William Tepper (June 27, 1948 – October 4, 2017) was an American actor and

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

, best known for his lead role in

Jack Nicholson John Joseph Nicholson (born April 22, 1937) is an American retired actor and filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time. In many of his films, he played rebels against the social structure. He received numerous ...

's directorial debut, ''

Drive, He Said ''Drive, He Said'' is a 1971 American independent film directed by Jack Nicholson, in his directorial debut, and starring William Tepper, Karen Black, Bruce Dern, Robert Towne, and Henry Jaglom. Based on the 1964 novel of the same name by Jeremy ...

'' (1971).

Biography

Tepper was born on June 27, 1948 in

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

borough of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He studied filmmaking at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

. Tepper starred opposite

Karen Black Karen Blanche Black (née Ziegler; July 1, 1939 – August 8, 2013) was an American actress, screenwriter, singer, and songwriter. She rose to prominence for her work in various studio and independent films in the 1970s, frequently portrayi ...

in ''

'', which also marked

's debut as a

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

. Tepper and Nicholson traveled to the

1971 Cannes Film Festival The 24th Cannes Film Festival was held from 12 to 27 May 1971. The Palme d'Or went to ''The Go-Between'' by Joseph Losey. The festival opened with ''Gimme Shelter'', a documentary about English rock band The Rolling Stones directed by David Maysl ...

for the film's debut. Tepper's other film roles included '' Breathless'' in 1983 and a co-starring role in the 1984

Tom Hanks Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...

film, ''

Bachelor Party A bachelor party (in the United States and sometimes in Canada), also known as a stag weekend, stag do or stag party (in the United Kingdom, Commonwealth countries, and Ireland), or a buck's night (in Australia), is a party held/arranged by th ...

'', as well as the 1970s television series, '' Ironside'' and ''

Kojak ''Kojak'' is an American action crime drama television series starring Telly Savalas as the title character, New York City Police Department Detective Lieutenant Theodopolis "Theo" Kojak. Taking the time slot of the popular ''Cannon'' series, it ...

''. In addition to acting, Tepper co-produced the 1980 dramatic film, '' Heart Beat'', which starred

Nick Nolte Nicholas King Nolte (born February 8, 1941) is an American actor. He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for the 1991 film ''The Prince of Tides''. He received ...

and

Sissy Spacek Mary Elizabeth Spacek (; born December 25, 1949) is an American actress and singer. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, three Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and nominations for four Briti ...

. Tepper also produced and wrote the

screenplay ''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fe ...

for the 2006 film, ''

Grilled Grilling is a form of cooking that involves dry heat applied to the surface of food, commonly from above, below or from the side. Grilling usually involves a significant amount of direct, radiant heat, and tends to be used for cooking meat a ...

'', starring

Ray Romano Raymond Albert Romano (born December 21, 1957) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and screenwriter. He is best known for his role as Ray Barone on the CBS sitcom ''Everybody Loves Raymond'', for which he received an Emmy Award, and as the ...

Kevin James Kevin George Knipfing (born April 26, 1965), better known by his stage name Kevin James, is an American comedian and actor. In television, James played Doug Heffernan on ''The King of Queens'' from 1998 to 2007, and receieved a Primetime Emmy ...

and

Sofia Vergara Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

. Tepper died of a heart attack on October 4, 2017, at the age of 69.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tepper, William 1948 births 2017 deaths American male film actors American male television actors American male screenwriters American film producers UCLA Film School alumni Male actors from the Bronx