William Hootkins

Hootkins was born on July 5, 1948, in Dallas, Texas. He attended St. Mark's School of Texas from grade 1 through 12. At age 15, Hootkins found himself caught up in the FBI's investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy when he was interviewed about Ruth Paine, his Russian teacher. Marina Oswald, the Russian wife of the assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, and their children had been living with Paine in Irving. In school he also developed his taste for theatre, joining the same drama group as Tommy Lee Jones, who was a year ahead of him in high school. Hootkins would later say that, since Jones was better-looking and got all the best parts, "I supported from then on in."Austin Mutti-Mewse, [https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/nov/15/guardianobituaries.film Obituary: William Hootkins], The Guardian, November 14, 2005, accessed December 13, 2012.

Hootkins attended Princeton University, studying astrophysics before transferring to oriental studies, where he became fluent in Mandarin Chinese. He was a mainstay of the Theatre Intime, making a particular impact with his performance in Orson Welles' Moby Dick—Rehearsed. On the recommendation of his friend John Lithgow, he moved to London in the early 1970s and trained as an actor at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). He made his home in London until 2002, when he moved to Los Angeles.

In England, Hootkins found work in the theatre as well as in film, and he would have his greatest success on stage portraying Alfred Hitchcock in Terry Johnson's 2003 hit play Hitchcock Blonde, first at the Royal Court Theatre and in London's West End. The role was such a success that producers planned to take the show to Broadway, but it was canceled after Hootkins was diagnosed with cancer.

Hootkins appeared in many roles that made him a welcome figure at fan conventions, particularly for Star Wars in his role of Jek Porkins, the first X-wing Starfighter pilot to be shot down and destroyed. Hootkins has said that he was not sure if his character was human when he was first cast for the role. He is quoted as follows: "I saw the word 'Porkins: I thought because I'm a heavy guy, what's this word Porkins? I saw all the amazing creature effects they were doing and I thought wait a minute, if they are giving me a name like Porkins, is somebody going to come over and stick ears and a snout on my face?" The actor also recalled that while filming his death scene, the special effects supervisor imparted: "Just before we blow you up, I want you to understand what is going to happen. It's nothing to worry about; we are going to put some gun powder under your seat, a couple of magnesium squibs here, a 4-stick dynamite charge over here." Hootkins recalled feeling slightly nervous upon seeing the amount of fire extinguishers present on set, and told the crew he would simply leave the set in the event of the stunt not going as planned.{{Cite web |last=Busch |first=Jenna |date=2023-12-04 |title=Playing A Pilot In The First Star Wars Was A Sweaty, Explosive Job |url=https://www.slashfilm.com/1457494/star-wars-a-new-hope-pilot-sweat-explosives/ |access-date=2025-05-31 |website=SlashFilm |language=en-US}}

He also appeared in significant parts in films such as Hardware (1990), Like Father, Like Santa (as Santa Claus), and Hear My Song (1991), where he was the Mr. X who was presumed to be the Irish tenor Josef Locke under a false name.{{cite web|url=http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9E0CE2D71E39F93AA25752C0A964958260|work=The New York Times|title=Hear My Song (1991) Review/Film; Irish Tenor Is Focus of Intrigue and Blarney|author=Janet Maslin|date=January 19, 1992}} He portrayed Fatty Arbuckle in Ken Russell's infamous 1977 flop Valentino, and played Hans Zarkov's assistant in the 1980 Flash Gordon. He also made appearances in such films as Raiders of the Lost Ark and Tim Burton's Batman (the latter as Lt. Eckhardt).

He also appeared in several roles on television, including Charles Frohman in The Lost Boys (1978), Colonel Cobb in the remake of The Tomorrow People and as Uncle George in the 2002 remake of The Magnificent Ambersons.

Although American, he was a close look-alike to portray the young Winston Churchill through to his premiership in six episodes of the 1981 BBC Cymru Wales biographical series The Life and Times of David Lloyd George. He delivered Churchill's closing eulogy of his friend before parliament to end the series.

At the time of his death, Hootkins was planning a screenplay on Fatty Arbuckle, focusing on the comic's life after his fall from grace in 1921; he had met Arbuckle's last wife, Addie McPhail.

Hootkins was also a voice artist, recording dozens of plays for BBC Radio Drama where his roles ranged from J. Edgar Hoover{{cite web|url=http://www.radiolistings.co.uk/programmes/j/j_/j_edgar_hoover.html|title=J Edgar Hoover|work=radiolistings.co.uk|access-date=January 2, 2017}} and Orson Welles{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/the-third-man-reconstructed-1169350.html|title=The third man reconstructed|date=August 3, 1998|work=independent.co.uk|access-date=January 2, 2017}} to Winston Churchill.{{citation needed|date=March 2013}} In audio books, he read works by Jack London, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Robert Bloch and Carl Hiaasen.{{citation needed|date=March 2013}} He also performed an award-winning, unabridged reading of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick for Naxos Audiobooks that runs for 24 hours and 50 minutes.{{cite web|url=https://naxosaudiobooks.com/moby-dick-unabridged/|title=Moby-Dick (unabridged) - Naxos Audiobooks|access-date=October 21, 2024}} He voiced Dingodile in Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped, Maximillian Roivas in the cult hit Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, and Lucifer in the stop-motion film The Miracle Maker. He played Bobby Mallory in BBC Radio 4's dramatisations of Sara Paretsky's V. I. Warshawski novels, alongside Kathleen Turner. He also voiced Lex Luthor in Radio 4's The Adventures of Superman.

Hootkins died of pancreatic cancer in Santa Monica, California on October 23, 2005, at the age of 57. His mausoleum is at Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery.

{{ cite web

| url = http://www.audiofilemagazine.com/gvpages/A1688.shtml

| title = Narrator Profile - William Hootkins

| website = AudioFile

| access-date = August 17, 2013

}}

Jek Porkins' death scene has been called one of the more gruesome moments in Star Wars.{{Cite web |last=Outlaw |first=Kofi |date=2025-01-22 |title=47 Years Later, Star Wars Fans Are Still Debating Why This Character Had to Die |url=https://comicbook.com/movies/news/star-wars-how-why-jek-porkins-died-who-played-explained-william-hootkins/ |access-date=2025-07-05 |website=ComicBook.com |language=en-US}} Hootkins would later reflect on the impact of his minor role in the film: "I didn’t realise what power would come from that job until a year later I received my first fan letter. In it was a drawing of my scene by a little boy, and it was actually a clearer and more understandable version of the scene than George Lucas’! He asked if he could have an autographed photo. When I checked the return address, it was the leukaemia ward of a children’s hospital. It’s a blessing to me that I have any power to make even the tiniest difference in other people’s lives."{{Cite web |date=2003-07-27 |title=20 Questions With…William Hootkins |url=https://www.whatsonstage.com/news/20-questions-with-william-hootkins_26145/ |access-date=2025-06-03 |language=en-US}}

{{reflist}}

• {{IMDb name|0393853}}
• {{Find a Grave|12176650}}
• {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20141113114048/http://inlovingmemoryof.me/rip/william-hootkins In Loving Memory Of William Hootkins]}}

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Category:1948 births

Category:2005 deaths

Category:Alumni of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art

Category:American male film actors

Category:American male stage actors

Category:American male television actors

Category:American male video game actors

Category:American male voice actors

Category:Burials at Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery

Category:Deaths from pancreatic cancer in California

Category:Male actors from Dallas

Category:People associated with the assassination of John F. Kennedy

Category:Princeton University alumni

Category:St. Mark's School (Texas) alumni

Category:20th-century American male actors