January 14 - Guy Williams

Image courtesy wikipedia.com

On this day, in 1924, Armando Joseph Catalano was born in New York City, New York. The Catalanos were once wealthy timber barons from Sicily, but by the time Armando was born in the Washington Heights area of Manhattan, they'd fallen on hard times. He did most of his formative years in Brooklyn's Little Italy where his family fell into the habit of calling him Williams. Armando excelled in math in grade school and played football and chess when he went to the Peekskill Military Academy, but his dream was to be an actor.

During World War II, Armando worked stateside as a welder and aircraft parts inspector. Following the war he submitted a head shot to a modeling agency. His classic good looks and 6-foot-four stature was tailor made for the job. He became quite successful, appearing on billboards, book covers and in Harper's Bazaar. During this time is when he started calling himself Guy Williams.

Image copyright Disney

In 1946, Guy was offered a one year contract by MGM. He made the trip to Hollywood, had small appearances in a handful of films and returned to New York. In 1948, the model was given a contract to film some advertisements for a cigarette company (during the filming he would meet his wife of 35 years). By 1950, Guy was starting to appear regularly in early television commercials. This lead to a film contract with Universal, another move to Hollywood and several more minor roles. An accident while filming a Western (he was dragged behind a horse for a couple of hundred yards) caused him to return to New York again to recuperate. He continued to model and began making appearances in television shows until 1957 when he caught the eye of Walt Disney, who was looking for the lead for a new television project.

Image copyright Disney

Walt was putting together a show based on a character created by Johnston McCulley in 1919: Zorro.
When he interviewed Guy, Walt told him to grow a thin mustache and to brush up on his fencing skills. Guy did both, adding in some guitar lessons as well. He was hired on for the princely sum of $2,500 a week. Zorro made his first appearance on the Disneyland anthology series' fourth anniversary show and debuted in his own show on October 10, 1957. The show was an instant hit. Over the next two seasons, Guy would play the swashbuckling hero in 78 half hour episodes. In 1959, a legal dispute between Disney and ABC (over how much ABC paid Disney for the shows they produced, not any show itself) caused the cancellation of Zorro. Four more hour long episodes would be filmed and shown as part of Walt Disney Presents during the 1960-61 season. Several episodes were also edited into two films and released to theaters.

In 1962, Guy made a separate appearance in Disney's adaptation of The Prince and the Pauper as Sir Miles Hendon.

Image copyright NBC

As his contract with Disney finished, Guy spent time in Europe filming a couple of pictures for MGM. Upon his return to Hollywood in 1964, he joined the cast of Bonanza for what was supposed to be a permanent gig. He was replacing Pernell Roberts, who played Adam Cartwright, but Pernell decided not to leave the show so Guy was only part of the Ponderosa for five episodes. This, however, left him open to take on the role of Professor John Robinson in Lost In Space, another hit show that ran for three seasons.

Following Lost In Space, Guy decided to retire from acting to enjoy his wealth. He'd made several lucrative investments in upstart companies and was adept at playing the stock market. In 1973, he visited Argentina and fell in love with the people and their culture (the fact that they all loved "El Zorro" probably didn't hurt). Within a couple of years, Guy had settled into an upscale neighborhood in Buenos Aires, where he would remain for the rest of his life. He did return to the States once more in 1983, to appear on a celebrity episode of Family Feud with his fellow Lost In Space cast members.

Image copyright CBS

In 1989, after Guy had disappeared from public view for a few months, police searched his apartment and discovered his body on May 6, dead from a brain aneurysm. His popularity in Argentina allowed his ashes to be displayed at the La Recoleta Cemetary in Buenos Aires for two years before being spread over the Pacific Ocean near Malibu, California. But his legacy lives on. In 2001, Guy was posthumously granted a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in 2003 a plaque was placed on the Mission San Luis Rey de Francia where Zorro was filmed in Oceanside, California and, in 2011, Guy was officially declared a Disney Legend.