Tuesday, September 14, 2010

The Incredible Shrinking Career

The actor being profiled today struggled to get a foothold in the dog-eat-dog world of Hollywood filmmaking before retreating to a more private existence as an acting teacher and (truth be told) a bit of an eccentric. Despite being under contract to two of the business’s most enduring studios, he wasn’t able to secure a place as a significant leading man and is remembered today almost solely for one role in an unimportant (yet very entertaining and now well-regarded) B movie.

John Grant Williams was born in The Big Apple in 1931. Having an interest in acting from his earliest years, he worked in summer stock productions just around the time he entered his teens. This path was interrupted by a four-year stint in the U.S. Air Force upon graduation from high school, but upon his release, he attended college and took lessons at Lee Strasberg’s Actor’s Studio, eventually landing roles in two short-lived plays.

He supplemented his acting gigs by working for Maynard Morris, an MCA talent agent known for spotting bright new faces. Morris looked the young, blonde, male secretary over, declared him worthy of motion picture stardom and Grant Williams was born. A contract with Universal Studios came after Williams had worked on a few of the then-popular live television anthology series.

He made his film debut in 1956’s Red Sundown, a Rory Calhoun western in which he (fifth-billed) portrayed a hired gun. His character was mean and tough, at odds with Williams’ pretty looks, but his training allowed him to shade the stock character with details such as a perverse laugh in the midst of his various misdeeds.

He continued his villainous trend with Outside the Law as a gang boss trying to eradicate (hunky) Army parolee Ray Danton from his business. Then he had a bit role as one of many navy men in Away All Boats. This film featured Jeff Chandler, George Nader, Lex Barker and Keith Andes, among others, qualifying it to be a beefcake overload! His voice was used as narration in Walk the Proud Land, helping to deemphasize the lack of training found in star Audie Murphy’s.

Still in 1956, he found himself in another western, this one called Showdown at Abilene. Again, he was fifth-billed, in support of stars Jock Mahoney, Martha Hyer (who had also been in Red Sundown), Lyle Bettger and David Janssen. Unbelievably, he was not finished working yet in 1956, being given a tiny part in the plush Douglas Sirk soap opera Written on the Wind. Here, he played the hunky service station attendant “picked up” by nymphomaniac Dorothy Malone.

The following year saw Williams as one of the male suitors in Four Girls in Town, a story purporting to tell about the behind-the-scenes machinations of casting a Biblical epic in Hollywood. Here, he was paired with Elsa Martinelli. Universal next placed Grant Williams in the film and role for which he would forever be identified -- the title character in The Incredible Shrinking Man.

As Scott Carey, Grant Williams played a reasonably successful married man on a pleasure cruise with his wife. As the pair relax on the deck of their small boat, the wife goes below long enough for a strange cloud to settle over him. In a fairly fast-moving series of events, Williams discovers that he is becoming smaller and smaller with each passing day!

Before long, he has trouble ascending the furniture and soon must relocate to a doll house. Then he discovers that danger can lurk in the everyday realm of a previously non-threatening house cat! His ever-unsympathetic wife (she’s really quite a bitch in the film!) doesn’t seem to support him much at all in his trauma and is careless enough in her treatment of him that one wonders if she isn’t trying to ditch him or do him in to be rid of him.

As he continues to dwindle, he can’t even wear clothes any more (and there’s no problem with that. He’s breathtakingly handsome!) He takes to wearing a makeshift toga that is, at times, tantalizingly brief and tattered, especially in a scene involving a “flood” in which he has to swim for his life. He also has a set of misadventures in the basement that includes taking on one of the cinema’s most horrifying spiders!

