Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows FanStore News Showtimes

Paul Williams

Highest Rated: 100% Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas (1977)

Lowest Rated: 17% Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 (1983)

Birthday: Sep 19, 1940

Birthplace: Bennington, Nebraska, USA

A prolific and ubiquitous presence in music, film and on television in the 1970s, Paul Williams was an Oscar-winning songwriter whose gift for gentle pop-rock songs like the Carpenters' "We've Only Just Begun" led to a prolific career as both an artist in his own right as well as a composer for film and television. He also enjoyed a second, more modest career as an actor, spawned in part from his self-effacing appearances on talk shows where he spoofed his diminutive stature and unlikely sexy symbol status. By the mid-1970s, he had scored major hits with "Evergreen" from "A Star in Born" (1976) and "The Rainbow Connection" from "The Muppet Movie" (1979), but alcohol and drug issues, as well as changing tastes among music audiences, upended his career. Williams spent much of the 1980s as an actor while gaining his sobriety; he resurfaced in the 1990s with a generation of listeners, including many musicians testifying to the brilliance of his early work. Williams' renaissance led to new songwriting and film work, as well as a humorous tribute with the documentary "Paul Williams Still Alive" (2011), in which he and the film's director attempted to come to terms with his turbulent past. Throughout it all, Williams' best work from the 1970s and beyond remained a high-water mark in pop music, preserving his status as one of its most talented practitioners.

Show Less Show More

Highest rated movies

100% 85% Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas
Watchlist
97% 77% Paul Williams Still Alive
Watchlist
89% 65% Superman: Red Son
Watchlist
89% 88% The Muppet Movie
Watchlist
88% 87% Strictly Ballroom Watchlist
86% 86% The Bandit
Watchlist
83% 80% The General
Watchlist
82% 84% Phantom of the Paradise
Watchlist
80% 72% The Chase
Watchlist
79% 80% Bugsy Malone
Watchlist

Filmography

Movies

Credit
89% 65% Superman: Red Son Brainiac (Voice) - 2020
86% 86% The Bandit Self - 2016
No Score Yet 77% Daft Punk Unchained Self - 2014
No Score Yet No Score Yet Galapagos: Nature's Wonderland Cinematographer $18.6M 2014
No Score Yet 68% The Ghastly Love of Johnny X Cousin Quilty (Character) $2.4K 2012
97% 77% Paul Williams Still Alive Unknown (Character) $37.6K 2011
26% 59% The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement Lord Harmony (Character) $95.1M 2004
No Score Yet 62% Alibi Eugene (Character) - 2003
21% 21% The Gospel According to Philip K. Dick Unknown (Character) $582 2001
No Score Yet 56% A Regular Frankie Fan Narrator - 2001
No Score Yet No Score Yet A Kind of Hush Mick (Character) - 1999
83% 80% The General Writer $1.2M 1998
No Score Yet 22% Men Producer $3.1K 1997
No Score Yet No Score Yet Markus 4 Dr. Tangu (Character) - 1996
No Score Yet No Score Yet Use Your Head Dave (Character) - 1996
No Score Yet No Score Yet Phantom 2040: The Ghost Who Walks Mr. Cairo (Voice) - 1996
No Score Yet No Score Yet Headless Body in Topless Bar Carl Levin (Character) - 1995
No Score Yet No Score Yet Mirage Director,
Producer
- 1995
No Score Yet No Score Yet Rose Against the Odds Lionel Rose (Character) - 1995
No Score Yet No Score Yet Hart to Hart: Old Friends Never Die Duke (Character) - 1994
No Score Yet 59% A Million to Juan Jenkins (Character) $1.2M 1994
No Score Yet No Score Yet Hart to Hart Returns Duke (Character) - 1993
No Score Yet No Score Yet Double Exposure Director,
Producer
- 1993
88% 87% Strictly Ballroom Hair Designer $9.1M 1992
No Score Yet No Score Yet Frogs! Unknown (Character) - 1992
56% 79% The Doors Warhol PR (Character) $32.7M 1991
No Score Yet No Score Yet Sky Trackers Doctor Tony Masters (Character) - 1990
No Score Yet No Score Yet Chill Factor Clifford White (Character) - 1990
40% 39% Ishtar Original Music and Songs $12.7M 1987
No Score Yet 7% Zombie High Ignatius (Character) - 1987
No Score Yet No Score Yet Frog Gus (Character) - 1987
No Score Yet 82% The Night They Saved Christmas Ed (Character) - 1984
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Black Planet Director - 1984
No Score Yet No Score Yet Can She Bake a Cherry Pie? Zee's Husband (Character) - 1983
17% 18% Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 Little Enos Burdette (Character) - 1983
No Score Yet No Score Yet Rooster Rooster Steele (Character) - 1982
No Score Yet No Score Yet Miss Right Director - 1981
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Fall Guy Albert "Rooster" Brooks (Character) - 1981
25% 43% Smokey and the Bandit II Little Enos (Character) - 1980
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Wild Wild West Revisited Michelito (Character) - 1979
No Score Yet 46% Stone Cold Dead Julius Kurtz (Character) - 1979
89% 88% The Muppet Movie Unknown (Character),
Original Music
- 1979
53% 57% The Cheap Detective Boy (Character) - 1978
56% 50% The End Original Music - 1978
No Score Yet No Score Yet Nunzio Director - 1978
100% 85% Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas Original Music - 1977
72% 85% Smokey and the Bandit Little Enos Burdette (Character) - 1977
No Score Yet No Score Yet Flight to Holocaust Colorado Davis (Character) - 1977
79% 80% Bugsy Malone Original Music - 1976
82% 84% Phantom of the Paradise Swan (Character),
Original Music
- 1974
33% 30% Battle for the Planet of the Apes Virgil (Character) - 1973
No Score Yet 14% Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues Director - 1972
No Score Yet 83% The Revolutionary Director - 1970
No Score Yet No Score Yet Out of It Director,
Screenwriter
- 1969
80% 72% The Chase Seymour (Character) - 1966

