Bill Overton

Actor Bill Overton was born in Boston, Massachusetts and was raised by his mother and father, Hessie and Eugene Waterhouse. As a child, Bill attended Boston’s Asa Gray Elementary, W.L.P. Boardman Elementary, Henry L. Higginson Elementary and Lewis Junior High Schools. As an adolescent, Bill was a premiere athlete and went on to become a member of his high school’s football and basketball teams. He attended the historical Boston English High School where he was voted vice president of his senior class.

Bill went on to attend one of Nebraska’s junior colleges and established himself as one his era’s phenomenal football players. His display of athletic talent at the junior college level earned him a full scholarship to attend Wake Forest University. In Bill’s words he majored in “getting out” as well as speech. After college, the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys was the first stop, then on to the Kansas City Chiefs, the following year and completing his controversial playing days in the Canadian Football League. After pro football, Bill moved to NYC and worked as a sports talent recruiter for Pro Sports, Inc. While there, he was instrumental in the company’s signing of four-time Pro Bowler Raymond Chester and numerous other highly touted football players.

In the 70’s, Bill began a career in modeling and was hired for various advertising agencies including Black Beauty and Ford modeling agencies. He helped to launch ad campaigns for Hanes, Benson and Hedges, Canadian Mist, Sears, and Montgomery Ward. During the 1970s, Bill also began appearing in television commercials. He honed his acting skills by enrolling at the Lee Strasberg Institute in New York City and was mentored by actor Woody Strode. Bill starred in several films throughout the mid-1970s, often appearing in roles that required him to demonstrate his athleticism. He has starred in commercials, mini-series, movie of the weeks, such as Firehouse, BackStairs at the White House, Lord Shango and TV Pilot, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, playing Sidney Poitier’s role. In 1981, he starred alongside Harry Belafonte, LeVar Burton, Dennis Haysbert and Bruce Jenner in the film Grambling’s White Tigers. Bill married award winning actress Jayne Kennedy in 1985. He continued to make television appearances “and girls” (4 daughters) throughout the 1980s and 1990s, starring in classic sitcoms such as The Red Foxx Show, 227, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and The Best of Times with Robin Williams and Kurt Russell

In 2003, from his exhibit of the same name, Bill authored the coffee table book, The Media: Shaping the Image of a People, a powerful collection of work from the 19th Century to present day that speaks volumes. Historical illustrations and now the new media have had and will continue to have an enduring effect on how we see each other.

Book: The Media: Shaping the Image of a People