The special effects are interesting and effective now, but they must have been positively mind-blowing in 1957! A lot of the ideas demonstrated here have since been cribbed by Land of the Giants, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and the ill-advised 1981 remake The Incredible Shrinking Woman, with Lily Tomlin, but the film has such a sincere sense of dread that it is set apart from those later, often campy or funny renditions. Williams’ character faces isolation, ostracism and potential ridicule, giving a subtext to the movie that appealed to many repressed gay viewers back in the day and can still be identified with now. (And we won't address potential phallic or otherwise sexual imagery (see above right and below!)Though he didn’t know it at the time, this successful, but small, movie would be the pinnacle of Williams’ career. It has, however, enjoyed a devoted cult following for many years and is well worth viewing, packing a fair share of interest, action and suspense into its trim and taut eighty-one minute running time. His performance is notable because in virtually all of the action sequences, he was acting opposite nothing but a blue screen, the effects being added in later.

The same year, he was cast in another thriller, The Monolith Monsters. This one didn’t receive quite the attention or acclaim as Shrinking Man did, but it has a reputation that is better than the sort of tacky title promises. Here, he plays a geologist attempting to solve the mystery of the title creatures, alien beings who suck the water out of human beings and grow to tower-like proportions only to blast apart and multiply, starting the whole process over. His costar was Lola Albright, as a teacher whose young female student is rendered catatonic following an encounter with one of the monsters.

Soon after, Universal Studios, where he had already slid to being the lead actor in B-level horror movies, dropped him. He managed to land one independent western, The Lone Texan, and sang for a time with The New York City Opera as well as with The Robert Shaw Chorale. (Strangely, he never appeared in a musical film, however, despite his well-trained tenor singing voice.)

He was soon signed with Warner Brothers, where he was put to work, like almost all of their contracted performers, in an endless chain of TV series and films. He appeared on The Millionaire, Mr. Lucky, The Roaring 20’s and Surfside 6. He also was given the leading role in the rough and tumble 13 Fighting Men, a post Civil War drama about a Yankee Officer (Williams) who is locked in combat with a Confederate major (Brad Dexter) who isn’t quite ready to let bygones be bygones. Less prestigious was his next film The Leech Woman, though, like many other horror films of this era, it has a considerable contingent of loyal fans today. He plays a man whose new girlfriend (Colleen Gray) is lovely and appealing, but who has to drain the life out of men in order to stay that way, hence the title. (This photo of him to the left is with another costar of the film, Gloria Talbot.) One of the more notable cast members in this is Phillip Terry, as Gray’s husband, best known for having been Mr. Joan Crawford from 1942 - 1946.
Williams was also cast in a recurring role on the Warner Brothers TV series Hawaiian Eye, a cookie cutter private eye series that starred Robert Conrad, Anthony Eisley and Connie Stevens (and later Troy Donahue.) Warners, at least, did really try to give Williams some sort of chance at a career. He was but one of several young men swarming around Connie Stevens in the glossy (and campy) soap opera Susan Slade, notorious as one of John Waters’ all-time favorite movies.

His bigger push came with 1962’s The Couch, a provocative drama about a young man with intense emotional problems who romances his psychiatrist’s receptionist (Shirley Knight) in between office visits and serial killings! Publicized as a disturbing and sensational piece of filmmaking, it either scared too many viewers away or else failed to live up to the hype and promises. (Sadly, I’ve never seen it!)

By 1963, he was back to the familiar position of fifth billing, this time in another maritime beefcake parade, PT109, all about President Kennedy’s adventures prior to his life in the political arena. Cliff Robertson was the lead and Ty Hardin costarred. This was the last film of any quality that Grant Williams was able to land.

He continued working on TV on shows like The Outer Limits, Perry Mason and The Munsters (as an oil company executive who is enlisted to wake up a potion-affected Marilyn Munster with a kiss.) A 1969 appearance on Dragnet was a dire experience. Something happened between Williams and star-producer Jack Webb that led to a major disagreement. It pretty much marked the end of his career on television, though he did appear in a couple of very low-budget and exceedingly low-rung exploitation/horror/sci-fi films. Titles include How’s Your Love Life?, Doomsday Machine and Brain of Blood.

Doomsday Machine was a pathetically cheap, unbelievably tacky science-fiction film in which Williams’ character, for no apparent reason, goes from being a stalwart officer on board a spaceship to a raving, sexually aggressive tormentor of one of the females. The cast includes Bobby Van, Mala Powers, Ruta Lee and Henry Wilcoxon, you know, all the people you’d expect to see on a spaceship! It has become the subject of a new MST3K style program called Cinematic Titanic, in which five onlookers ridicule the movie as it plays before them.

