Bill Duke

William Henry Duke Jr. (born February 26, 1943) is an American actor, film director, producer, and screenwriter. Known for his physically imposing frame, Duke works primarily in the action and crime drama genres, but occasionally appears in comedy.[1] Frequently a character actor, he has starred opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in Commando and Predator, and has appeared in films like American Gigolo, No Man's Land, Bird on a Wire, Menace II Society, Exit Wounds, Payback, X-Men: The Last Stand and Mandy; he often plays characters related to law enforcement.

Bill Duke
Duke in New York City in February 2019
Born	William Henry Duke Jr. (1943-02-26) February 26, 1943 Poughkeepsie, New York, U.S.
Education	Boston University New York University Tisch School of the Arts
Occupation	Actor, director, producer, screenwriter
Years active	1961–present
Height	1.94 m (6 ft 4 in)
Awards	American Black Film Festival Career Achievement Award

As a director, he has helmed episodes of numerous television series including Cagney & Lacey, Hill Street Blues, Miami Vice, The Twilight Zone, and American Playhouse, and the crime films Deep Cover and A Rage in Harlem, for which he was nominated for a Palme d'Or. He was director of the movie Sister Act 2 starring Whoopi Goldberg and Lauryn Hill. He directed episodes of several noteworthy 1980s television series, including Hill Street Blues and Miami Vice.[2]

Early life and education

Duke was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, the son of Ethel Louise (née Douglas) and William Henry Duke Sr.[3][4] He attended Franklin D. Roosevelt High School in Hyde Park[5] and later received his first instruction in the performing arts and in creative writing at Dutchess Community College in Poughkeepsie.[5] After graduation from Dutchess he went on to Boston University for further instruction in drama and for his B.A.[5] After studying at New York University's Tisch School of Arts and the AFI Conservatory,[5] he appeared on Broadway in the 1971 Melvin Van Peebles musical Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death.[6]

Career

Film roles

Standing at an imposing 6 feet 4½ inches and with a closely shaved head, Duke first became a familiar face to moviegoers in Car Wash (1976), where he portrayed fierce young Black Muslim revolutionary Abdullah Mohammed Akbar (formerly known as Duane).[5] He expanded his repertoire with American Gigolo (1980), where he played a gay pimp.[7]

As the action-film-oriented genre became more popular, Duke's presence was perfect to portray a string of "tough guy" roles. He notably worked opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in both Commando and Predator, followed by a role as a police chief in the 1988 Carl Weathers vehicle Action Jackson.[5] Duke appeared uncredited as a DEA officer in The Limey (1999), as well as a police chief opposite Steven Seagal in Exit Wounds. He played a detective investigating a murder in Menace II Society, in which he delivered the often-quoted line, "You done fucked up, you know that, don't you?"[8] He played a corrupt law enforcement agent in two films opposite Mel Gibson—Bird on a Wire (as an FBI agent) and Payback (as a police detective). Duke appears in X-Men: The Last Stand as Trask, Washington in National Security, Levar in Get Rich or Die Tryin', Nokes in Bad Country and Caruthers in Mandy.

Directing career

Duke directed the TV movie The Killing Floor in 1984. He began directing theatrical films in the 1990s with crime dramas A Rage in Harlem (1991), Deep Cover (1992) and Hoodlum (1997).[9] He also directed The Cemetery Club (1993) and Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993), starring Whoopi Goldberg. For television, Duke directed the A&E Network original film, The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery (2000). In 2007 he directed the reenactments in the award-winning, PBS-broadcast documentary Prince Among Slaves, produced by Unity Productions Foundation.[10] Duke also directed episode for TV shows including Dallas, Hill Street Blues, Miami Vice and Starman.

Duke teamed with screenwriter Bayard Johnson to co-produce Cover, a 2007 film which explores the HIV epidemic.[11]

He is set to direct The Power of One: The Diane Latiker Story, a film based on Chicago activist Diane Latiker.[12]

Television appearances

Duke made an early appearance on Kojak as Sylk in the episode "Bad Dude", in the third season of the series. He guest-starred in the fourth episode of Lost in its third season as Warden Harris, in the episode "Every Man for Himself". He also guest-starred in Battlestar Galactica in the season two episode "Black Market".[9]

Duke had a starring role in the short-lived TV series Palmerstown, U.S.A., produced by Norman Lear and Roots author, Alex Hailey. Although the series was critically acclaimed and won an Emmy, it ran for only 17 episodes in the 1980–81 television season.[13][14]

Duke was cast as recurring character Capt. Parish in the action television series/crime drama Fastlane. He made a guest appearance on Baisden After Dark in the episode broadcast on July 18, 2008 and guest-starred on Cold Case as Grover Boone, a corrupt politician, in the 2008 episode "Street Money". Duke voiced a detective in the episode "Thank You for Not Snitching" of the animated television series The Boondocks. The character and his entire scene were references to Menace II Society. Duke appears in Busta Rhymes' music video "Dangerous".[15] Duke also appears in an episode of Law & Order: SVU as a lawyer.[16] In May 2017, Duke appeared on episode 6 of the first season of the Outdoor Channel show Hollywood Weapons: Fact or Fiction?. Duke discussed with host Terry Schappert his time filming Predator, his character Sgt. Mac Elliot, and what it was like to fire an M134 Minigun.[17]

In 2018, Duke joined the second season of The CW superhero drama series Black Lightning as recurring character Agent Percy Odell, a dedicated A.S.A. government official.[18]

