After establishing a commanding screen presence with diverse performances in Milos Forman's underrated musical "Hair" (1979) and Sidney Lumet's superior cop drama "Prince of the City" (1981), Treat Williams seemed poised to enter the ranks of "A"-list actors. Yet, somehow he was never able to fully capitalize on that early success. While he has gone on to deliver some excellent performances, the vehicles have not impressed audiences.
Born and raised in Connecticut, Williams decided to pursue an acting career while attending Franklin and Marshall College. He moved to NYC after graduation where he immediately was cast as an understudy to John Travolta in the long-running Broadway musical "Grease". Williams eventually assumed the leading role of Danny Zuko before moving the following year to a supporting role in "Over Here", which featured the Andrews Sisters. Other stage roles followed before the strapping, hirsute actor segued to feature films. (He would also periodically return to the theatre, succeeding Kevin Kline in "The Pirates of Penzance" and co-starring in David Mamet's two-hander "Oleanna").
Richard Lester's farcical "The Ritz" (1976) marked Williams' screen debut as a private detective who tracks a mobster hiding in a gay bathhouse. It would be three years before Williams landed a role that would fully utilize his unique appeal: the charismatic Berger, the leader of a group of hippies in "Hair". He followed as a soldier on the make in Steven Spielberg's bloated "1941" (1979) and seemed miscast as a possible airline hijacker in "The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper" (1981). Williams hit his stride as a New York police detective turned Justice Department informant in "Prince of the City". The film's length and complicated story, however, undercut its success and ultimately kept audiences away. While he continued to work regularly in features throughout the 80s and into the 90s, most notably in a sexily menacing performance as Arnold Friend in Joyce Chopra's film "Smooth Talk" (1985), the actor never found that one role to propel him to the front ranks. Critics praised his flashy turns as a gangster in "Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead" (1995), as a villainous army colonel in "Mulholland Falls" (1996) and as the nemesis of "The Phantom" (also 1996), but the films were not box office hits. He continued in the same vein opposite Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt in Alan J Pakula's "The Devil's Own" (1997).
Williams has had seemingly better results in TV-movies. He made an impressive debut as the legendary boxer in the biopic "Dempsey" (CBS, 1983) and was effective as Stanley Kowalski to Ann-Margaret's Blanche DuBois in "A Streetcar Named Desire" (ABC, 1984). Williams co-starred in two short-lived series, the legal drama "Eddie Dodd" (ABC, 1991) and a CBS sitcom pairing with Shelley Long in "Good Advice" (1993-94). Other notable performances include the title role in "J. Edgar Hoover" (Showtime, 1987), as a Holocaust survivor in "Max and Helen" (TNT, 1990) and a turn as agent Michael Ovitz in HBO's irreverent look at the behind the scenes machinations over late-night TV in "The Late Shift" (1996). For the latter, Williams earned a 1996 Emmy nomination as Best Supporting Actor.
He next played an ex-mercenary sent to substitute at an inner-city school after the murder of his brother in the generic revenge thriller, “The Substitute 2: School’s Out” (HBO, 1998). Williams would revive the troubled mercenary in two more equally generic sequels, “The Substitute 3: Winner Takes All” (1999) and “The Substitute 4: Failure Is Not an Option” (2000), both of which also aired on HBO. In the escape thriller, “Human Cargo” (Showtime, 1998), Williams portrayed an American businessman trying to build low-rent housing in Saudi Arabia who suddenly finds himself jailed as a political prisoner and is forced to take matters into his own hands. A return to feature films found him as a gunrunner who does battle with a tentacled creature occupying a deserted cruise ship off the coast of South China in the Stephen Sommers thriller, “Deep Rising” (also 1998)
In 1999, Williams starred in more forgettable movies—seemingly the hallmark of his career. As a geology professor, he descended into the bowels of the earth to discover a strange tribe of people in USA Network miniseries, “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” adapted from the famed Jules Verne novel. After facing down gangsters out to get him and his family in psychological thriller, “36 Hours to Die” (TNT), Williams appeared in the flawed and emotionally detached drama, “Deep End of the Ocean,” costarring Michelle Pfeiffer in a standout performance. Williams then landed what could be his career-defining role in the CBS family drama, “Everwood” (2002- ), a fearless and engrossing series about a famed neurosurgeon (Williams) who moves from New York City to small-town Colorado with his son after the death of his wife. Williams was nominated for two consecutive SAG Awards for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor for his portrayal of the grieving doctor. Meanwhile, he continued to appear in less-than-desirable features, including Woody Allen’s misguided farce, “Hollywood Ending” (2002) and “Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous” (2005), the sequel to the surprising Sandra Bullock comedy hit, “Miss Congeniality” (2000).