Van Williams, the star of the TV series, "The Green Hornet," died in late November, according to his wife via the Hollywood Reporter.
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According to Williams' wife of 57 years, Williams died on November 29 at age 82.
In an interview with Classic Images, Williams recalled his life playing the playboy turned superhero, Britt Reid.
"When I was a kid I had actually been a fan of "The Green Hornet" when it was on the radio and in those serials at the theater, but I didn't know if I wanted to star in a TV series like that," Williams said.
At the time, Williams joked that he knew it would probably be the death of his career.
"It was very similar to Adam West's show ... and seemed like something that would probably be the kiss of death to my career," Williams said.
"You do that type of show and become so identified with it, like Superman's George Reeves was, and you can never get away from it. But, my agency, William Morris, really wanted me to do The Green Hornet, so that is what I did."
Later in the interview, Williams recalled the amount of pride he felt when people approached him at autograph shows.
"In recent years, when I was doing the autograph shows, a lot of police officers would show up to meet me and often I would hear from them that the reason that they wanted to become a police officer was because of me," Williams recalled.
"They'd been fans of The Green Hornet and they knew that I'd later gone into law enforcement and it had made them look in that direction for a career. That is probably the best thing that ever came out of my working in show business. It was wonderful for me to learn that I'd had some kind of a positive effect on them."