Other work

He has served on the Board of Trustees of the American Film Institute,[19][20] as a member of the California Film Commission board (appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger),[21][22] in the Time Warner Endowed Chair in the Department of Radio Television and Film at Howard University in Washington, D.C.[20][23] and as a member of the National Endowment for the Humanities (appointed by President Bill Clinton).[20][24][25]

Duke is also the founder of the Duke Media Foundation that helps prepare young people for a career in all aspects of film, video and TV production.[5] Duke became a teacher of Transcendental Meditation in Ethiopia in 1973 under the guidance of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.[20]

Personal life

As of 2018, Duke resides in Los Angeles.[5]

Duke is an honorary member of the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity.[26]

Filmography

Acting roles

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1976	Car Wash	Duane
1980	American Gigolo	Leon James
1985	Commando	Cooke
1987	Predator	Sgt. Mac Eliot
1987	No Man's Land	Malcolm
1988	Action Jackson	Capt. Earl Armbruster
1989	Street of No Return	Lt. Borel
1990	Bird on a Wire	FBI Agent Albert "Diggs" Diggins
1993	Menace II Society	Detective
1993	Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit	Mr. Johnson
1998	Susan's Plan	Dect. Scott
1999	Payback	Dect. Hicks
1999	Foolish	Studio Producer
1999	The Limey	Head DEA Agent	Uncredited
1999	Fever	Dect. Glass
2001	Never Again	Earl
2001	Exit Wounds	Chief Hinges
2002	Love and a Bullet	Mysterious Voice on Phone
2002	Red Dragon	Police Chief
2003	National Security	Lt. Washington
2005	Get Rich or Die Tryin	Levar Cahill
2006	X-Men: The Last Stand	Secretary Bolivar Trask
2006	Yellow	Miles Emory
2007	The Go-Getter	Liquor
2010	Henry's Crime	Frank
2010	The Big Bang	Drummer
2012	Freaky Deaky	Wendell Robinson
2014	Bad Country	John Nokes
2014	Clipped Wings, They Do Fly	District Attorney Adam Stevenson
2016	Restored Me	Officer Brantley
2017	American Satan	Gabriel
2018	Mandy	Caruthers
2018–present	Black Lightning	Agent Percy Odell	Recurring role (season 2–present)
2019	High Flying Bird	Spence

Films directed

Year	Title	Notes
1984	The Killing Floor
1991	A Rage in Harlem
1992	Deep Cover
1993	The Cemetery Club
1993	Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit
1996	America's Dream
1997	Hoodlum
2000	The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery
2007	Cover	Also a producer
2009	Not Easily Broken
2011	Dark Girls	Also a producer
2017	Created Equal

References

1. "ACTOR BILL DUKE MOVES FROM PLAYING HEAVIES TO ACTING OUT HIS DREAMS AS DIRECTOR OF `HARLEM'". DeseretNews.com. May 16, 1991. Retrieved July 11, 2018.
2. Duke, Bill. "My 40-Year Career on Screen and behind the Camera". Rowman. Retrieved December 18, 2019.
3. "Bill Duke Biography (1943–)". filmreference.com. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
4. Bill Duke Biography – Yahoo! Movies Archived April 30, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
5. Thomas, Nick (November 16, 2018). "Bill Duke recounts steps to success". The Spectrum. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
6. Simonson, Robert (September 29, 2004). "Death Lives as Harlem Revival of Van Peebles Work Begins Sept. 29". Playbill. Retrieved December 18, 2019.
7. "Bill Duke". Metrograph. Retrieved December 18, 2019.
8. Video on YouTube
9. Gaydos, Steven (December 8, 2018). "Bill Duke Remembers the Theater Training That Helped Him". Variety. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
10. "Slave's Royal Lineage Chronicled in New Film". NPR. February 4, 2008. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
11. Barnes, Mike (February 12, 2016). "Bayard Johnson, 'Tarzan and the Lost City' Screenwriter, Dies at 63". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
12. N'Duka, Amanda (July 18, 2019). "Bill Duke To Helm 'The PThe Diane Latiker Story' Feature". Deadline. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
13. "Bill Duke". The History Makers. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
14. "Norman Lear and Alex Haley's Palmerstown, U.S.A. returns on GeTTV". GetTV. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
15. Video on YouTube
16. "Bill Duke - My 40-Year Career on Screen and Behind the Camera". Acappella Books. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
17. "Terry and the Minigun (TV Episode 2017)". Hollywood Weapons: Fact or Fiction?.
18. Mangum, Trey (October 9, 2018). "Robert Townsend And Bill Duke Join 'Black Lightning' Season 2". Shadow and Act. Retrieved March 22, 2019.
19. "A Tribute to Director Bill Duke". DGA. February 23, 2010. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
20. Ellis, George (2015). A Symphony of Silence: An Enlightened Vision 2nd Editio. ISBN 9781508944256.
21. McNary, Dave (May 3, 2004). "California teaming with producer". Variety. Retrieved June 17, 2020.
22. "Governor Schwarzenegger announces appointmets to California Film Commission". IATSE. May 15, 2006. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
23. "Howard University to Get $2 Million for Communications Chair". Diverse Education. April 26, 1999. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
24. "President Clinton names Bill Duke to the National Council on the Humanities". White House. October 16, 2000. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
25. Duke, Bill (2018). Bill Duke : my 40-year career on screen and behind the camera. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9781538105566.
26. "Bill Duke and Wayne Brady are now Honorary Members of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity". Watch The Yard.

External links

• Official website
• Bill Duke on IMDb
• Bill Duke interview at the Wayback Machine (archived March 7, 2001) about The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery
• Interview with Bill Duke – The Spectrum, November 16, 2018.