TV

Credit
No Score Yet No Score Yet Doctors Writer 2024
No Score Yet No Score Yet Future-Worm! Future Danny (Guest Voice) 2016
100% 94% Adventure Time The Hierophant (Guest Voice) 2015
No Score Yet No Score Yet Late Night With Jimmy Fallon Music Performer 2011
No Score Yet 93% Rugrats Train Conductor (Guest Voice) 2002
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Parkers Unknown (Guest Star) 2000
76% 80% Star Trek: Voyager Koru (Guest Star) 2000
No Score Yet 94% Daria Michael Jordan 'Mack' Mackenzie (Guest Voice) 1997-1998
No Score Yet No Score Yet Perversions of Science Unknown (Character) 1997
33% No Score Yet Boston Common Unknown (Guest Star) 1996
No Score Yet 78% The New Adventures of Captain Planet Kujo (Guest Voice) 1995
No Score Yet No Score Yet Walker, Texas Ranger Unknown (Guest Star) 1995
No Score Yet 92% Babylon 5 Unknown (Guest Star) 1995
82% 93% Picket Fences Unknown (Guest Star) 1994
No Score Yet No Score Yet She-Wolf of London Unknown (Guest Star) 1991
78% No Score Yet The Trials of Rosie O'Neill Unknown (Guest Star) 1990
No Score Yet No Score Yet People Like Us Unknown (Character) 1990
No Score Yet No Score Yet 227 Unknown (Guest Star) 1989
No Score Yet No Score Yet Gimme a Break Unknown (Guest Star) 1987
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Fall Guy Unknown (Guest Star) 1981-1982
No Score Yet No Score Yet Fantasy Island Unknown (Guest Star) 1980-1982
No Score Yet No Score Yet B.J. and the Bear Unknown (Guest Star) 1981
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo Unknown (Guest Star) 1979
No Score Yet No Score Yet Police Woman Jacques (Guest Star) 1977
No Score Yet No Score Yet Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries Unknown (Guest Star) 1977
No Score Yet No Score Yet Good Heavens Unknown (Guest Star) 1976
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Odd Couple Paul Williams (Guest Star) 1974