Montel Williams
Encyclopedia
Montel Brian Anthony Williams (born July 3, 1956) is an American television personality, radio talk show host and actor. He is best known as host of the long-running The Montel Williams Show
, and more recently as a spokesperson for the Partnership for Prescription Assistance
(PPA). Williams is also active with the non-profit MS Foundation, which he founded after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis
in the late 1990s.
, he was bused to Andover High School in neighboring Linthicum, Maryland
where he was elected president of both his junior and senior classes. He was a good student, athlete and musician and active in county-wide student government issues in Annapolis, Maryland
. His father, Herman Williams, Jr., was a firefighter who in 1992 became Baltimore's first African-American Fire Chief. Montel has five siblings.
While at Twenty-nine Palms, his superiors became impressed with his leadership skills, and he was recommended for, and accepted to, the Naval Academy Preparatory school at Newport, Rhode Island. He completed the one-year course, and was accepted to the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis.
When he arrived at Annapolis on July 6, 1976, he was honorably discharged as a corporal from the marines, and enlisted into the navy as a midshipman. While at Annapolis, Williams studied Mandarin Chinese and graduated with a degree in general engineering and a minor in International Security Affairs. It was at Annapolis that Williams first began to shave his head. Upon his graduation in 1980, he became the first black enlisted marine to complete and graduate both the Academy Prep School and Annapolis.
Commissioned an ensign, he spent the next one and a half years in Guam as a cryptologic officer for naval intelligence, where he served at sea and ashore. In 1982 he was transferred to Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, where he studied the Russian language for one year. In 1983 he was transferred to Ft. Meade in Maryland, where he worked with the National Security Agency. What Williams did there is vague, due to the sensitive nature of intelligence work, but he performed various intelligence missions. He was offshore aboard ship during the invasion of Grenada.
After three years aboard submarines, Williams, now a full lieutenant, was made supervising cryptologic officer with the Naval Security Fleet Support Division at Ft. Meade. It was while counseling his crew that he discovered a gift for public speaking. In 1988, he began conducting informal counseling for the wives and families of the servicemen in his command. He was later asked to speak to a local group of kids in Kansas City, MO about the importance of leadership and how to overcome obstacles on the road to success—thus beginning a three-year career in motivational speaking.
Williams traveled the country talking to more than three million teenagers nationwide and gave up his naval commission to pursue speaking full-time. He left the navy with the rank of lieutenant, and received the Navy Achievement Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, and the Navy Commendation Medal. In addition, he reached out to thousands of parents, educators and business leaders, encouraging them to work together to address youth issues, trends and to inspire youngsters to reach their highest potential. These efforts to reach out to the community eventually lead to the Montel Williams Show on television
(syndicated by CBS Paramount Television
) in 1991, after a short stint as a rodeo clown in Switzerland. In 1996, Williams received a Daytime Emmy Award
for Outstanding Talk Show Host. Ratings for the show peaked during the 1996-1997 season, with 4.4 average rating. He was again nominated for Outstanding Talk Show Host in 2002, and the Montel Williams Show was nominated for Outstanding Talk Show in 2001 and 2002..
On January 30, 2008, Variety reported that CBS TV Distribution terminated The Montel Williams Show when key Fox-owned stations chose not to renew it for the 2008-09 season. On May 16, 2008 the last episode of The Montel Williams Show aired.
On November 10, 2010, Oprah Winfrey
invited Williams, along with former talk show hosts Phil Donahue
, Geraldo Rivera
, Ricki Lake
and Sally Jessy Raphael
as guests on her show. This was the first time that she had fellow talkers appear together since their programs left the air.
As of May 2009, he started hosting an infomercial
for the Living Well Healthmaster, a blender product. It is presented under the title Living Well with Montel; the infomercial is structured similarly to his old talk show, featuring guests talking about their health problems, with the Healthmaster mixer being the solution. In November 2009, Williams began appearing in television commercials endorsing Money Mutual, an online payday advance lender.
In June 2010, Williams began doing infomercials for LifeLock, a security fraud company.
