William Sadler (actor)

William Sadler
Sadler in February 2010
Born	William Thomas Sadler April 13, 1950 Buffalo, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1977–present
Spouse(s)	Marni Joan Bakst (1977-present)
Children	Sadler Colley Bakst (b. 1986)

William Thomas Sadler (born April 13, 1950) is an American film and television actor. His television and motion picture roles have included Lewis Burwell "Chesty" Puller in The Pacific, Luther Sloan in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Sheriff Jim Valenti in Roswell, convict Heywood in The Shawshank Redemption, Senator Vernon Trent in Hard To Kill, and the Grim Reaper in Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, a role for which he won the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor,^[1] and his role as the villainous Colonel Stuart opposite Bruce Willis in Die Hard 2. He played the character of President of the United States, Matthew Ellis, in Iron Man 3 and in Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and recurs as Steve McGarrett's murdered father in the latter-day 2000's remake of Hawaii Five-O. In 2015, Sadler had an appearance in the TV series Z Nation.

Early life

Sadler was born in Buffalo, New York, the son of Jane and William Sadler.^[2] He is of mostly Scottish descent, with smaller amounts of English and German ancestry.^[3][4]

From an early age, he took to performing in front of an audience. Playing a variety of stringed instruments, Sadler found hometown success during his high-school years at Orchard Park High School. He took on the persona as Banjo Bill Sadler,^[5] a banjo-playing singer who cracked jokes while playing. Both students and teachers enjoyed his performances, which led Sadler to audition for the senior play under English teacher Dan Larkin's persuasion. He won the role. After graduating from high school, he enrolled in SUNY Geneseo. Following that, he spent two years at Cornell University where he earned his Master's degree in Acting with a minor in Speech Communications. He is a certified speech teacher and practised in accents.

Career

Sadler took his first post-school role in Florida and soon relocated to Boston, moving in with his sister while scrubbing the floors of a lobster boat by day and cutting his acting chops at night. Slowly working up the nerve to take a shot at the big time in New York, a chance meeting with an old schoolmate on a trip into the city resulted in Sadler's casting in an off-off-Broadway production of Chekhov's Ivanov. After a brief turn at the Trinity Square Repertory Company in Providence, Rhode Island, Sadler moved back to New York and rented an apartment in the East Village, beginning 12 years in which he appeared in over 75 productions, including originating the role of "Sgt. Toomey" in the Broadway run of Neil Simon's Biloxi Blues, opposite Matthew Broderick in 1985.

Sadler is best known for his roles in the 1990 action film Die Hard 2 as Colonel Stuart, as Heywood in the 1994 prison drama The Shawshank Redemption, the Grim Reaper in the 1991 comedy Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey and as Brayker in Demon Knight. He was also a series regular on the television series Roswell as Sheriff Jim Valenti and in Wonderfalls as Darrin Tyler. Other film credits include Trespass, K-9, Project X, Disturbing Behavior, Kinsey, The Battle of Shaker Heights, Purple Heart and Jimmy and Judy.

Sadler's TV guest appearances include In the Heat of the Night, Roseanne, Tru Calling, CSI, Numb3rs, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. He had a recurring role on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as Luther Sloan, a member of a covert organization called Section 31. He appeared in three episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in its final two seasons. In 2007, he played Carlton Fog on ABC's Traveler, and in 2008 he appeared in both NBC's Medium as well as Fox Television's Fringe. The 1989 pilot episode of the HBO horror anthology series Tales from the Crypt featured Sadler in its lead role. In March 2011, Sadler made a guest appearance in NBC's Chase.^[6]

Sadler portrayed Julius Caesar in the contemporary adaptation of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar on Broadway alongside Denzel Washington at the Belasco Theatre. Recently, he finished shooting with American independent filmmakers Dylan Bank and Morgan Pehme on the film Nothing Sacred. Sadler portrayed the robot Victor in the 2010 video game, Fallout: New Vegas. Sadler played Lee Underwood in Greetings from Tim Buckley, a film on Tim and Jeff Buckley, which premiered at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival.^[7][8]

Sadler appeared as President of the United States of America Matthew Ellis in Iron Man 3 that was released in May 2013. In 2015, he was part of the Texas Frightmare Weekend,^[9] and starred in Ava’s Possessions, which was screened at SXSW.^[10]

