Richard Treat Williams was born in Rowayton, Connecticut, to Marian (Andrew), who dealt in antiques, and Richard Norman Williams, a corporate executive. Educated at prep-school, he first made a serious commitment to his craft during his days at Pennsylvania's Franklin and Marshall College. Working summers with the nearby Fulton Repertory Theatre at Lancaster in the heart of Amish country, Williams performed the classics as well as contemporary dramas and musicals. After graduating, Williams--whose first name, incidentally, is a family surname on his mother's side--headed for Manhattan where he understudied the Danny Zuko role in "Grease." After working in the The Andrews Sisters musical "Over Here," he made his film debut as a cop in 落魄英雄 (1975), then returned to "Grease," this time in the starring role. While he took leaves for two small film roles, in 丽兹大酒店 (1976) and 猛鹰突击兵团 (1976), it was his stage work in "Grease" that led to his cinematic breakthrough in 越战毛发 (1979). Spotted by director 米洛斯·福尔曼, Williams was asked to read for the role of Berger, the hippie. It took 13 auditions to land the part, but the film's release catapulted Williams into stardom. He then portrayed a GI on the make in 史蒂文·斯皮尔伯格's 一九四一 (1979) and starred in the romantic comedy 爱的谎言 (1980) before tackling the role of Danny Ciello, the disillusioned New York City cop who blew the whistle on his corrupt colleagues in 西德尼·吕美特's 城市王子 (1981). He followed that with The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper (1981), in which he played the legendary plane hijacker who successfully eluded capture (by 罗伯特·杜瓦尔); 国境线上的抉择 (1984), in which he and 克里斯·克里斯托佛森 starred as a pair of maverick border patrolmen who come upon a large cache of stolen money; 赛尔乔·莱昂内's 美国往事 (1984), in which he played a Jimmy Hoffa-like labor organizer; and 甜言蜜语 (1985), a screen adaptation of 乔伊思·卡罗尔' short story, "Where Are You Going?" Television viewers have seen Williams in a prestigious pair of dramas, Dempsey (1983), a three-hour story of the hard-living heavyweight champ, and 约翰·厄曼's adaptation of 田纳西·威廉斯' classic "A Streetcar Named Desire," which pitted Williams' Stanley Kowalski against Ann-Margret's Blanche Dubois. Williams has also returned to Broadway sporadically -- first to appear in "Once in a Lifetime" while filming "Hair," and in 1981 to play the role of the pirate king in "The Pirates of Penzance."
早年经历Was a professional pilot for a year in the early 1980s.