Brain of Blood was the very last scripted thing Williams ever appeared in. A startlingly low-grade piece of exploitational drek, it concerns the transplant of a foreign dignitary’s brain into a new body in order to keep him alive and avoid a political upheaval. Filmed for $5.73, it features Williams as a doctor, dressed in a mod, white suit and a goofy Ukrainian looking hat fighting against an evil surgeon with a midget henchman who keeps Asian women locked in a basement dungeon!

Williams’ cohort in the film is buxom, blonde Regina Carrol (the director’s wife!) who has to be seen to be believed, cavorting around in a peek-a-boo white mini-dress with hair teased to the heavens, white lipstick and heavy black eyelashes. She has a memorably amusing chase through some woods as a hulking brute with half his head mangled chases her relentlessly.

Grant looks embarrassed to be in this piece of trash, but not embarrassed enough. He seems to be trying to give an earnest performance, but there was no hope in the slightest of this being anything but drive-in level gunk at its all-time worst. He was only 41 at the time, but looks terrible, with lank, greasy-looking hair and a drawn face. (To be honest, few people concentrated on clean-cut grooming in the early 70s, but still…) Occasionally, a frame or two will reveal his once handsome face, but generally he is rendered obsolete by the project.

He would not be seen again in any type of major media until 1983 when he appeared on Family Feud as part of a celebrity tournament that gathered together Hawaiian Eye cast members. Looking lean, with a slightly crooked grin, he came off as happy and reasonably energetic, but looked older than his 52 years. These "reunion" style shows, fun as they are for fans of classic TV and movies, can sometimes seem a little sad.

Williams departure from the world of TV and movies has always been something of a mystery, not because he was a huge star, but because he was an actor who generally received good reviews for his work and seemed to have the right ingredients to have at least as successful career as some of his less talented peers who fared better.

He always denied that there was any friction with the studio chiefs, having never rejected a role or gone on suspension (perhaps he should have turned down a couple of those parts along the way!) Other accounts claim that he was a victim of homophobia, he being a lifelong bachelor who was rarely seen on dates whether for publicity or otherwise. For his part, he staunchly denied this. A devout Catholic, he stated that he would never even portray a homosexual (though there’ve been a lot of homosexuals who wouldn’t play one!)

What happened was that when the wheels came off his acting career, he moved to West Hollywood (to a situation or neighborhood that gave him cause to keep several loaded guns in his apartment, even with 24-hour security on the premises!) and started giving acting lessons. Unable to completely grasp that his career was not only short-lived, but practically impossible to resuscitate, he felt the need to advertise himself as “interrupting” a twenty-seven year career in order to impart his teachings to hopeful students. He did publish a couple of books on acting and was an exacting teacher, but he died in 1985, allegedly from peritonitis following a bout with blood poisoning. An honorably discharged veteran, he was buried in Los Angeles National Cemetery with his Air Force rank engraved on his headstone and no mention of his acting career.

Grant Williams had beautiful blonde hair, smooth, tan skin and an attractive physique. He also had a gentle, haunted manner that he could sometimes put aside in order to portray more colorful characters. He could play action as well as drama and had untapped potential as a musician. Somehow, though, for whatever reason, he just couldn’t make it happen. Still, his primary film stands out as one of the 1950s’ most arresting thrillers, even if its title ultimately wound up describing its star as much as the lead character
.

44 comments:

Ima June Pullet said...

When I saw that photo of Ray Danton, I almost spewed my Diet Coke on the computer screen! I had such a crush on him when I was about eleven or twelve. I even sent away for an autographed 8 x 10 glossy of him.

"Hunky" is right--I'd love to see a post about Ray, please!

TJB said...

Reading this made me very, very sad. Grant's certainly wasn't the worst or most tragic dead-end story to come out of Hollywood, but this one just hit a nerve. I'm projecting, but I definitely get a closeted vibe here...