Filmography

Film

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	Hanky Panky	Hotel Clerk
1986	Off Beat	Dickson
1987	Project X	Dr. Carroll
1989	K-9	Car Salesman Don
1990	Hard to Kill	Senator Vernon Trent
	Die Hard 2	Colonel Stuart
	Hot Spot, TheThe Hot Spot	Frank Sutton
1991	Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey	Grim Reaper/English Family Member	Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
	Rush	Monroe
1992	Trespass	Don Perry
1993	Freaked	*** Brian
1994	Shawshank Redemption, TheThe Shawshank Redemption	Heywood
1995	Tales form the Crypt: Demon Knight	Brayker
1996	Bordello of Blood	The Mummy
	Solo	Colonel Frank Madden/Improved Solo
1997	RocketMan	"Wild Bill" Overbeck
1998	Ambushed	Jim Natter
	Disturbing Behavior	Dorian Newberry
	Reach the Rock	Quinn
1999	Stealth Fighter	Adm. Frank Peterson
	Green Mile, TheThe Green Mile	Klaus Detterick
2001	Skippy	Ringo
2002	Another Life	Man	Short film
2003	The Battle of Shaker Heights	Abraham 'Abe' Ernswiler
2004	Kinsey	Kenneth Braun
2005	Purple Heart	Colonel Allen
	Devour	Ivan Reisz
	Confess	Roger Lampert
2006	Unspoken	Dad
	Jimmy and Judy	Uncle Rodney
	Premium	Cole Carter
	Wine Bar, TheThe Wine Bar	Bartender	Short film
2007	New Wave, AA New Wave	Mr. Dewitt
	August Rush	Thomas Novacek
	Mist, TheThe Mist	Jim Grondin
2008	Eagle Eye	William Shaw
	Good Student, TheThe Good Student	Honest Phil Palmer
2009	Stream	Dr. Shelby	Short film
	Shadowheart	Thomas Conners	Direct-to-video
	Hills Run Red, TheThe Hills Run Red	Wilson Wyler Concannon
	Last Day of Summer	Mr. Crolick
	Beyond All Boundaries	Lt. Col. Lewis "Chesty" Puller	Voice Role Short film
	Red & Blue Marbles	John
2010	Melvin Smarty	Bob
	Fallout: New Vegas	Victor	Video game, Voice Role
2011	Silent But Deadly	John Capper
2012	Man on a Ledge	Frank Cassidy and Valet
	See Girl Run	Marty
	Greetings from Tim Buckley	Lee Underwood
2013	Iron Man 3	President Matthew Ellis
	Machete Kills	Sheriff Doakes
	The Suspect	Sheriff Dixon
2014	Freedom	Plimpton
2016	The Duel	Lawrence Sullivan Ross, Governor of Texas

