Editing Bill Duke (section)

{{short description|American actor and director}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Bill Duke
| image              = Bill Duke (47003170452).jpg
| caption            = Duke in 2019
| birthname          = William Henry Duke Jr.
| birth_date         = {{birth date and age|1943|02|26}}  
| birth_place        = [[Poughkeepsie, New York]], U.S.
| height             = 6 feet 4 inches
| yearsactive        = 1961–present
| occupation         = {{hlist|Actor|director|producer}}
| awards             = [[American Black Film Festival]] Career Achievement Award, Lifetime achievement [[Directors Guild of America]]
| website            =
| education          = {{ubl|[[Boston University]]|[[New York University Tisch School of the Arts]]|[[AFI Conservatory]]}}
}}
'''William Henry Duke Jr.''' (born February 26, 1943) is an American actor, director, and producer. Known for his physically imposing frame, Duke works primarily in the action and crime drama genres often as a character related to law enforcement.<ref>{{Cite news |date=May 16, 1991 |title=ACTOR BILL DUKE MOVES FROM PLAYING HEAVIES TO ACTING OUT HIS DREAMS AS DIRECTOR OF 'HARLEM' |url=https://www.deseretnews.com/article/162548/ACTOR-BILL-DUKE-MOVES-FROM-PLAYING-HEAVIES-TO-ACTING-OUT-HIS-DREAMS--AS-DIRECTOR-OF-HARLEM.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180712022343/https://www.deseretnews.com/article/162548/ACTOR-BILL-DUKE-MOVES-FROM-PLAYING-HEAVIES-TO-ACTING-OUT-HIS-DREAMS--AS-DIRECTOR-OF-HARLEM.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 12, 2018 |access-date=July 11, 2018 |work=DeseretNews.com |language=en}}</ref> As a director, he is known for his works dealing in the [[Black American]] experience,<ref>{{Cite web |date=20 November 2019 |title=Bill Duke |url=https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/bill-duke-41 |website=The History Makers}}</ref> and has been called the "Godfather of African American Cinema."<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-01-15 |title=Bill Duke {{!}} The African Artists' Association |url=https://the3as.org/guest-speaker-bill-duke/ |access-date=2024-08-08 |language=en-US}}</ref>

Duke began his career as a [[theatre actor]], before making his film debut as aspiring revolutionary Abdullah Mohammed Akbar in the ensemble comedy [[Car Wash (film)|''Car Wash'']] (1976). Frequently a [[character actor]], he has starred opposite [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] in ''[[Commando (1985 film)|Commando]]'' (1985) and ''[[Predator (film)|Predator]]'' (1987), and has appeared in films like ''[[American Gigolo]]'' (1980), ''[[Bird on a Wire (film)|Bird on a Wire]]'' (1990), ''[[Menace II Society]]'' (1993), ''[[Payback (1999 film)|Payback]]'' (1999), ''[[X-Men: The Last Stand]]'' (2006), and ''[[Mandy (2018 film)|Mandy]]'' (2018). In television, he is best known as Agent Percy Odell in ''[[Black Lightning (TV series)|Black Lightning]]'' (2018–2021).

Duke's directorial debut was ''[[The Killing Floor (1984 film)|The Killing Floor]]'' (1984), which aired as an episode of ''[[American Playhouse]]'' and won the Special Jury Prize at the 1984 [[Sundance Film Festival]]. He directed a film adaptation of [[Chester Himes]]' [[Harlem Detective series]], ''[[A Rage in Harlem]]'' (1991), which was nominated for the [[Cannes Film Festival]]'s [[Palme d'Or]]. He also directed the [[neo-noir]] thriller ''[[Deep Cover]]'' (1992) and the musical comedy ''[[Sister Act 2]]'' (1993).<ref name="rowman">{{cite book |last1=Duke |first1=Bill |url=https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538105566/Bill-Duke-My-40-Year-Career-on-Screen-and-behind-the-Camera |title=My 40-Year Career on Screen and behind the Camera |publisher=Rowman |access-date=December 18, 2019}}</ref> He has directed episodes of numerous television series including ''[[Cagney & Lacey]]'', ''[[Dallas (TV series)|Dallas]]'', ''[[Hill Street Blues]]'', ''[[Miami Vice]]'', and ''[[The Twilight Zone (1985 TV series)|The Twilight Zone]]''.