Career
Williams started out in the acting business in 1969. Since then, he has appeared in movies such as Paul Schrader"s Hardcore, Howard Zieff"s Private Benjamin (he also portrayed the role of Sgt LC "Ted" Ross in the television series of the same name), and Clint Eastwood"s The Rookie. He was controversially fired from The Jimmy Stewart Show in 1971 at the insistence of its star, James Stewart.
In the early to mid-1990s, he starred in many of comic Sinbad"s productions, including The Sinbad Show and The Cherokee Kid.
He played the grandfather in the Bernie Mac film Guess Who. His other television credits include Moonlight, Moesha, Suddenly Susan, Minor Adjustments, Los Angeles Law, Night Court, Magnum, Philippine Islands, Hill Street Blues, Gimme a Break, The Jeffersons, The Dukes of Hazzard, T.J. Hooker, The Waltons, Knots Landing, The White Shadow, What"s Happening!!, Good Times, Quincy, Mechanical Engineering, Kung Fu, South.W.A.T., Gunsmoke and That Girl.
Williams is also the host of the annual Sickle Cell Anemia Foundation nationally-televised telethon.