- Born
- Died
- Birth nameWilliam DeWolf Hopper Jr.
- Nickname
- Bill
- Height6′ 3″ (1.91 m)
- William Hopper was born on January 26, 1915 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Perry Mason (1957), 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957) and The Bad Seed (1956). He was married to Jane Gilbert and Jeanette Juanita Ward. He died on March 6, 1970 in Palm Springs, California, USA.
- SpousesJane Gilbert(January 20, 1940 - 1965) (divorced, 1 child)Jeanette Juanita Ward(? - March 6, 1970) (his death)
- Parents
- Prior to being a Navy frogman doing underwater demolition in the Pacific during WW II his hair was dark blonde. The stress of the danger turned it permanently white.
- Suffered a stroke on 14 February 1970.
- Pushed into acting by his mother, Hopper began in summer stock and on the New York stage. He was signed as a small-part contract player at Paramount, 1935-37. Subsequently received leads at Warner Brothers in second features. Career faltered due to his lack of ambition and ambiguity towards the acting profession in general, and he returned again to bit parts. Stressful wartime military service in the Navy led to a drinking problem. After being demobilized, worked for nine years as a car salesman. Resumed acting in 1954, eventually finding his niche as investigator Paul Drake, right hand man to Raymond Burr's 'Perry Mason', the role for which he is chiefly remembered.
- Son of the actress-turned-gossip-columnist Hedda Hopper and DeWolf Hopper Sr.
- Had a continuously difficult relationship with his famous mother, Hedda.
- I didn't dislike movie people, but they were nothing special to me. I'd been around them all my life. My mother's [Hedda Hopper] the kind who could say "Howdeedo" to the king of England and feel perfectly at home. But I couldn't.
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