---
name: "William Hickey"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/william-hickey"
fi1m_id: "william-hickey"
imdb_id: "nm0382676"
tmdb_id: 21282
wikidata_id: "Q718053"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "19 September 1927"
died: "29 June 1997"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 9
average_fi1m_score: 79
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 8
updated: "2026-10-04T21:00:45.286291+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# William Hickey

## Identity

William Hickey

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/william-hickey
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** william-hickey
- **IMDb ID:** nm0382676
- **TMDB ID:** 21282
- **Wikidata ID:** Q718053
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Hickey_(actor), https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q718053, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0382676/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/21282

Actor. Born 19 September 1927 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. Died 29 June 1997.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 19 September 1927, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
- **Died:** 29 June 1997
- **Active:** 1968–1993
- **Also known as:** Bill Hickey, ویلیام هیکی
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 9: 8 acting, 1 other
- **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar nomination
- **Average Fi1m score:** 79, as actor, over 8 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1960s 82 (1), 1970s 78 (2), 1980s 79 (5), 1990s 82 (1)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 78 to 70 across 5 titles
- **Score spread:** 5 at 80+, 3 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Lead roles:** 0 of 5 acting credits billed first or second
- **Genres:** Drama 5, Comedy 4, Crime 4, Mystery 2, Romance 2, Adventure 1
- **Screen time:** 11 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $324m across 6 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Hickey_(actor), https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q718053, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0382676/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/21282

## Streaming the US now

- **Disney+:** [*The Nightmare Before Christmas*](https://film.one/film/the-nightmare-before-christmas.md) (82)
- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*The Name of the Rose*](https://film.one/film/the-name-of-the-rose.md) (77)
- **Apple TV:** [*Little Big Man*](https://film.one/film/little-big-man.md) (72)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on William Hickey

> William Hickey looked, and sounded, like a man who might not last the scene, and then out-thought everyone in it. A character actor who arrived on screen late and with a rasp for a voice, best met as the old don in *Prizzi's Honor*.

The voice comes first: a rasp, as if the words were being dragged across gravel. Then the face, dried out and creased, and a body that seems to need the furniture to get across a room. Only afterwards do you notice the eyes, which have been working since he came in. William Hickey played old men who looked finished and were not, and the pleasure of watching him was waiting for everyone else on screen to realise it.

He was a working actor for most of the century and a famous one for very little of it. He started on radio as a child in 1938, made his Broadway debut in 1951, and spent the 1960s and 1970s on stage, in television and in supporting film parts, among them a historian in *Little Big Man* (1970), while teaching at HB Studio in New York, where he had trained under Herbert Berghof and Uta Hagen. Then, in his late fifties, John Huston cast him as Don Corrado Prizzi in *Prizzi's Honor* (1985), and the screen found a use for him.

Huston's film is a crime romance that takes its killers' feelings seriously, and it belongs to Jack Nicholson and Kathleen Turner. But it needs the family to be more than a vague pressure somewhere off screen, and Hickey and Anjelica Huston are the reason it is. He makes the Don's authority peculiar and faintly unnerving, and we were more unsettled by him than we expected to be, because the frailty is not a trick and neither is the calculation behind it; you keep waiting for the body to give out and it is the mind that moves. It is the part the rest of his career had been rehearsing, and he was not alone in thinking so.

The work that followed was supporting and mostly comic: Ubertino da Casale in *The Name of the Rose* (1986), Uncle Lewis in *National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation* (1989), and the voice of Dr. Finkelstein in Henry Selick's *The Nightmare Before Christmas* (1993). For Hickey a voice-only part gives up half the instrument, though the half that remains is the more distinctive. Our review of Selick's film went to the animation and to Danny Elfman's music rather than to any one voice, which seems fair; it is a film that belongs to its makers.

He kept working until his death in 1997, and the notices have never had a hard word for him. The nearest thing to a reservation is that the parts came so late, and that most of his working life was spent teaching other people to do what he did. Watch *Prizzi's Honor* first. After that you will hear him before you see him, and you will know to keep an eye on him.

