Bill Weeden (born August 8, 1940[1]) is an American film[2] and stage actor,[3] comedy writer, and songwriter.[4]
Early life
Weeden was born on August 8, 1940, in Melbourne, Florida[1] He graduated from Yale University in 1962.[5]
Film and television career
Weeden is known for his work in genre film, starring in a number of Troma productions and other indie films, including playing the lead villain, Reginald Stuart, in Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D. (1990),.[6] He was called the "Troma Olivier" by the New York Post for the performance.[7]
Weeden starred in Rachel Mason's rock-opera The Lives of Hamilton Fish (2013) as the serial killer Hamilton Fish, whose life is contrasted with the lawmaker with the same name.[8]
Weeden is the only actor in the "slow cinema" film Byron Jones.[9]
In 2020, Weeden starred as the protagonist, Dr. ZOOmis, alongside Kansas Bowling in the parody film Psycho Ape!.[10][11] He reprised his role in the 2024 sequel,
Psycho Ape: Part II - The Wrath of Kong.[12]
In 2021, Weeden received a Best Actor award[13] for his leading performance as a conflicted war veteran in the suspense-drama short film RedSin.[14][15]
Weeden starred in the 2024 film Special Needs Revolt as the villain, President Kruger. The film premiered at the Amazing Fantasy Festival in Buffalo, NY in September.[18]
Stage career
Weeden is the composer of the Broadway show Hurry, Harry (opened 1972)[19] and composed additional material for the Broadway show I'm Solomon (opened 1968).[20]
Weeden played Hucklebee in the final cast of the original Sullivan Street production of The Fantasticks,[21] which closed in 2002.[22][23] He was also featured in Try to Remember: The Fantasticks, a documentary examining the history of the show.[24]
He created two original musical revues with performing and writing partners David Finkle and Sally Fay (as Weeden, Finkle & Fay) for the New York production company Playwrights Horizons[25][26] and a children's musical, Babar's Birthday, for Theatreworks/USA.[27] The trio also toured as major market performers for a show organized by Fortune Magazine specifically to entertain and court potential advertisers,[28] even receiving front-page coverage for the act in the Wall Street Journal.[29] The trio also wrote the musical Move It and It’s Yours, which has been performed numerous times in regional theater.[30]
The musical revue Into the Weeds: Selections from the Bill Weeden Songbook features Weeden's songs, including his various collaborations.[31][32]
Weeden has also performed in a number of off-Broadway and touring shows, including an East Village outdoor production of As You Like It, George Bataille's Bathrobe,[33]The Magnificent Ambersons,[34] an Atlantic City production of Little Shop of Horrors,[34]The Rocky Horror Show,[35]The Wizard of Oz,[36] and Damn Yankees.[37]
Weeden (with Finkle and Fay) contributed several songs to The No-Frills Revue, the 1987 off-Broadway musical conceived by Martin Charnin.[38]
Comedy
Weeden has written comedy material, often with writing partner David Finkle, for Lily Tomlin,[39] Carol Channing,[40][41] Stiller & Meara,[42] Dick Shawn,[43][44] Madeline Kahn,[45][46] and others.
Weeden, Finkle & Fay's "Part of the Problem (The Inflation Song)" was released on 7" on MCA Records in 1980.[47][48]
Weeden has often collaborated with Upright Citizens Brigade,[49][50] including the comedy video "Author Wrote a F***ing Book," a parody of James Patterson's commercials, written by Achilles Stamatelaky and directed by Ryan Hunter.[51]
Weeden played the father of correspondent/comedian Jordan Klepper on a 2015 episode of "The Daily Show."[52]
Other work
He has narrated a number of audio books, often paired with his wife Dolores McDougal.[53]
The song "One Big Team" was written and performed by Weeden for the 1988 New York Yankees' Old Timer's Day,[31] and in 2006 by Tony-winning Broadway star James Naughton on the YES Network's Yankees Magazine.[54]
Weeden joins other horror filmmakers and performers, such as Larry Fessenden and Amy Seimetz, voicing the horror "radio" series Tales from Beyond the Pale.[55]
