Samuel Arthur Williams was an American playwright and screenwriter, television producer, and an actor on stage, television and film.
16 Facts About Samm-Art Williams
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Samm-Art Williams was nominated for a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award for his play Home, which moved from the Negro Ensemble Company to a Broadway production in 1980.
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Samm-Art Williams was born on January 20,1946, in Burgaw, North Carolina, the son of Samuel and Valdosia Samm-Art Williams.
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Samm-Art Williams's mother was a high-school English and drama teacher.
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Samm-Art Williams attended segregated public schools through high school He grew up in Burgaw under the care of his mother.
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Samm-Art Williams credited her with his interest in and love of words.
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Samm-Art Williams was recruited to work with Ali, who was afraid of lefties.
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Samm-Art Williams made his screen debut playing "Roger" in the Richard Price novel adaptation The Wanderers, and played a subway police officer in director Brian De Palma's Dressed to Kill.
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Samm-Art Williams participated in the NEC Playwrights Workshop under the guidance of playwright-in-residence Steve Carter, who strongly influenced his work.
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Samm-Art Williams went on to play Matthew Henson in the historical drama TV movie Cook and Peary: The Race to the Pole.
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Samm-Art Williams starred in the PBS American Playhouse dramas Denmark Vesey and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
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Samm-Art Williams wrote a CBS series pilot titled Lenny's Neighborhood.
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Samm-Art Williams wrote and directed the comedy The Dance on Widows' Row, produced by the New Federal Theatre at Manhattan's Harry De Jur Playhouse at Henry Street Settlement from June 25 to July 30,2000.
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In 2006, Samm-Art Williams held auditions for his play The Waiting Room, to be performed that spring at the Raleigh Little Theatre's Gaddy-Goodwin Teaching Theatre in Raleigh, North Carolina.
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Samm-Art Williams was Artist-in-Residence at North Carolina Central University, where he taught classes on equity theater and the art of playwriting.
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Samm-Art Williams died in Burgaw on May 13,2024, at the age of 78.