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Ewoks are a fictional species of bipeds in the Star Wars universe. In the series, they are a species of teddy-bear-like hunter-gatherers that inhabit the forest moon of Endor. The Ewoks live in various tree-huts and primitive dwellings. They first appeared in the film Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983). They have since been featured in two made-for-television films, Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure and Ewoks: The Battle for Endor, as well as an animated series and several books and games. Some fans of Star Wars say that Ewoks are silly and "ruined" the film.^[1]

Concept and creation[link]

George Lucas created the Ewoks because he wanted Return of the Jedi to feature a tribe of some primitive creatures that bring down the technological Empire. He had originally intended the scenes to be set on the Wookiee home planet, but as the film series evolved, the Wookiees became technologically skilled. Lucas designed a new species instead, and says his approach was simple: Wookiees are tall, so he made Ewoks short.^[2] The Ewok are named after the Miwok, a Native American tribe, indigenous to the Redwood forest in which the Endor scenes were filmed for Return of the Jedi, near the San Rafael location of Lucas' Skywalker Ranch. The name also is a pun on the syllables of Wookiee in reverse order.^[3] In the film, the name "Ewok" is never actually spoken, but it appears in both the script and the closing credits.

As presented in the films, Ewoks appear as stocky, sapient bipeds which stand about one meter tall. They have flat faces, are completely covered in fur, and have large jewel-like eyes. Both their fur and their eyes come in a variety of earth-tones, primarily brown, white, grey, gold, and black. Despite their small size, Ewoks are strong; in the climactic battle scene of Return of the Jedi, they are shown physically overpowering and once even throwing Imperial Stormtroopers, though this detail is not consistent throughout the film. Ewoks live high among the trees of their home moon's forests, in villages built on platforms between the closely spaced trees.

An "Ewokese" language was created for the films by Return of the Jedi’s sound designer Ben Burtt. On the commentary track for the DVD of Return of the Jedi, Burtt explains that the language is based on Kalmyk, a language spoken by the Kalmyk people of Russia. Burtt heard the language in a documentary and liked its sound, which seems very alien to Western ears. After some research, he identified an 80-year old Kalmyk refugee. Burtt recorded her telling folk stories in her native language, and then used the recordings as a basis for sounds that became the Ewok language and were performed by voice actors who imitated the old woman's voice in different styles. For the scene in which C-3PO speaks Ewokese, actor Anthony Daniels worked with Burtt and invented words, based on the Kalmyk recordings.^[4]

[edit] Appearance in Return of the Jedi

Ewok Village, Star Tours: The Adventures Continue at Walt Disney World in Florida

The Ewoks are involved in a large portion of the final installment in Lucas' original Star Wars trilogy. When the Empire begins operations on the moon of Endor, prior to the events depicted in the film, it ignores the primitive Ewoks. Princess Leia Organa, part of a Rebel strike team, then befriends the Ewok Wicket W. Warrick, a scout from said village, and is taken to meet the other Ewoks. The rest of the strike team are accidentally trapped by Ewoks and brought to the village.

The Ewoks worship the protocol droid C-3PO, thinking he is a god due to his shininess and gold coverings and a later display of power arranged by Luke Skywalker through The Force. C-3PO tells the Council of Elders the adventures of the Rebel heroes Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Han Solo. The Ewoks accept the Rebels into their tribe and ally themselves to their cause. They then help in the ground battle to destroy the Imperial shield generator on the forest floor, and their primitive weapons fell the Imperial Stormtroopers and the AT-ST walkers of the Empire. This assistance paves the way to victory at the Battle of Endor. Later that night, the Ewoks are shown holding a huge celebration.

The word ewok is not mentioned anywhere in the movie except the end titles, nor are any individuals (such as Wicket or Paploo) referred to by name.^[5]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Ewok in the Star Wars Databank.
• Ewok on Wookieepedia: a Star Wars Wiki
• Action Figure Archive - Ewoks cartoon series action figure guide.

Billy Dee Williams
Billy Dee Williams in 2011.
Born	William December Williams, Jr. (1937-04-06) April 6, 1937 (age 75) New York City, New York, United States
Occupation	Actor, artist, singer, writer
Years active	1959–present

William December "Billy Dee" Williams, Jr. (born April 6, 1937) is an American actor, artist, singer, and writer.

Early life[link]

Williams was born in New York City, New York, the son of Loretta Anne, a West Indian-born elevator operator from Montserrat, and William December Williams, Sr., an African-American caretaker from Texas.^[1][2] He has a twin sister, Loretta, and grew up in Harlem, where he was raised by his maternal grandmother while his parents worked at several jobs. Williams graduated from the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art in Manhattan, where he was a classmate of Diahann Carroll, who coincidentally played the wife of his character Brady Lloyd on the 1980s prime-time soap Dynasty.

