MARY ELLEN WRIGHT | Staff Writer
Treat Williams, a film, TV and stage actor who honed his craft in the early 1970s on the stage of Franklin & Marshall College’s Green Room Theatre and the Fulton Opera House, died in a motorcycle accident Monday in Vermont, state police there said.
Williams had a nearly 50-year career, and was known for his roles in such TV shows as “Everwood” and “Blue Bloods,” and lead roles in films such as “Prince of the City” and “Hair.” He had more than 120 TV and film credits to his name, with Broadway and other stage work on his resume, as well.
He also played Benny Severide, the father of Lancaster native Taylor Kinney’s character, Kelly Severide, on NBC’s “Chicago Fire.”
“He played my father on Chicago Fire, and was a father figure to everyone on set,” Kinney told People.com, in reaction to Williams’ death. “I’ll always relish our conversations and his uncanny ability to light up a room. We all send love, he will be missed.”
Actor on local stages
Williams' stage work included his years as a student and actor in Lancaster in the late 1960s and early ’70s.
In 1970s, Treat Williams performed in many shows in Lancaster [LNP archive photos]
Actor Treat Williams, who died in an accident Monday, June 12, in Vermont, had a 50-year stage, TV and film career that started when he was a college student in Lancaster. Here are some photos from the LNP archives of his appearances here from the 1970s to the 1990s.
Actor Treat Williams spent plenty of time at the Fulton Opera House when he was a student Franklin & Marshall College in the early 1970s. He even gave tours of the theater.
Williams was a 1973 graduate of F&M, where he appeared and starred in productions of works by playwrights from Shakespeare to Ibsen, and also in contemporary plays and musicals.
While a student at F&M, Williams also appeared in shows with the former Actors’ Company of Pennsylvania and Fulton Summer Repertory Company at what was then called the Fulton Opera House.
His Fulton credits included roles in Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales,” “Twelfth Night,” the musical “Stop the World — I Want to Get Off” and “Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines.” He even gave tours of the theater to the public.
In 1991, Williams was named one of the honorary chairs of a fundraising campaign to renovate the Fulton Opera House, now called the Fulton Theatre.
In this 1973 file photo, in their roles in "The Canterbury Tales," Treat Williams and Shirley E Joseph steal a furtive embrace on the stage of the Fulton Opera House.
"I can't imagine that the town of Lancaster can't be aware of what they've got in the Fulton," Williams told then Sunday News entertainment editor Jim Ruth, who had reviewed several of Williams' F&M and Fulton performances.
"It's one of three national landmark theaters. People have to get personally involved to keep it," he said.
In September 1991, Williams and fellow actor Brooke Adams performed in the A.R. Gurney play "Love Letters" — the story of a lifelong friendship told through letters — on the Fulton stage, as a fundraiser for the Fulton renovation.
In this 1991 file photo, then Franklin & Marshall College President Richard Kneedler, right, presents the Distinguished Fellow Award to actor and F&M alumnus Treat Williams.
They also met the public at a gala after the show at the Lancaster Trust Building.
At the time, Williams said he first fell in love with theater through his work at the Fulton.
"I learned my craft in front of generous and patient audiences for ... a period of years," Williams told the Sunday News. "I did at least 10 or 12 productions there."
Not long after Williams' years at F&M, he was cast in his 1975 film debut, "Deadly Hero." And not long after that, he was cast in the stage role of Danny Zuko a few years into the original Broadway run of "Grease" — coincidentally, the show the Fulton Theatre will open Thursday.
Also in 1991, Williams came back to F&M to talk to students about his craft, and his years in Lancaster.
According to LNP archives, he told the students he was lucky to have performed in musicals at F&M and the Fulton. He also received vocal training from performer, teacher and Mount Joy native Romayne Bridgett.
"From here, I had a good foundation from which to work," Williams said in 1991.
At that time, the actor also received a Distinguished Fellow award from then F&M president Richard Kneedler.
In a statement reported by the Associated Press, Vermont State Police said the fatal accident happened shortly before 5 p.m. Monday, when a Honda SUV was turning left into a parking lot and collided with Williams' motorcycle in the town of Dorset.
Treat Williams and Brooke Adams sign a book at the Fulton Opera House after appearing in "Love Letters" in September 1991 to raise funds to renovate the Fulton.
“Williams was unable to avoid a collision and was thrown from his motorcycle. He suffered critical injuries and was airlifted to Albany Medical Center in Albany, New York, where he was pronounced dead,” according to the police statement.
Williams was wearing a helmet, police said.
Williams, whose full name was Richard Treat Williams, lived in Manchester Center in southern Vermont, police said.
His agent, Barry McPherson, also confirmed the actor's death.
“I’m just devastated. He was the nicest guy. He was so talented,” McPherson told People magazine.
“He was an actor’s actor," McPherson said. "Filmmakers loved him. He’s been the heart of the Hollywood since the late 1970s.”
Williams is survived by his wife, actor and producer Pam Van Sant, and his children, Gill and Elinor.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
