William H. Marshall (19 August 1924 – 11 June 2003) was an American actor, director and opera singer. He is best known for his title role in the 1972 blaxploitation classic, Blacula. In some of his films, he was credited as Bill Marshall.
Marshall was born in Gary, Indiana, and later lived north of Hanson Dam in Pacoima, California. His film career spanned from 1952 through 1996. He had a commanding height of 6 ft 5 inches, and a deep bass voice.
Although trained as a classical actor, and having performed in Shakespeare plays many times on the stage, Marshall received widespread fame for his role in the vampire film Blacula and its sequel Scream Blacula Scream, as well as his parts in a number of 1950s Tarzan films in which he played tribal chiefs, including 1954's Demetrius and the Gladiators. Marshall later played the highly-memorable King of Cartoons on Pee-wee's Playhouse, replacing actor Gilbert Lewis, during the 1980s. (The character's catch phrase "Let...the cartoooon....
Created by dipity on Feb 7, 2008
Last updated: 11/10/09 at 06:54 AM
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William H. Marshall died in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County
Scream Blacula Scream is a 1973 horror film, made under the working titles Blacula Is Beautiful and Blacula Lives Again!. It is the sequel to Blacula. The film was a Blaxploitation film.After a dying Voodoo queen chooses an adopted apprentice as her successor, her true heir is outraged. Seeking revenge, he buys the bones of Blacula the vampire off of the former shaman of the voodoo cult, and uses voodoo to bring the vampire back to do his bidding. In turn, Blacula turns him into a vampire and makes him his slave. Meanwhile, a police officer with a large collection of African antiques and an interest in the occult investigates the murders caused by Blacula and his vampire horde....,
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070656
Blacula was a financial success when it was originally released. It was immediately followed by a sequel, Scream Blacula Scream (1973), in which the vampire (with Marshall reprising the role) is made corporeal again by a Voodoo practitioner. The success of the film also inspired the making of several other blaxploitation/horror crossovers in the mid-seventies,[citation needed] including Abby, Blackenstein, Dr. Black and Mr. Hyde, Ganja and Hess, The House on Skull Mountain, J.D.'s Revenge and Sugar Hill, although none of these films were as successful commercially as Blacula. Two more recent horror films with predominantly black casts were Vampire in Brooklyn (a 1995 film which shares many themes and source material with Blacula) and Bones (2001).
In 1780, Prince Mamuwalde (Marshall), the ruler of an African nation, seeks the help of Count Dracula (Charles Macaulay) in suppressing the slave trade. Dracula, who along with his other evils is revealed as a racist, not only...,
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068284
Demetrius and the Gladiators is a 1954 sword and sandal drama film and a sequel to The Robe. It was made by 20th Century Fox, directed by Delmer Daves and produced by Frank Ross. The screenplay was by Philip Dunne based on characters created by Lloyd C. Douglas in The Robe .
It starred Victor Mature as Demetrius, a Christian slave made to fight in the Roman arena as a gladiator, and Susan Hayward as Messalina. The cast also included Ernest Borgnine, William Marshall, Michael Rennie, Debra Paget and a young Anne Bancroft in one of her earlier roles. The film is in color and in Cinemascope, with an English language stereo sound track, and runs for 101 minutes.
The movie begins with a clip from the previous film, showing its central characters Marcellus and Diana going to be martyred for their Christian beliefs on the order of the Emperor Caligula. Before being executed, Diana hands the robe to a bystander, telling him that it is for the fisherman, meaning Peter, who was a fisherman...,
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046899
William H. Marshall was born in Gary, Indiana, Lake County
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