- Born
- Nickname
- Bill
- Height5′ 8″ (1.73 m)
- Prolific and versatile character actor William Sanderson 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 and William Hickey.
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). William was likewise marvelous as gentle toymaker J.F. Sebastian in the fantastic science-fiction cult favorite Blade Runner (1982). 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), lowlife hick Lee Dollarhide in Coal Miner's Daughter (1980) and weaselly criminal Snow in Lone Wolf McQuade (1983). Not surprisingly, considering his distinctive Southern drawl, he has also appeared in such westerns as the comedy Wagons East (1994), Crossfire Trail (2001), Monte Walsh (2003), Andersonville (1996), Gods and Generals (2003) and the acclaimed TV mini-series Lonesome Dove (1989) (one of several projects in which Sanderson has acted alongside Tommy Lee Jones). 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). He achieved his greatest popularity, however, as flaky backwoodsman Larry on the hit sitcom Newhart (1982) 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). Among the TV shows William has done guest spots on are The Practice (1997), The Pretender (1996), ER (1994), The X-Files (1993), Walker, Texas Ranger (1993), Sirens (1993), Matlock (1986), Babylon 5 (1993), Married... with Children (1987), The Twilight Zone (1985), Knight Rider (1982), Coach (1989), The Dukes of Hazzard (1979) and Starsky and Hutch (1975).
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 lives in Burbank, California, with his wife Sharon Wix.- IMDb Mini Biography By: woodyanders (qv's & corrections by A. Nonymous)
- SpousesSharon Wix(December 5, 1993 - present)Aprile Joi Lyon(May 19, 1984 - ?) (divorced)
- ChildrenAndrew Sanderson
- Often plays diminutive, eccentric oddballs on the outer edges of communities.
- As of 2017, was semi-retired from acting and residing in Harrisburg, PA. In a 2017 interview with PennLive, he stated that in the mid-2000s he and his wife bought a house there to be closer to her family. However, they liked Pennsylvania so much that they now live there full time.
- He is sometimes confused with fellow character actor Tracey Walter, who has sometimes also played the same type of eccentric Southern lowlifes. Since they have often gone after the same roles, the two actors have actually become friends. Unlike Walter, Sanderson actually hails from the Southeast US.
- Earned a JD from Memphis State.
- Enlisted in the army and served two years.
- Was originally cast as Joe Camber in Cujo (1983).
- It's better to be typecast than not cast at all.
- I'm a journeyman actor and part of my journey is getting to work with those actors I admire and make good films.
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