William Sanderson

Prolific and versatile character actor 'William Sanderson' (qv) was born on January 10, 1944, in Memphis, Tennessee. His mother was an elementary school teacher and his father was a landscape designer. William served two years in the US Army. Following his military service he attended Southern Methodist University. He earned both a BBA degree and a JD law degree from Memphis State University. William went to New York to try his luck as an actor. He studied his craft with 'Herbert Berghof' (qv) and 'William Hickey' (qv).Sanderson began his acting career in off-Broadway stage productions and appeared in several independent pictures. He gave a superbly lively and intense performance as vicious racist and escaped convict Jessie Lee Kane in the brutal exploitation feature _Fight for Your Life (1977)_ (qv). William was likewise marvelous as gentle toymaker J.F. Sebastian in the fantastic science-fiction cult favorite _Blade Runner (1982)_ (qv). He has played his fair share of loathsome bad guys (he refers to these particular characters as "prairie scum"), such as nasty lout Calvin in _Raggedy Man (1981)_ (qv), lowlife hick Lee Dollarhide in _Coal Miner's Daughter (1980)_ (qv) and weaselly criminal Snow in _Lone Wolf McQuade (1983)_ (qv). Not surprisingly, considering his distinctive Southern drawl, he has also appeared in such westerns as the comedy _Wagons East (1994)_ (qv), _Crossfire Trail (2001)_ (qv), _Monte Walsh (2003)_ (qv), _Andersonville (1996)_ (qv), _Gods and Generals (2003)_ (qv) and the acclaimed TV mini-series _Lonesome Dove (1989)_ (qv) (one of several projects in which Sanderson has acted alongside 'Tommy Lee Jones' (qv)). Sanderson gave a lovely and touching portrayal in a rare lead role as emotionally dysfunctional recovering alcoholic ukulele minstrel Stanley Myer in the poignant indie drama _Stanley's Gig (2000)_ (qv). He achieved his greatest popularity, however, as flaky backwoodsman Larry on the hit sitcom _Newhart (1982)_ (qv) on which he uttered the memorable catchphrase, "I'm Larry. This is my brother Darryl and this is my other brother Darryl." More recently Sanderson had a terrific role as conniving hotel proprietor E.B. Farnum on the sensationally gritty cable western TV series _Deadwood (2004)_ (qv). Among the TV shows William has done guest spots on are _The Practice (1997)_ (qv), _The Pretender (1996)_ (qv), _ER (1994)_ (qv), _The X-Files (1993)_ (qv), _Walker, Texas Ranger (1993)_ (qv), _Sirens (1993)_ (qv), _Matlock (1986)_ (qv), _Babylon 5 (1993)_ (qv), _Married... with Children (1987)_ (qv), _The Twilight Zone (1985)_ (qv), _Knight Rider (1982)_ (qv), _Coach (1989)_ (qv), _The Dukes of Hazzard (1979)_ (qv) and _Starsky and Hutch (1975)_ (qv).He has also done voices for numerous cartoon characters, radio commercials and books on tape. Outside of his substantial film and TV credits, William has acted on stage in productions of such plays as "The Taming of the Shrew," "When Ya Comin' Back, Red Ryder?," "Insect Comedy," "To Kill a Mockingbird," "Dutchman," "Fishing," "Authentic Life of Billy the Kid," "Tobacco Road," and "Scotch Rocks." 'William Sanderson' (qv) lives in Burbank, California, with his wife Sharon Wix.::woodyanders (qv's & corrections by A. Nonymous)