Television

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1977	CBS Festival of Lively Arts for Young People, TheThe CBS Festival of Lively Arts for Young People		Episode: "Henry Winkler Meets William Shakespeare"
1978	Great Wallendas, TheThe Great Wallendas	Dieter Schmidt	Television film
1981	Charlie and the Great Balloon Chase	Joey	Television film
	Nurse	Dr. George Bradford	Episode: "Margin for Error"
1982	The Neighborhood		Television film
1983	Newhart	Guest	Episode: "Lady & the Tramps"
1983	AfterMash	Joe Warner
1985	Assaulted Nuts	Various
1986	Equalizer, TheThe Equalizer	Rick Dillon/Kevin Moore	Episode: "Shades of Darkness"
1987	Private Eye	Charlie Fontana	Television film/pilot
	Tour of Duty	Major Rigby	Episode: "Dislocations"
1987–88	Private Eye	Lieutenant Charlie Fontana	7 episodes
1988	In the Heat of the Night	Ritchie Epman	Episodes: "Blind Spot: Part 1" & "Blind Spot: Part 2"
	St. Elsewhere		Episode: "The Abby Singer Show"
	Cadets	Colonel Tom Sturdivant
	Dear John	Ben	Episode: "The Younger Girl"
1989	Roseanne	Dwight	Episodes: "Dan's Birthday Bash", "Saturday"
	Hooperman	Lanny Hardin	Episode: "Look Homeward, Dirtbag"
	Unconquered		Television film
	Murphy Brown	Colonel Fitzpatrick	Episode: "Off the Job Experience"
	Hard Time on Planet Earth	Officer Rollman	Episode: "The Way Home"
	Gideon Oliver	Franklin Finney	Episode: "By the Waters of Babylon"
1989 1994	Tales from the Crypt	Niles Talbot The Grim Reaper	Epiosde: "The Man Who Was Death" Episode: "The Assassin"
1990	The Face of Fear	Anthony Prine	Television film
1991	Two-Fisted Tales	Mr. Rush (Presenter)	pilot
	The Last to Go	Treat	Television film
	Tagget	Yuri Chelenkoff	Television film
1993	Night Driving	Eddy	Television short film
	Jack Reed: Badge of Honor	Anatole	Television film
1994	Bermuda Grace	Sam Grace	Television film
	Roadracers	Sarge	Television film
1995	Omen, TheThe Omen	Dr. Linus	pilot
	Outer Limits, TheThe Outer Limits	Frank Hellner	Episode: "Valerie 23"
1996	Poltergeist: The Legacy	Shamus Bloom	Episode: The Fifth Sepulcher
1998–99	Star Trek: Deep Space Nine	Luther Sloan	Episodes: "Inquisition", "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges", "Extreme Measures"
1999	Witness Protection	Sharp	Television film
1999–2002	Roswell	Sheriff Jim Valenti	58 episodes
2003	Ed	Lee Leetch	Episode: "The Case"
	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Kyle Devlin	Episode: "Graansha"
	Project Greenlight	Himself	Season 2; unknown episodes
2004	Wonderfalls	Darrin Tyler	Thirteen episodes
	JAG	Saul Wainwright	Episode: "Retrial"
2005	Third Watch	Scotty Murray	Episode: "Forever Blue"
	Tru Calling	Travis	Episode: "Enough"
	Law & Order: Trial by Jury	Paul Rice	Episode: "Blue Wall"
	Law & Order	Kevin Drucker	Episode: "Life Line"
2006	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Karl "Red" Cooper	Episode: "Killer"
	Path to 9/11, TheThe Path to 9/11	Neil Herman	Miniseries
2007	Numb3rs	J. Everett Tuttle	Episode: "Democracy"
	Black Donnellys, TheThe Black Donnellys	Munst	Episode: "All of Us Are in the Gutter"
	Jesse Stone: Sea Change	Gino Fish	Television film
	Traveler	Carlton Fog	7 episodes
2008	Medium	John Edgemont	Episode: "Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble"
2008, 2011	Fringe	Doctor Sumner	Episodes: "The Equation", "Alone in the World"
2009	Jesse Stone: Thin Ice	Gino Fish	Television film
	Jesse Stone: No Remorse	Gino Fish	Television film
	Criminal Minds	Ray Finnegan	Episode: "Reckoner"
2010	Pacific, TheThe Pacific	Lt. Col. Lewis "Chesty" Burwell Puller, USMC	Miniseries
2010, 2013, 2014	Hawaii Five-0	John McGarrett	Episodes: "Pilot" (2010), "Hookman" (2013), "The Favor" (2014)
2011	Person of Interest	Seamus O'Mara	Episode: "Pilot"
	Jesse Stone: Innocents Lost	Gino Fish	Television film
2012	Damages	Helmut Torben	6 episodes
	Jesse Stone: Benefit of the Doubt	Gino Fish	Television film
2013	666 Park Avenue	Nate McKenny	Episodes: "The Elysian Fields", "Lazarus - Part 1"
	Elementary	Ian Gale	Episode: "Blood Is Thicker"
	Homeland	Michael Higgins	Episode: "The Yoga Play"
	The Blacklist	Sam	Episode: "General Ludd (No. 108)"
2014	Madam Secretary	George Peters	Episode: "Pilot"
	The Flash	Simon Stagg	Episode: "Fastest Man Alive"
2015	WHiH Newsfront - With Christine Everhart	President Matthew Ellis	2 episodes; Web series
	Jesse Stone: Lost in Paradise	Gino Fish	Television film
	Z Nation	Sam Custer	Episode: "Zombie Road"
	Blue Bloods	Armin Janko	Episode: "Absolute Power"[11]
2015–2016	Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.	President Matthew Ellis	3 episodes

References

1. "'Bill & Ted's' Grim Reaper Is a Vegetarian and Songwriter". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-09-30.
2. William Sadler Biography | TVGuide.com
3. "Genealogy of Sadler's paternal family". Retrieved January 30, 2016.
4. "Genealogy of Sadler's maternal family". Retrieved January 30, 2016.
5. Bill Sadler biography, aol.com; accessed February 18, 2016.
6. "Keck's Exclusives: NBC's Chase Casts Annie's Dad". TVGuide.com. Retrieved January 18, 2011.
7. "Anthrax bassist Frank Bello joins Penn Badgely's Jeff Buckley film". HitFix. August 23, 2011. Retrieved October 2, 2012.
8. Kurchak, Sarah (August 15, 2012). "TIFF 2012 Adds Greetings From Tim Buckley, Spike Lee's Bad 25 Michael Jackson Doc, Skrillex Soundtrack". Spinner. Retrieved October 2, 2012.
9. "Texas Frightmare Weekend 2015 Adds "DEMON KNIGHT" star William Sadler!". Fangoria. June 26, 2012. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
10. "Ava's Possession". DC. June 26, 2012. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
11. Blue Bloods "Absolute Power" episode, imdb.com; accessed February 18, 2016.

External links

• William Sadler at the Internet Movie Database