Don S. Williams


Don S. Williams was a Vancouver-based Canadian producer, director, actor, choreographer, and writer.

Biography

Early life

Williams was born Donald William Schlit in Edmonton, Alberta in February 1938. He grew up in the small community of Stony Plain, Alberta, just west of Edmonton where he graduated from Memorial High School in 1955. From the age of twelve, he had a keen interest in the Film and Entertainment Industry.

Career

Williams started his career in 1957, at the age of 19, when he moved to the Alberta/Saskatchewan border town of Lloydminster and began working at the new CKSA radio station. In the following year, Williams accepted a one-year contract at the CKRM radio station in Regina, Saskatchewan. As soon as that contract was up, Don left for Brandon, Manitoba where he worked both as the sole Producer and Director at the local CKX-TV station and Artistic Director for the Brandon New World Theatre. He continued in these roles for the next four years, 3 months and 8 days.
In 1963, Williams landed a job as Staff Producer/Director at the CBC station in Winnipeg. He spent 15 and half years there: the first five at the CBC and the remainder working as a freelance director, producer, and writer. With the freelance work came a great deal of travel - a considerable portion of which was to Vancouver. One of his early opportunities as a freelancer was to work as the Director of the third and fifth episode of the then-new CBC series, The Beachcombers - a show that would go on to be the longest running series in Canadian television history.
Since so much of his freelance work saw him travelling more and more to Vancouver, in 1979 Williams decided to move his family to Vancouver. Over the ensuing years, Don continued to be involved with The Beachcombers in the capacities of director, producer, and executive producer. Additionally, he was involved in projects that saw him directing other notable people from the entertainment industry when they were at the early stages of their careers, such as Cameron Bancroft, Chief Dan George, Michael J. Fox, and Bruce Greenwood - an association of which he was one of the founders. During his time there, he became known as a "raving moderate."

Political Involvement

Williams started being interested in politics as a young child - getting much of his political awareness from his maternal grandfather. It was from his grandfather that Williams came to believe that, if you don't like the political situation, you have to get involved in the political system.
Williams joined the Liberal Party of Canada in 1965. He has worked on campaigns for the party both federally and provincially. In fact, Williams worked as the Director of Communications for the campaign of Izzy Asper in the 1973 Manitoba Election.
Locally, in North Vancouver, Williams ran unsuccessfully for the North Vancouver School Board the North Vancouver District Council.

Personal life

Williams had two children; a daughter, son, as well as two grandchildren and one great grandchild.
In 1993, Williams was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease – a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system. In March 2002, a small flurry of media interest erupted when it was revealed by documentary film-maker Gerry Thompson that Don was one of four people who worked together at the CBC in 1979 who would all later go on to not only develop Parkinson's Disease, but to have the symptoms appear at roughly the same time. Current evidence suggests that as many as eight crew and cast members on the project have developed Parkinson's symptoms.
This unusual coincidence led to the suggestion that Parkinson's may possibly have some sort of environmental trigger.
Thus, during the week of March 22–29, 2002, Williams and his doctor were interviewed by Good Morning America, ABC News, NBC News, Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood, CNN, People Magazine, MacLean's Magazine, CTV and The New York Times.
Williams died in October 2018 at the age of 80.

Appearances