WV: "oresses." Which, in relation to a post including both Grant Williams, and one of my all-time humpy favorites, Ray Danton, sounds vaguely obscene.

Poseidon3 said...

TJB, I'm sorry I was a downer this time out. I think sometimes I'm drawn to the defeated, perhaps subconsciously trying to raise awareness of their existence in this disposable world we live in. I'm "going green" with celebs and movies - ha ha! - trying to recycle, reuse and renew them rather than let them slip away forgotten.

I agree with you about poor Grant. Despite a lot of legitimate concerns (as well as a lot of grousing!), we've definitely come a long way and enjoy a whole different world than he inhabited.

Thanks for reading!

normadesmond said...

must've been quite a lot of grants.

TJB said...

I would reuse Mr. Williams.

And you needn't apologize, darling! I love sad Hollywood sob stories!

Hilly Blue said...

Well, I watched Shrinking Man this weekend and fell in love with Grant. Very cute, especially when his hair got messed up. Nice legs, too. I especially enjoyed the shot of the cat coming in the back of the dollhouse and Grant about to run up the stairs. For it's time, the special effect were pretty good. The movie came on a disc that included The Monolith Monsters. Unfortunately, I couldn't sit through it. I have the All-Star Family Feud DVD set and went back to watch Grant, because I had never put two and two together that they were the same man.

Poseidon3 said...

Hilly, I am like that, too! I often think the men from the classic era of films look better when their hair gets messed up! I always hate the "long" wigs they put on men in so many period films... they're flat and stiff and compressed and I'm always happy when they get distressed a little. When oldtime male moviestars lose their staid, Bryllcreamed do's, you can more easily transcend the decades and picture what they'd look like now (and usually it's GOOD!) Glad you liked him and thanks for filling me in!

Unknown said...

A beautiful man

dmappin said...

Great article about one of my favorite actors from the 1950s.

Grant Williams' role in "The Incredible Shrinking Man" and "The Monolith Monster" will forever keep Williams place in sci-fi history books.

The blond * star definitely strikes me as a victim of the homophobia of the time. If he was asked about this, of course he would deny it. In that time period, a gay rumor could forever destroy a career.

I do have to correct one error in your nicely done tribute to the man. Williams did NOT play a newsman in "The Monolith Monsters." He played Dave Miller, a federal geologist. Les Tremayne (of "War of the Worlds" fame) portrayed Martin Cochrane, the local newsman.

Thanks for the great tribute to him.

* BLONDE = female
BLOND = male

Poseidon3 said...

Dmappin, I've corrected the occupation of his character in "The Monolith Monsters." Not sure how I got the wrong info 3-1/2 years ago, but I'm happy to fix it! Thank you!

Poseidon3 said...

PS - Williams' comments about not being homosexual and not willing to even play one were made in 1982, long after his career was over and in that window of time, pre-AIDS crisis, when the country was beginning to loosen up more than ever before when it came to that. Shortly thereafter it became true career death to admit it while AIDS was ravaging Hollywood and the rest of the world...

niles said...

I remember him well. It's sad that he left us so soon, and appears to have had his career dampened by rumors. It's probably just a coincidence and wild conjecture to infer that his death at the height of the AIDS crisis was anything but what was reported, although it was common practice at the time to list other causes for public consumption.

Unknown said...

I'm watching "The Incredible Shrinking Man" on tv right now. I remember seeing it in the early 60's in the Queens Movie Theatre on Jamaica Avenue in Queens Village in New York when I was about 8 or 9 years old. It's a shame his career fizzled. Acting is a very tough business. R.I.P., sir.

Poseidon3 said...

Daniel, thanks for visiting this page and commenting! You are right about how tough the movie business can be... If you want to see a little more of Grant Williams, there are some good pictures of him on the page devoted to "PT 109." (http://neptsdepths.blogspot.com/2013/06/on-qt-about-pt.html)

cuppajoe said...

I knew Grant in the late '60's. We lived in the same high rise apartment building on Doheny Drive and became friends. He had many problems. He was unable to come to terms with his homosexuality and he was also psychotic. He self medicated with copious amounts of alcohol. It made his psychosis worse. It was sad, but not surprising when he died. I assumed it was due to AIDS. .