## Biography

William Hickey was an American actor and acting teacher. Born in Brooklyn, New York, he began his career as a child actor on stage and radio in the late 1930s, later making his Broadway debut in the 1950s. He maintained a long association with the HB Studio in Greenwich Village, where he taught for over four decades; his students included Steve McQueen, Barbra Streisand and Sandy Dennis.

Hickey appeared in numerous films and television productions, often in character roles. He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Don Corrado Prizzi in *Prizzi's Honor* (1985). Other notable credits include Uncle Lewis in *National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation* (1989), the voice of Dr. Finkelstein in *The Nightmare Before Christmas* (1993) and Rudolf Smuntz in *MouseHunt* (1997). He also had recurring television roles, such as in *Tales from the Crypt*.

Hickey died in New York City in 1997 at the age of 69.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, nytimes.com.*

## On Fi1m (9)

### Performed in (8) — the average rests on these

- *The Nightmare Before Christmas* (1993), Fi1m 82, as Dr. Finkelstein (voice) — [page](https://film.one/film/the-nightmare-before-christmas.md)
- *Sea of Love* (1989), Fi1m 75, as Frank Keller Sr. — [page](https://film.one/film/sea-of-love.md)
- *The Name of the Rose* (1986), Fi1m 77, as Ubertino da Casale — [page](https://film.one/film/the-name-of-the-rose.md)
- *Moonlighting* (1985), Fi1m 82, as Mr. Kendall — [page](https://film.one/tv/moonlighting.md)
- *Prizzi's Honor* (1985), Fi1m 82, as Don Corrado Prizzi — [page](https://film.one/film/prizzis-honor.md)
- *Miami Vice* (1984), Fi1m 81, as Hans Kozak — [page](https://film.one/tv/miami-vice.md)
- *Little Big Man* (1970), Fi1m 72, as Historian — [page](https://film.one/film/little-big-man.md)
- *The Producers* (1968), Fi1m 82, as The Drunk — [page](https://film.one/film/the-producers.md)

### Also credited (1) — thanks, archive footage, uncredited

- *A New Leaf* (1971), Fi1m 83, as Smith (uncredited) — [page](https://film.one/film/a-new-leaf.md)

