred alongside Danny Masterson and Dominique Swain in the indie...
Dark Girls is a 2011 documentary film by BillDuke and D. Channsin Berry. It documents colorism within the African American community, a subject still...
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