Poseidon3 said...

Cuppajoe, I very much appreciate your remarks here and thank you for visiting. There is precious little about Williams on the internet (and not too much in print, either!), so anything else you can recollect would, I'm sure, be interesting to me and the readers/other commenters of this post.

Anonymous said...

I make no bones about it. I feel deeply sorry for Grant. I wish he could have accepted himself as he was.
Ralph John Steinberg
New York City

Unknown said...

This may be an ended string but ran across it. I was always drawn to him both by his looks and a somewhat tragic presence even in his better times. I see some of me in him in my quite different life, one that showed early promise and some success but has not flourished. The life of quiet desperation. I would be interested in more details of the previous poster's description of him as psychotic. Maybe he was just a lonely older gay alcoholic man in despair?

Unknown said...

This may be an ended string but ran across it. I was always drawn to him both by his looks and a somewhat tragic presence even in his better times. I see some of me in him in my quite different life, one that showed early promise and some success but has not flourished. The life of quiet desperation. I would be interested in more details of the previous poster's description of him as psychotic. Maybe he was just a lonely older gay alcoholic man in despair?

Poseidon3 said...

Redtally, it's never too late! I'm always alerted to comments, no matter how old the post. We didn't ever hear more from the above poster, but I can tell you that a book is in the works on Mr. Williams - it may take YEARS to come out for all I know - but the author of it contacted me after reading my post and I supplied him with some more info that wasn't noted within it and also got him in touch with another person who knew Williams reasonably well, so I am supposedly going to be acknowledged, which is a nice feeling. I cannot wait to see the final product!

Suzanne Maria Hall actor said...

I just saw him in the Munsters episode, my favorite of that show. Ibloved his performances. I'm looking forward to the biography. That tragic look in his eyes comes through very clearly. R.I.P.

Suzanne Maria Hall actor said...

I just saw him in the Munsters episode, my favorite of that show. Ibloved his performances. I'm looking forward to the biography. That tragic look in his eyes comes through very clearly. R.I.P.

giancarlo stampalia said...

Dear Poseidon and Dear blog posters:

To update you on the Grant Williams Biography:
I am now putting my (never-ending) finishing touches to the book, which I consider finished. It has been picked up by a publisher (who specializes in film and TV biographies, especially of "forgotten" stars), BearManor Media.
Assuming I am able to hand in the manuscript by the end of this year, publication date should be within a year of that.
Best,
Giancarlo Stampalia

Poseidon3 said...

Giancarlo! So wonderful to hear from you again. Congratulations to you on finishing your endeavor and thank you so much for taking the time to alert us here about it. What a long, torturesome process it can be. I look forward to seeing the finished product. Best wishes!

giancarlo stampalia said...

Thank you Jon.
Yes, it was torturesome, or rather tortuous. I had to navigate between the clues like Sherlock Holmes in his most difficult cases. There were lots of holes, lots of rumors, but few certainties. There are still question marks, but the skeleton of his life is now fleshed out.
I only wish I could have met him.

giancarlo stampalia said...

Grant Williams aficionados everywhere: I have been correcting the proof of the Grant Williams biography (entitled, simply, Grant Williams); we are getting close. I wouldn't expect the book to be released before 2018, though I suppose it is possible that we might make the Christmas holidays.... Advance publicity can be found in the upcoming releases section at BearManorMedia.com.

giancarlo stampalia said...

My Grant Williams biography has just been released. It is out in hardcover format, softcover, Kindle and eBook. The publisher is BearManor Media. It is also available on Amazon. All information at www.bearmanormedia.com.
Best,
Giancarlo Stampalia

Poseidon3 said...

Congratulations, Giancarlo, on getting to bring this book to fruition. How wonderful that you were able to stick to your guns and make it happen. Its subject is one that MANY classic film & TV fans have been eager to read more about for a very long time and now they finally can. Thanks!!

Unknown said...