## Complete filmography (76)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Carnage Collection - Puppet Master: Trunk Full of Terror* (2022), as Andre Toulon (archive footage)
- *Puppet Master: Blitzkrieg Massacre* (2018), as Andre Toulon (archive footage)
- *Puppet Master: Blitzkrieg Massacre* (2018), as Andre Toulon (archive footage)
- *Charles Band's Puppet Master: Axis of Evil* (2010), as Andre Toulon (Archive Footage)
- *Puppet Master: The Legacy* (2003), as Elderly Andre Toulon (Archive Footage)
- *Knocking on Death's Door* (1999), as Town Sheriff
- *The Diary of the Hurdy-Gurdy Man* (1999), Actor
- *MouseHunt* (1997), as Rudolf Smuntz
- *Better Than Ever* (1997), as Walter
- *Twisted* (1996), as Andre - A Proprietor
- *Love Is All There Is* (1996), as Monsignor
- *The Maddening* (1995), as Daddy
- *Forget Paris* (1995), as Arthur
- *The Outer Limits* (1995), series, as Harlan Hawkes
- *Major Payne* (1995), as Dr. Phillips
- *The Jerky Boys* (1995), as Don 'Uncle Freddy' Frederico
- *Hey Stranger* (1994), as Major-domo
- *The Adventures of Pete & Pete* (1993), series, as Grandfather Wrigley
- *The Nightmare Before Christmas* (1993), as Dr. Finkelstein (voice) — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/the-nightmare-before-christmas.md)
- *Baby Talk* (1991), series, as Cecil Fogarty
- *The Runestone* (1991), as Lars Hagstrom
- *Mob Boss* (1990), as Don Anthony
- *My Blue Heaven* (1990), as Billy Sparrow / Johnny Bird
- *Any Man's Death* (1990), as Erich Schiller / Ernst Bauricke
- *Tales from the Darkside: The Movie* (1990), as Drogan (segment ‘Cat From Hell’)
- *Wings* (1990), series, as Carlton Blanchard
- *Sons* (1990), as Roger
- *National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation* (1989), as Uncle Lewis
- *It Had to Be You* (1989), as Schornberg
- *Puppetmaster* (1989), as Andre Toulon
- *Sea of Love* (1989), as Frank Keller Sr. — Fi1m 75, [page](https://film.one/film/sea-of-love.md)
- *Tales from the Crypt* (1989), series, as Carlton Webster (segment "The Switch")
- *Pink Cadillac* (1989), as Mr. Barton
- *Hairway to the Stars* (1989), as Husband Robert
- *Starlight: a Musical Movie* (1988), as Billy Davis
- *Da* (1988), as Drumm
- *Bright Lights, Big City* (1988), as Ferret Man
- *A Hobo's Christmas* (1987), as Cincinnati Harold
- *The Tracey Ullman Show* (1987), series, Actor
- *The Name of the Rose* (1986), as Ubertino da Casale — Fi1m 77, [page](https://film.one/film/the-name-of-the-rose.md)
- *Stranded* (1986), as Mr. Pierson
- *L.A. Law* (1986), series, as Tommy Mullaney Sr.
- *Seize the Day* (1986), as Peris
- *One Crazy Summer* (1986), as Old Man Beckersted
- *Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins* (1985), as Coney Island Barker
- *Izzy & Moe* (1985), as Desk Clerk
- *The Equalizer* (1985), series, as Tom Clark
- *Prizzi's Honor* (1985), as Don Corrado Prizzi — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/prizzis-honor.md)
- *Moonlighting* (1985), series, as Mr. Kendall — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/tv/moonlighting.md)
- *Tales from the Darkside* (1984), series, as Dr. Nis
- *Miami Vice* (1984), series, as Hans Kozak — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/tv/miami-vice.md)
- *A Stranger Is Watching* (1982), as Maxi
- *Wise Blood* (1979), as Preacher
- *Nunzio* (1978), as Alcoholic
- *The Andros Targets* (1977), series, as Riley Connor
- *The Sentinel* (1977), as Perry
- *Mikey and Nicky* (1976), as Sid Fine
- *92 in the Shade* (1975), as Mr. Skelton
- *Between Time and Timbuktu* (1972), as Stony Stevenson
- *Happy Birthday, Wanda June* (1971), as Looseleaf Harper
- *The Telephone Book* (1971), as Man in Bed
- *A New Leaf* (1971), as Smith (uncredited) — Fi1m 83, [page](https://film.one/film/a-new-leaf.md)
- *Little Big Man* (1970), as Historian — Fi1m 72, [page](https://film.one/film/little-big-man.md)
- *The Boston Strangler* (1968), as Eugene T. O'Rourke
- *The Producers* (1968), as The Drunk — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/the-producers.md)
- *Androcles and the Lion* (1967), Actor
- *Invitation to a Gunfighter* (1964), as Jo-Jo
- *Westinghouse Presents: The Dispossessed* (1961), as Carter
- *The Defenders* (1961), series, as Hary Lewis
- *Startime* (1959), series, as The Painter, Bill – A Bowler
- *"Waiting for Godot" Intercut with “Krazy Kat”* (1958), as Ignatz
- *Decoy* (1957), series, as Billy
- *Operation Mad Ball* (1957), as Sampson (uncredited)
- *A Hatful of Rain* (1957), as Apples
- *Hallmark Hall of Fame* (1951), series, as The Steward
- *Studio One* (1948), series, as Jonesy, Paul Richards

## Gallery

- ![Theater advertisement for the film, The Boston Strangler. 23 Oct, 1968.](https://film.one/media/person/83268/gallery-a82e7b2c593c.png) Theater advertisement for the film, The Boston Strangler. 23 Oct, 1968. — 20th Century Fox, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f1/The_Boston_Strangler_-_Theatre_ad_-_23_Oct%2C_1968.png/1280px-The_Boston_Strangler_-_Theatre_ad_-_23_Oct%2C_1968.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![William Hickey](https://film.one/media/person/83268/gallery-244d776ec570.jpg) William Hickey — Image via TMDB
- ![William Hickey](https://film.one/media/person/83268/gallery-8709f9ebf3fd.jpg) William Hickey — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated

- 1986: Best Supporting Actor (nominated), for *Prizzi's Honor*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/william-hickey