William Hinnant (born John F. Hinnant; August 28, 1935 – February 17, 1978) was an American actor. His younger brother is actor and comedian
Skip Hinnant
Joseph Howard "Skip" Hinnant (born September 12, 1940) is an American actor, singer, voice actor and comedian.
Career
Skip Hinnant's first major role was as Cathy's boyfriend, Ted, on ''The Patty Duke Show'' from 1963 to 1965. In 1967, he pla ...
.
Biography
Hinnant was born John F. Hinnant in
Chincoteague Island, Virginia
Chincoteague ( or ) is a town in Accomack County, Virginia, U.S. The town includes the whole of Chincoteague Island and an area of adjacent water. The population was 2,941 at the 2010 census. The town is known for the Chincoteague Ponies, althou ...
. He attended the
Yale School of Drama
The David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University is a graduate professional school of Yale University, located in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1924 as the Department of Drama in the School of Fine Arts, the school provides training in e ...
, but left after his sophomore year in 1958 to originate the role of the navigator in the
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
play, ''
No Time for Sergeants
''No Time for Sergeants'' is a 1954 best-selling novel by Mac Hyman, which was later adapted into a teleplay on ''The United States Steel Hour'', a popular Broadway play and 1958 motion picture, as well as a 1964 television series. The book chro ...
''. He later returned to
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
and graduated in 1959.
After completing college, Hinnant appeared in the
Julius Monk Julius Withers Monk (10 Nov 1912, Spencer, North Carolina – 17 Aug 1995, New York City, New York) was an American impresario in the New York cabaret scene. His 1956 revue, ''Four Below'', has been characterized as "the first legitimate cafe re ...
revue ''Dressed to the Nines''. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, he appeared in few theatre roles and guest starred on various television programs, including four episodes of the
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
sitcom, '' Pete and Gladys''. He was cast as Bruce Carter, a 26-year-old college student (though he had already graduated from Yale in real life) who lives temporarily in
Westwood, Los Angeles, California
Westwood is a commercial and residential neighborhood in the northern central portion of the Westside region of Los Angeles, California. It is the home of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Bordering the campus on the south ...
, with his aunt, Gladys ( Cara Williams), and her husband, insurance salesman, Pete Porter (
Harry Morgan
Harry Morgan (born Harry Bratsberg; April 10, 1915 – December 7, 2011) was an American actor and director whose television and film career spanned six decades. Morgan's major roles included Pete Porter in both ''December Bride'' (1954–1959 ...
). Hinnant also appeared on the long-running CBS game show, '' To Tell the Truth''. He was cast in the revues, ''All Kinds of Giants'' and ''Put it in Writing'' in 1962 and 1963.William Hinnant profile at IMDb /ref>
Hinnant's most successful role came in March 1967, when he was cast as
Snoopy
Snoopy is an anthropomorphic beagle in the comic strip ''Peanuts'' by Charles M. Schulz. He can also be found in all of the ''Peanuts'' films and television specials. Since his debut on October 4, 1950, Snoopy has become one of the most recog ...
Clark Gesner
Clark Gesner (March 27, 1938 – July 23, 2002)Clark Gesner at the
You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown
''You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown'' is a 1967 musical with music and lyrics by Clark Gesner and (in a 1999 revision) Andrew Lippa. It is based on the characters created by cartoonist Charles M. Schulz in his comic strip ''Peanuts''. The musical ...
'', after voicing the character on Gesner's ten-song
concept album
A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...
."Biography of Clark Gesner, Clark Gesner Papers, 1940-2005" Princeton University Library Hinnant (whose younger brother Skip was cast as Schroeder in the same production) was praised as the "most strikingly talented of the cast" and won a
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in New York theatre. First bestowed in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award, the prize initially honored Off-Broadway productions, as well as Off-off-Broadway, and those in the vicinity. Fo ...
for his performance.
Theatre critic
Theatre criticism is a genre of arts criticism, and the act of writing or speaking about the performing arts such as a play or opera.
Theatre criticism is distinct from drama criticism, as the latter is a division of literary criticism whereas t ...
Steven Suskin wrote, "As in Snoopy's showstopper 'Suppertime' - you totally forgot the teensy scale. When Bill Hinnant leapt from atop his doghouse and went into a cakewalk, the spirit and the show soared."
After ''...Charlie Brown'', Hinnant appeared in Norman Kline's ''The American Hamburger League'' off-Broadway in September 1969. He then appeared in the 1971
Broadway musical
Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...
''
Frank Merriwell
Frank Merriwell is a fictional character appearing in a series of novels and short stories by Gilbert Patten, who wrote under the pseudonym Burt L. Standish. The character appeared in over 300 dime novels between 1896 and 1930 (some between 1927 a ...
''.
When ''You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown'' was adapted for a '' Hallmark Hall of Fame''
television special
A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of ent ...
in 1973, Hinnant reprised his role as Snoopy. Hinnant was the only member of the original off-Broadway cast to reprise his role in the special.
Death
Hinnant died at age 42 on February 17, 1978. He drowned while vacationing in the
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...
archival footage
Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures, and file footage is film or video footage that can be used again in other films. Stock footage is beneficial to filmmakers as it saves shooting new material. A single piece of stoc ...
posthumously showed Hinnant singing "Suppertime" in the ''
Peanuts
''Peanuts'' is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run extended from 1950 to 2000, continuing in reruns afterward. ''Peanuts'' is among the most popular and infl ...