Acting career[link]

Stage[link]

He first appeared on Broadway in 1945 in The Firebrand of Florence.^[3] He returned to Broadway as an adult in 1960 in the play version of The Cool Word. He appeared in A Taste of Honey in 1961. A 1976 Broadway production, I Have a Dream, was directed by Robert Greenwald and starred Williams as Martin Luther King, Jr.^[4] His most recent Broadway appearance was in August Wilson's Fences, as a replacement for James Earl Jones in the role of Troy Maxson in 1988.^[5]

Film[link]

He made his film debut in 1959 in the Academy Award nominated The Last Angry Man, opposite Paul Muni, in which he portrayed a delinquent young man. He rose to stardom after starring in the critically lauded blockbuster biographical TV movie, Brian's Song (1971), in which he played Chicago Bears star football player Gale Sayers, who stood by his friend Brian Piccolo (played by James Caan), during his struggle with terminal cancer. Both Williams and Caan were nominated for Emmy Awards for best actor for their performances.^[6]

After this breakthrough, Williams became America's leading^{[citation needed]} black film actor in the 1970s after starring in a string of critically acclaimed and popular movies, many of them in the Blaxploitation genre. In 1972, starred as Billie Holiday's husband Louis McKay in Motown Productions' Holiday biopic Lady Sings the Blues. The film was a box office blockbuster, becoming one of the highest grossing films of the year and received five Academy Award nominations. Diana Ross starred in Lady Sings the Blues opposite Williams; Motown paired the two of them again three years later in the successful follow-up project Mahogany.

The early 1980s brought Williams the role of Lando Calrissian, which he played in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. Calrissian's charm proved to be popular with audiences and Williams now had a substantial fanbase within the science fiction genre as well. He reprised this role when he lent his voice for the character in the 2002 video game Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, as well as the audio dramatization of Dark Empire, the National Public Radio adaptation of Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, and two productions for the Star Wars: Battlefront series: Star Wars: Battlefront II and Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron. (However, the appearance in Battlefront II was archive footage and it is unknown whether it was him or another actor in the role of Calrissian in Elite Squadron however he appears through Archive footage for that games full-motion sequences). Between his appearances in the Star Wars films, he starred alongside Sylvester Stallone as a cop in the critically acclaimed film Nighthawks. He co-starred in 1989's Batman as district attorney Harvey Dent, a role that was planned to develop into Dent's alter-ego, the villain Two-Face, in sequels (including a pay or play contract that would have guaranteed Williams the chance to play Two-Face). Unfortunately for Williams, that never came to pass; he was set to reprise the role in a more villainous light in the sequel, Batman Returns, but his character was deleted and replaced with original villain Max Shreck. When Joel Schumacher stepped in to direct Batman Forever, where Two-Face was to be a secondary villain, Schumacher decided to pay Williams' penalty fee to hire Tommy Lee Jones for the part.^[7]

Television[link]

Williams's television work included a recurring guest-starring role on the short-lived show Gideon's Crossing. He has had a brief cameo in the TV show Scrubs Season 5, where he plays the godfather of Julie (Mandy Moore). Turk hugs him, calling him "Lando," even though he prefers to be called Billy D. He is also well known for his appearance in advertisements for Colt 45 (a brand of malt liquor) in the 1980s and early 1990s, for which he received much criticism. Williams responded indifferently to the criticism of his appearances in the liquor commercials. When questioned about his appearances, he allegedly replied by saying, "I drink, you drink. Hell, if marijuana was legal, I'd appear in a commercial for it."^[8]

Williams was paired with actress Marla Gibbs on three different TV shows: The Jeffersons (Gibbs's character, Florence, had a crush on Williams and challenged him on everything because she thought he was an impostor); 227 (her character, Mary, pretending to be royalty, met Williams at a banquet); and The Hughleys (Gibbs and Williams portrayed Darryl's parents).

In 1992, he portrayed Berry Gordy in The Jacksons: An American Dream.

In 1993, Williams had a guest appearance on the spin off to The Cosby Show, A Different World as Langston Paige, a grumpy landlord.

Williams made a special guest appearance on the hit sketch comedy show, In Living Color, in 1990. He portrayed Pastor Dan in an episode of That '70s Show. In this episode entitled "Baby Don't You Do It" (2004), his character is obsessed with Star Wars, and uses this to help counsel Eric Forman (himself a major Star Wars fan) and Donna Pinciotti about their premarital relationship.

Williams made a cameo appearance as himself on the TV series Lost in the episode "Exposé". He also appears regularly on short clips on the Jimmy Kimmel Live as a semi-parody of himself.

