Van Williams, the star of the 1966 TV show The Green Hornet, has died. Williams’ longtime friend and neighbor, actress Pat Priest, confirmed the news to Variety. He was 82 years old.
Williams was working as a diving instructor in Hawaii in 1957 when he was discovered by producer Mike Todd. He was convinced to go to Hollywood and try acting. In 1966 he signed a deal with 20th Century Fox to star in The Green Hornet as the titular masked hero and his alter ego, newspaper editor Britt Reid. While it ran at the same time as Batman, Williams played the role more seriously than the campy series with Adam West and Burt Ward.
His film and TV career began in 1954 in the TV movie King Richard II. Before The Green Hornet he was in Bourbon Street Beat in ’59 and ’60, Surfside 6 from ’60 to ’62, and The Tycoon from ’64 to ’65. Then he was in Mission: Impossible, Westwind, The Red Hand Gang, How the West Was Won, The Rockford Files, and his final role was in 1993, in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story as the Green Hornet director.