Treat Williams, a 50-year acting veteran who starred in movies including Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead, Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead, and Deep Rising, has passed away at the age of 71 following a motorbike accident at Vermont.
Williams’ family verified the cause of death in a statement provided to Deadline, saying: “It is with great sadness that we report that our beloved Treat Williams has passed away tonight in Dorset, Vermont after a fatal motorcycle accident. As you can imagine, we are shocked and greatly bereaved at this time.”
According to a Vermont state police report, the accident is still under investigation, but preliminary information indicates that an SUV may have turned left into Williams’ path, making it impossible for him to avoid a collision and causing him to be thrown from his motorbike, where he sustained critical injuries.
Williams, who resided in rural Vermont, frequently gushed on social media about how much he loved the place.
Richard Treat Williams, who was born in 1951, found success in the 1970s as Danny Zuko, the principal character in the Broadway production of Grease.
Early appearances in movies included playing a detective in Richard Lester’s comedy The Ritz and a US Ranger in The Eagle Has Landed. In 1979, he made a breakthrough as George Berger in the movie adaptation of the hippie musical Hair, for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe.
Williams then starred opposite Laura Dern as a stalker/creep Arnold Friend in Smooth Talk, a 1985 adaptation of a Joyce Carol Oates short story, for which he received another Golden Globe nomination. Williams then made an appearance as idealistic detective Danny Ciello in Sidney Lumet’s 1981 police-corruption drama Prince of the City. He co-starred in the zombie-cop comedy Dead Heat in 1988 alongside Joe Piscopo.
In later performances, he played the ship’s captain John Finnegan in the seabound horror film Deep Rising, Critical Bill in the neo-noir thriller Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead, opposite Michelle Pfeiffer in the family drama The Deep End of the Ocean and a producer in the 2002 comedy Hollywood Ending.
Williams then landed a long-running main part in the television series Everwood, which aired from 2002 to 2006, in which he portrayed a doctor who relocates with his family to a tiny town in Colorado. It resulted in numerous guest spots on programs like The Simpsons and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
Williams had two children after getting married to Pam Van Sant in 1988.