He is portrayed - although he does not do the voice for his own character - in the 2007 Family Guy episode Road to Rupert as representing the 'cool side of the pillow' ^[9]

He played Toussaint Dubois for General Hospital: Night Shift in 2007 and 2008. Williams reprised his role as Toussaint on General Hospital itself beginning in June 2009.

Also in 2009 he took on the role of the voice of Admiral Bitchface the head of the military on the planet Titan in the Adult Swim animated series Titan Maximum.

In July 2010, Williams appeared in the animated series The Boondocks, where he voiced a fictionalized version of himself in the episode "The Story of Lando Freeman".

In February 2011, Williams appeared as a guest star on USA Network's White Collar as Ford, an old friend of Neal Caffrey's landlady June, played by Diahann Carroll.

Other ventures[link]

Music[link]

In 1961, Williams ventured into the music industry when he recorded a jazz LP produced by Prestige Records entitled Let's Misbehave, on which he sang several swing standards. The album, which was a commercial success at the time, made Williams eligible for an appearance in the legendary Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever (1983).

Video games[link]

Williams voiced Lando Calrissian in the video game Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast and Star Wars Battlefront as well as the spin-off Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron (however, the Battlefront appearances were archive footage and his voice-appearance in Elite Squadron is left uncredited or unknown). He also played a live-action character, GDI Director Redmond Boyle, in the game Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, which was released in March 2007. This made him the second former Star Wars actor to appear in a Command & Conquer game, with the first being James Earl Jones as GDI General James Solomon in Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun.

Internet[link]

In 2008, Williams reprised his role as Lando Calrissian to appear in a video on FunnyOrDie.com in a mock political ad defending himself for leader of the Star Wars galaxy against vicious attack ads from Emperor Palpatine. The video is titled "Vote for Lando Calrissian! w/ BILLY DEE WILLIAMS"^[10] Billy Dee is currently a cast member of Diary of a Single Mom, a web based original series directed by award-winning filmmaker Robert Townsend. The series debuted on PIC.tv in 2009.^[11]

Art[link]

Even before he began acting, Williams attended the National Academy of Fine Arts and Design in New York. In the late 1980s, he resumed painting. Some of his work can be seen at his online gallery BDW World Art. He has had solo exhibitions in various galleries around the U.S., and his work hangs in the National Portrait Gallery, The Smithsonian Institution, and The Schomburg Museum. The covers of the Thelonious Monk Competition programs since 1990 are by him. He was also on the Martin Lawerence show.

Personal life[link]

Marriages and family[link]

Williams has been married three times:

First to Audrey Sellers, with whom he had a son Corey (b. 1960). They were divorced some years later, after which he apparently became quite depressed. ".... there was a period when I was very despondent, broke, depressed, my first marriage was on the rocks."^[12]

Williams was briefly married to actress Marlene Clark in the late 1960s, and divorced in 1971.

He married Teruko Nakagami on December 27, 1972. She brought a daughter, Miyako (b. 1962), from her previous marriage to musician Wayne Shorter. They have a daughter Hanako (b. 1973). They filed for divorce in 1993,^[13] but were reported to have reconciled in 1997.^[14][15]

Legal problems[link]

Williams was arrested on January 30, 1996 after allegedly beating his live-in girlfriend, whom the Police did not identify.^[16] He was freed from custody the following day after posting a $50,000 bail.^[17] Williams stated through his attorney that he expected to be fully exonerated of the charges.^[18] The Los Angeles city attorney's office filed misdemeanor charges of spousal battery and dissuading a witness against Williams.^[19] The woman, identified only as 'Patricia', later stated the incident was her fault and that she hoped the police would drop the case.^[20] In a plea bargain agreement to dismiss the charges, Williams was ordered to undergo 52 counselling sessions.^[21]

Filmography[link]

Video game work[link]

• Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast (As Lando Calrissian)^{[citation needed]}
• Star Wars Battlefront II (Archive Footage) (As Lando Calrissian)
• Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron (Possibly Archive Footage) (As Lando Calrissian)
• Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (As GDI Director Redmond Boyle) For his performance as Boyle, Williams himself ranked Game Informer's eighth biggest dork of 2007.^{[citation needed]}

Books[link]

• PSI/Net (1999), ISBN 978-0-312-86766-9
• JUST/In Time (2001), ISBN 978-0-8125-7240-7
• Twilight: A Novel (2002), ISBN 978-0-312-87909-9

Further reading[link]

• Nishikawa, Kinohi. "Billy Dee Williams." The Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Literature. Ed. Hans Ostrom and J. David Macey, Jr. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005. 1742-43.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Billy Dee Williams

• Billy Dee Williams at the Internet Movie Database
• Billy Dee Williams at the Internet Broadway Database
• Billy Dee Williams at Internet Off-Broadway Database