1. Bill Duke began his career as a theatre actor, before making his film debut as aspiring revolutionary Abdullah Mohammed Akbar in the ensemble comedy Car Wash.
26 Facts About Bill Duke
1. 2.
Bill Duke directed a film adaptation of Chester Himes' Harlem Detective series, A Rage in Harlem, which was nominated for the Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or.
3.
Bill Duke directed the neo-noir thriller Deep Cover and the musical comedy Sister Act 2.
4.
Bill Duke was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, the son of Ethel Louise and William Henry Bill Duke Sr.
5.
Bill Duke attended Franklin D Roosevelt High School in Hyde Park and later received his first instruction in the performing arts and in creative writing at Dutchess Community College in Poughkeepsie.
6.
Bill Duke worked menial jobs seven days a week to cover his living expenses and intended to halt his education until Dr James Hall, the first president of DCC, gave Bill Duke a personal check to cover room, board and books for his next three years at Boston University, where had secured an academic-based scholarship, intending to pursue medical school after graduation, to please his parents.
7.
Bill Duke did appear on Broadway in the 1971 Melvin Van Peebles musical Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death.
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Bill Duke expanded his repertoire with American Gigolo, where he played a gay pimp, who co-orchestrates a murder, pinned on star Richard Gere.
9.
Bill Duke worked opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger with a small role in Commando.
10.
Bill Duke appeared uncredited as a DEA officer in The Limey, as well as a police chief opposite Steven Seagal in Exit Wounds.
11.
Bill Duke then directed episodes of Knots Landing's mother show Dallas and its sister show Falcon Crest.
12.
Bill Duke directed the TV movie The Killing Floor in 1984.
13.
Bill Duke began directing theatrical films in the 1990s with crime dramas A Rage in Harlem, Deep Cover and Hoodlum.
14.
Bill Duke directed The Cemetery Club and the Whoopi Goldberg comedy sequel Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit.
15.
Bill Duke teamed with screenwriter Bayard Johnson to co-produce Cover, a 2007 film which explores the HIV epidemic.
16.
Bill Duke is set to direct The Power of One: The Diane Latiker Story, a film based on Chicago activist Diane Latiker.
17.
Bill Duke made an appearance on Kojak in 1976, as Sylk in the episode "Bad Dude", in the third season of the series.
18.
Bill Duke guest-starred in the fourth episode of Lost in its third season as Warden Harris, in the episode "Every Man for Himself".
19.
Bill Duke had a starring role in the short-lived TV series Palmerstown, USA, produced by Norman Lear and Roots author, Alex Haley.
20.
Bill Duke guest-starred in Battlestar Galactica remake in 2004, the season two episode "Black Market".
21.
Bill Duke made a guest appearance on Baisden After Dark in the episode broadcast on July 18,2008 and guest-starred on Cold Case as Grover Boone, a corrupt politician, in the 2008 episode "Street Money".
22.
Bill Duke voiced a detective in the episode "Thank You for Not Snitching" of the animated television series The Boondocks.
23.
Bill Duke discussed with host Terry Schappert his time filming Predator, his character Sgt.
24.
Bill Duke has served on the board of trustees of the American Film Institute, as a member of the California Film Commission board, appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger, in the Time Warner Endowed Chair in the Department of Radio Television and Film at Howard University in Washington, DC, and as a member of the National Endowment for the Humanities, appointed by President Bill Clinton.
25.
Bill Duke became a teacher of Transcendental Meditation in Ethiopia in 1973 under the guidance of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
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Bill Duke is an honorary member of the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity.