Born and raised in Stockton, California Bill Humphreys has worked from coast to coast
as a producer, director, actor and manager in television, live theatre, radio and film for
the past 45 years.

 

From the acting side of his career, national audiences have seen Bill in such roles as The
Actor in The Woman in Black, Gilbert Foote in The Things We Do For Love, Willy
Loman in Death of a Salesman, Henry Drummond in Inherit the Wind, Fagan in Oliver,
Harold Ryan in Happy Birthday Wanda June, Littlechap in Stop the World, Tevye in
Fiddler on the Roof and Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha. Bill also produced and
starred in a tour of the one-man show Clarence Darrow. In total, Bill has more than 130
live theatre credits to his name including such titles as Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf,
Cat on the Hot Tin Roof, The Mousetrap, Boys in the Band, Happy End, My Fair Lady,
All the Way Home and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. In 1994, Bill created the role of
Cy Gorman in the world premiere of Murdering Mother, written and directed by Ernest
Thompson, Academy Award winning author of On Golden Pond. Bill has also
portrayed the role of Norman Thayer in Golden Pond again under Thompson’s
direction. His motion picture credits include such films as: The Terrible Meek; Pale In
Your Shadow, The Moonshine War with Alan Alda; R.P.M. with Anthony Quinn,
Strawberry Statement with Bruce Dern; Hamburger Hill, The Vals, Against The Tide,
Under Arrest, Flying With Icarus, Willow’s Way and most recently Tech Support,
Banazynski 2012 and The Celebrant opposite Rae Dawn Chong. On the small screen
Bill's work goes as far back as The Name of the Game, and comes forward as recently as
The Winds of War, The Works of Ambrose Bierce, The Works of Robert Frost, two
recent projects for the History Channel; Witch Hunt and Conquest of America: The
Northeast. Bill is seen regularly as the Down East Farmer in commercials for Oakhurst
Dairy and as the caring father for Cross Jewelers.

 

A look at the producing side of his career shows a range of projects from documentary: To Kill In California; On The Wing; In Focus: The Hollywood lens of Murray Garrett - to music; Loggins and Messina Live; RockBack - The Iron Butterfly; BackStage/FrontRow. From dramatic; A Scrapbook of Late Beginnings; Pale In Your Shadow; The Terrible Meek - to cultural; The Works of Robert Frost; In Conversation – Bill Moyers; The Civil War Filmmaker-Ken Burns. On The Wing, a 90 minute documentary about the 780th Bomb group of WWII was recently completed and is in distribution over PBS. In Focus:… Murray Garrett – a look at the life and work of Bob Hope’s personal photographer, is currently in rotation on the PBS circuit. Bill was also the originating Executive Producer for the PBS series Ciao Italia and President Clinton’s original Town Hall.

 

As a director, Bill has worked with the likes of Carol Channing, Sarah Stiles, Billy  Barty, Amy Spanger, Anthony Quinn, Bob Hope, Ed McMahann, Phyllis Diller, Brian Knowlton, Dick Martin, Morgan Woodward, Patty Duke, Terry Moore, Grant-Lee  Phillips, Marjorie Main, Jack LaLanne and many others. He has directed live and taped broadcasts of presidential and gubernatorial debates, national commercials spots for such clients as Sears, Columbia Record House, Betty Crocker and Rolex Watches. He has also pointed the cameras for The Hollywood Lane Parade of Stars, The Jerry Lewis
Telethon, NBA Basketball and NASL Soccer games in addition to a wide variety of  children's educational and entertainment programs ranging from Romper Room and City  Kids to See Here, Kids Court and Hobo Kelly. Bill has directed more than 12,000 hours of television and film and more than 50 live theatre productions during his career. The feature film Just Say Love for Stagewright Films is the 7th full length feature Bill has helmed.

 

Bill has been recognized by the International Film and Television Festivals of NY three times, The American Film Institute, The Telly Awards with six 1st place wins, American Women in Radio and Television twice, The Ohio State Awards, The Associated Press five times, The National Association of Broadcasters and the Aurora Awards among others. He's been nominated 10 times for Televisions Emmy Award and has taken three Emmy's home – the first for The Works of Robert Frost which he created, produced and directed and the second for directing the narrative film A Scrapbook of Late Beginnings. Both projects are distributed to PBS. The third Emmy came for the RKO Pictures production To Kill In California. Bill is a member of the Screen Actors Guild nominating committee for Primetime Television performances.

 

A graduate of Columbia College of Television and Motion Picture Arts in Hollywood, California, Bill focused his studies in Film Production, Directing and Acting. Twentysix years ago he, his wife Betsy and their son Trevor relocated to the east coast from the flats of Los Angeles in order to find "… air you can breathe without seeing it first" and a place more conducive to raising a son. That son is now an Apprentice Electrician in Vermont and Betsy now holds a Ph.D. in Early Childhood Education from UNC-Chapel Hill. They live in Eliot, Maine.