Just saw "Shrinking Man" on TCM. It's really a solid B-movie and Williams was perfect for the stolid role. He had a great blond/blue look and beautiful voice. If he was a devoted Catholis from the era he was born, he might've been sadly closeted. But if he had mental illness problems, as in psychosis, then alcoholism, for whatever reasons, THIS might've impacted his acting career more than anything. And as we all know, the competition in Hollywood has always been rough. If he was shy and retiring, this might be as much to blame as anything else. And if he was psychotic and alcoholic, and wasn't caring for himself, he could easily have died of peritonitis. Sad he didn't do better on many fronts. I remember loving seeing that movie on TV as a little girl and thinking he was my type! It's rarely shown, but is nice work. Screenplay by Richard Mathieson, fabulous and prolific sci-fi writer. Nice work, Poseidon.

Poseidon3 said...

A Plicqu, thanks for reading and for sharing your viewpoints. If nothing else, we have his fine work in "Shrinking Man" for everyone to enjoy. He certainly had the potential to do more, but there are worse things than having a long-lasting, iconic touchstone such as this one. I really need to get my hands on the book mentioned in previous comments. Perhaps it will shed more like on the elusive Mr. Williams.

Francis said...

Fascinating reading, thanks for the writing. As many, I watched the Blu Ray of the incredible shrinking man two days ago. And, as many, I remember having a huge crush on Grant Williams when I was a teen, seeing the movie for the first time back in the 80’s.
Movie is a true masterpiece, and it’s beyond my understanding how he didn’t get better parts from Universal after that. Having a career at least à la John Agar or Richard Carlson.
He made us believe in what was happening, even though many scenes were VFX. He was a way better actor that most of the material he had, and hens really shining as an actor here in this Jack Arnold movie.
I dodn’t Know a bio got released and I just bought it.
Keep up the food work!

Poseidon3 said...

Hi Francis and thanks for reading and commenting! You're so right. I mean, Richard Carlson....?!?!?!? Please! I still haven't gotten the damn book! I need to badly. I might also suggest to you this other post of mine that contains a couple of beautiful pics of Mr. Williams: https://neptsdepths.blogspot.com/search/label/PT%20109

Unknown said...

"Filmed for $5.73..." --- I screamed with laughter!

Which in the context of this fellow's inevitably sad life, is rude.

Sorry!

Looking forward to reading more of these witty synopses/biographies. Thank you!

Poseidon3 said...

Ha ha! No need to feel sorry. I strive for a blend of pathos and humor. Life is a roller-coaster with plenty of dips, fun and not... Thanks for commenting and I hope you enjoy what you find. God knows there's plenty.

Francis said...

Thanks for these comments AND your blog, Poseidon3. Otherwise i would have never known the existence of Giancarlo Stampalia's book on Grant Williams. Santa was kind enough to deliver it on Xmas day and it is a great reading indeed. Makes me love the actor and the person even more.

Poseidon3 said...

Francis, Hi and thank you! I still, even now, have not gotten the book! ha ha!! I need to get on that asap... Glad you like it. Thanks for the acknowledgement.

giancarlo stampalia said...

As the author of the book, Francis, I thank you. Glad you enjoyed the reading. Giancarlo

Unknown said...

I saw Red Sundown last night and had to find out more about who played the self-made gunslinger Chett Swann. Williams did it wonderfully. That scene in the ranch house where he enjoys the owner's hospitality, belittles and threatens the older couple, admires the dinner ware, destroys it and then leaves with such gracious mannerisms.

GInger said...

Congratulations on the Book of Grant Williams! I Loved Him So Much Still Do! His part in the film Susan Slade and Shrinking Man, made me cry and fall in love with him! So sad what happened to him he did not deserve it! I am born 1946 I still look Beautiful everyone tells me but I wish I was able to meet Grant and Love him and be there for him always! Thank you for writing Good things about Grant! I hope it’s a Success! I hope to read it someday! I too love to write. I wish I knew how he got blood poisoning and not to mention him on his tomb stone as an actor too not just a Service very man was so wrong of Hollywood! I wish someone could have helped him and recognize his talent and singing. God Bless Him - I Adored him and he will always forever be in my heart! May He Rest With Angels Knowing He was Loved! Ginger Carco

Unknown said...

