Current:Home > MarketsBook excerpt: "What Have We Here?" by Billy Dee Williams -Wealth Empowerment Academy
Book excerpt: "What Have We Here?" by Billy Dee Williams
View
Date:2025-04-12 17:01:21
We may receive an affiliate commission from anything you buy from this article.
In his new memoir, "What Have We Here?: Portraits of a Life" (Knopf), veteran actor Billy Dee Williams – whose roles have ranged from romantic leads to a swashbuckling "Star Wars" hero – writes about an early experience on stage.
Read an excerpt below, and don't miss Ben Mankiewicz's interview with Billy Dee Williams on "CBS News Sunday Morning" February 25!
"What Have We Here?" by Billy Dee Williams
$27 at AmazonPrefer to listen? Audible has a 30-day free trial available right now.
Try Audible for freeI was almost eight years old, and I was exactly where the universe wanted me. Somehow I knew this, I knew it in my bones, and it allowed me to proceed with calm and confidence in a situation that would normally be nerve-racking for a child.
My mother and I were in a rehearsal studio in midtown Manhattan. The whole subway ride downtown I had assured her that I was not nervous. I was auditioning for a part in the Broadway musical The Firebrand of Florence, an operetta with music by Kurt Weil, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, book by Edwin Justus Mayer, and staging by John Murray Anderson. All were giants in their field. The production starred Weil's wife, Lotte Lenya.
"You'll do okay, Sonny," my mother said.
"I know, Mommy," I said, squeezing her hand and answering her reassuring eyes with a smile of my own. "Don't worry."
Producer Max Gordon was in charge. He was my mother's boss. At the start of World War II, my mother took a job as the elevator operator at the Lyceum Theatre on 45th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues. She had studied opera singing in school and dreamed of performing at the Metropolitan Opera House, but so far, this was the closest she got to the stage.
The Lyceum was one of the most glamorous venues on Broadway, and my mother loved working there. Once her skills as a stenographer and typist were discovered, she was promoted to a secretarial position, which brought her into contact with Gordon.
One day Gordon told her about a new Broadway show he was producing, The Firebrand of Florence. He mentioned that he was looking for a cute little boy to play the part of a page in his new production.
My mother promptly mentioned me. Bring him in, he said. Let's have a look at him.
For the audition, she dressed me in my good clothes, my Little Lord Fauntleroy outfit—bow tie, jacket, shorts, high socks, and polished shoes—and took me downtown to the theater. My tryout was in front of the director John Murray Anderson, the playwright George S. Kaufman, and the choreographer Catherine Littlefield. All were luminaries of the theater world. I had no idea.
They sat in the front row. John told me to walk across the stage.
I followed his direction perfectly, walking slowly but purposefully, while looking out at the audience.
"Very good," John said.
"Can I do it again?" I asked.
"All right."
I ran back across the stage and repeated my steps, this time flashing a smile in the middle of my stroll. When John said that was good and thanked me for coming in, I started to cry. He looked at my mother, wondering what had happened. She turned toward me, trying to figure out why I was upset.
"I want to do it one more time," I said.
Even then, I knew I had a better take in me.
Afterward, John asked if I could sing. I quickly said, "Yes!"
I got the job—and ever since I've said I cried my way into show business.
My mother was so proud. Many years later, she wrote me a letter in which she recalled "seeing stardom" in my smile that day. I still have the letter. What I have always remembered, though, is the loving hug I got from her after the audition. Pleasing my mother meant everything to me, and that never changed. The work I've done over the past eight decades got more complicated than walking across the stage, but my motivation stayed the same. Do a good job. Make Mommy proud. Entertain the audience.
From "What Have We Here?" © 2024 by Billy Dee Williams. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Get the book here:
"What Have We Here?" by Billy Dee Williams
$27 at Amazon $32 at Barnes & NobleBuy locally from Bookshop.org
For more info:
- "What Have We Here?: Portraits of a Life" by Billy Dee Williams (Knopf), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats
veryGood! (86)
Related
- Appeals court scraps Nasdaq boardroom diversity rules in latest DEI setback
- Norfolk Southern investing in automated inspection systems on its railroad to improve safety
- General Motors and Stellantis in talks with United Auto Workers to reach deals that mirror Ford’s
- Exiled Russian journalist discusses new book, alleged poisoning attempt
- Apple iOS 18.2: What to know about top features, including Genmoji, AI updates
- Former President George W. Bush to throw out ceremonial first pitch before World Series opener
- Miller and Márquez joined by 5 first-time World Series umpires for Fall Classic
- TikTok returns to the campaign trail but not everyone thinks it's a good idea
- Why Sean "Diddy" Combs Is Being Given a Laptop in Jail Amid Witness Intimidation Fears
- AP Week in Pictures: Global | Oct. 20 - 26, 2023
Ranking
- Nearly 400 USAID contract employees laid off in wake of Trump's 'stop work' order
- Former Premier Li Keqiang, China’s top economic official for a decade, has died at 68
- Georgia deputy injured in Douglas County shooting released from hospital
- Hilary Duff Proves Daughter Banks Is Her Mini-Me in 5th Birthday Tribute
- Working Well: When holidays present rude customers, taking breaks and the high road preserve peace
- South Korean and US forces stage drills for reaction to possible ‘Hamas-style’ attack by North Korea
- Senegalese opposition leader Sonko regains consciousness but remains on hunger strike, lawyer says
- Pedro Argote, suspect in killing of Maryland judge, found dead
Recommendation
Whoopi Goldberg is delightfully vile as Miss Hannigan in ‘Annie’ stage return
Indian company that makes EV battery materials to build its first US plant in North Carolina
Attorneys for Mel Tucker, Brenda Tracy agree on matter of cellphone messages
Former Ohio State OL Dawand Jones suspected Michigan had Buckeyes' signs during 2022 game
Kylie Jenner Shows Off Sweet Notes From Nieces Dream Kardashian & Chicago West
Attorneys for Mel Tucker, Brenda Tracy agree on matter of cellphone messages
The Golden Bachelor Just Delivered 3 Heartbreaking Exits and We Are Not OK
New York governor dodges questions on who paid for her trip to wartime Israel