Actor Treat Williams dies in motorbike crash aged 71

He leaves behind him a career of more than fifty years in cinema and television. American actor Treat Williams died Monday June 12 of a motorcycle accident. He was 71 years old.

According to information from the Vermont State Police, where the accident took place, his vehicle collided with an SUV. The actor was ejected from his motorbike and then airlifted to medical center in Albany, New York. He did not survive his injuries. Police said in a statement that the actor was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash.

His agent, Barry McPherson, confirmed the information. “I am devastated. He was the nicest guy ever. He was so talented,” he told People magazine. “The filmmakers loved him. It has been the heart of Hollywood since the late 1970s.

The actor became known from the 1970s, when he started in the cinema with a small role in the film Deadly Hero. In 1979, he filmed in 1941, by director Steven Spielberg. It is the film Hair, a musical comedy adapted to the cinema by Milos Forman the same year, which reveals it to the general public. Williams played hippie leader George Berger. The role earned him a Golden Globes nomination. Two years later, he was nominated for a second time for his role as a policeman in The Prince in New York.

The actor, who was also a singer and dancer, performed in several Broadway shows. He played for a time the character of John Travolta in the first production of the musical Grease.

Williams goes on to roles on television and in the cinema and in particular embodies the neurosurgeon Andrew Brown in the series Everwood. He also plays a small role in the series Once Upon a Time in America. During his fifty-one-year career, he will have appeared more than 120 times on television and in cinema.