I recently found your insightful and well-written blog about actor Grant Williams (one of the few writings about him!) That then led me to purchase the Stampalia book. I thought after almost a year since the last comment here, I would add my own.

For some unexplainable reason, I have had a fascination with Grant Williams since I, as a teenager, first saw him as The Incredible Shrinking Man most likely on Saturday night Creature Features. While it may have been the streaked blond tousled hair and piercing blue eyes (made even more striking by the darker makeup they used in the last half of the movie), the preoccupation seemed to go deeper than that. Even though it was science fiction, his character’s struggles, setbacks, and challenges seemed almost real to me. When he finally liberates himself from his basement hell only to become a minute object that blends into the background, a fate he accepts, I found myself with a sense of grief. Now after learning what I could about the actor, that strange grief I have felt is really for Williams himself.

While Stampalia seems determined to make the case that Williams was not gay, due to lack of evidence, he continually mentions inner conflicts and personal turmoil that Willams internalized. It forces us to read between the lines. While not someone that always looks to “out” every Hollywood star, I believe that everyone deals with their own situation in their own way. Whether it’s in a healthier way, like his then-contemporaries George Nader, or less so as with Rock Hudson, Grant Williams must have decided to just bury it. I’ve seen what deeply organized religion can do to people struggling with sexuality, and in the repressive 1950’s, it must have seemed insurmountable. The letter in which he states “I have a personal life that I think is horrible” speaks volumes. I mean, who says that?

Perhaps things would have turned out better personally for Williams had he been born in another era, where he could have gotten support. Career-wise, it’s confounding that this extremely handsome, talented man slipped through the cracks and was discarded by the studio system. Not a dark, rugged he-man, Williams looks didn’t “fill” the screen like Hudson’s did. This sophisticated choirboy, small shoulders, slim build, and unusual slight New Yorkish voice didn’t fill a vacancy in Hollywood types. Perhaps had he fled to Europe to re-stablish himself, say like Anthony Perkins, he might have found success. Who knows? But what I do know, is that Grant Williams would now be 89 years old and has been dead for 35 years. Yet when I see “The Incredible Shrinking Man” or some of his other B movie or tv roles, I still feel that little, vague sense of grief. While he has played many flawed, conflicted roles, the grief isn’t for the character, it’s for Grant Williams himself, someone I would never have even known.

Poseidon3 said...

Thank you for your very thoughtful and well worded comments! I have no choice but to agree with everything you say! He remains a tragic figure for a couple of reasons and I wish there was a method for being certain of exactly what was going on with him. I think he just was a very conflicted person no matter what the truth was. It's very sad. Thankfully he did leave behind several intriguing performances not the least of which is his most famous one as the shrinking man. Best wishes and thanks again.

Unknown said...

I too remember him very well in the western red sundown ( a favourite of mine) and thought his portrayal of the menacing gunman was spot on! A gunslinger with a chilling disposition and yet moments of courtesy which made for quite a complex character! I've seen Grant Williams in other films and TV shows like bonanza and always thought he gave good,honest performances.

MikeyB said...

I’m definitely coming late to this party. Every time I’ve seen “The Incredible Shrinking Man” I’ve felt the sadness that so many have expressed. He was such a beautiful man and should have had a bigger career. Imagine if “Call Me By Your Name” could have been made in the late fifties, if society had progressed faster than it did. (Good grief, society still very much a work in progress, of course.) If only Grant Williams, Anthony Perkins, Montgomery Clift and all the others could have been authentically themselves.

Unknown said...

At a risk of a bit of shameless self promotion, I hope you don't mind if I post a link to a YouTube video about Grant Williams that I created. It went live today, August 18, on what would be his 90th birthday. It seems right to mention it here since this blog is high on Google's search results as one of the few sources of information on him. He was a such a handsome, intelligent and talented actor that deserved better than what he was given for most of his short career. It would be shameful if he is forgotten. Rest in peace Grant Williams. https://youtu.be/Tc6Cw60idB0