William Berger (actor)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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William Berger (also mentioned as Bill Berger or Wilhelm Berger) (born Wilhelm Thomas Berger on January 20, 1928 in Innsbruck, Austria – October 2, 1993 in Los Angeles, USA, of prostate cancer) was a European actor, mostly associated with Euro or spaghetti westerns and travel documentaries.
A former roommate with Keith Richards, His earliest work was in Broadway theater, but while visiting Italy, he was cast in his first western, Break Up in 1965. A series of westerns followed, including Faccia a faccia (1967), Today We Kill Tomorrow We Die (1968,If You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death (1968), The Sabata Trilogy (1969) and Keoma (1975). He also starred in Five Dolls for an August Moon.
In the early 1970s, Berger spent some time in an Italian prison, wrongly accused of possession of hashish and cocaine, but resumed his acting career after his release. His later fare included Love Letters from a Portuguese Nun (1977), Hercules (1983), Devil Fish (1984), The Brother from Space (1988), Dial Help (1988) and The King's Whore (1990). His 1985 memoirs, Half Way Home, recount his life to that point.
Marriage and children
He married twice. By first wife he had a daughter actress Debra Berger. By second wife songstress, singer, songwriter and actress Hanja Kochansky he had two children: a daughter actress Katya Berger and a son child actor Kasimir Berger (born in London on October 3, 1974), who starred with his father in the TV mini-series Christopher Columbus (1985) as Diego as a Child, in Tuareg - Il guerriero del deserto (1984) (uncredited) as Gacel's Son and with his mother and sister in Rosso sangue (1981) as Willy Bennett.