During May 24–27, 2011, Montel became a guest host news anchor on the comedic local Sacramento, California
news station Good Day Sacramento. Where he would answer questions by viewers and also on his first day, he got dressed up as Paul Stanley
.
lieutenant in three episodes of the television series JAG
. He also produced and starred in a short-lived television series called Matt Waters
, which appeared on CBS
in 1996. He played an ex-Navy SEAL turned inner-city high school teacher. In 1997, he played Lt. Colonel Northrop a Nuclear Silo commander in the fictional movie The Peacekeeper
.
Williams played the judge presiding over Erica Kane
's (Susan Lucci) murder trial on the ABC
soap opera
All My Children
in 2002. In 2003 he made a guest appearance on the soap as himself, to promote an episode of his own show on which several AMC stars were scheduled to appear. In 2004 he hosted American Candidate
, a political reality show on Showtime. Williams has also guest starred on Touched By an Angel
and Guiding Light
.
(PPA), a patient-assistance program clearinghouse that helps low-income patients apply for free or reduced-priced prescription drugs. On November 30, 2007, while in Savannah, Georgia
to promote PPA, he threatened reporters following an earlier interview at which Courtney Scott, a 17-year-old high school intern reporter for the Savannah Morning News
, had asked him a question about whether restriction of pharmaceutical profits would discourage research and development of new drugs. Angered by the question, Williams subsequently terminated that videotaped interview; Williams later ran into Scott in his hotel and threatened to "blow [her] up". Williams' public relations representatives later apologized for his hostile outburst in an issued statement, "I mistakenly thought the reporter and photographer in question were at the hotel to confront me about some earlier comments. I was wrong, and I apologize for my overreaction." In 2010, Williams became chief spokesperson for the Poker Training Network, a MLM
-based poker instruction and playing website.
dancer on June 6, 1992. They have a son, Montel Brian Hank Williams (b. 1993), and a daughter, Wyntergrace Williams (b. 1994). The couple divorced in 2000. In July 2006, Williams proposed to girlfriend Tara Fowler, an American Airlines
flight attendant. They married before friends and family on a beach in Bermuda
on October 6, 2007. He is also featured in Making Music Magazine.
Williams participated in the 2007 World Series of Poker
main event, and planned to donate any potential winnings to families affected by the Iraq war. He was eliminated in Day 2. During the event Williams also spoke out about the port security bill signed in 2006 that banned on-line gaming sites from accepting money transactions from the U.S.
Williams was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis
in 1999. In the following year, Williams created the MS Foundation, a non-profit with a focus on research and education. Williams has openly stated that he uses medical marijuana, stating it helps to ease his Multiple Sclerosis-caused neuropathic pain. Williams has become a vocal advocate of marijuana, supporting efforts to pass medical marijuana laws in states, as well as calling for full legalization.
The Montel Williams Show
The Montel Williams Show is a syndicated talk show hosted by Montel Williams. On January 30, 2008 it was announced that The Montel Williams Show would stop production on new episodes at the end of the 2007-2008 television season after seventeen years...
, and more recently as a spokesperson for the Partnership for Prescription Assistance
Partnership for Prescription Assistance
The Partnership for Prescription Assistance is a United States patient-assistance program clearinghouse that designed to help low-income patients apply for free or reduced-priced prescription drugs.-History:...
(PPA). Williams is also active with the non-profit MS Foundation, which he founded after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination and scarring as well as a broad spectrum of signs and symptoms...
in the late 1990s.
Early life
Williams was born in Baltimore, Maryland. As a resident of Glen Burnie, MarylandGlen Burnie, Maryland
Glen Burnie is a census-designated place in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, United States, and is a suburb of Baltimore. The population was 67,639 at the 2010 census...
, he was bused to Andover High School in neighboring Linthicum, Maryland
Linthicum, Maryland
Linthicum is a census-designated place and an unincorporated community in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, United States. The population was 7,539 at the 2000 census. It is the approximate location of Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport...
where he was elected president of both his junior and senior classes. He was a good student, athlete and musician and active in county-wide student government issues in Annapolis, Maryland
Annapolis, Maryland
Annapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland, as well as the county seat of Anne Arundel County. It had a population of 38,394 at the 2010 census and is situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east of Washington, D.C. Annapolis is...
. His father, Herman Williams, Jr., was a firefighter who in 1992 became Baltimore's first African-American Fire Chief. Montel has five siblings.
Career
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, on July 3, 1956, Williams enlisted in the U.S. Marines upon graduating high school in 1974. He took basic training at Parris Island, South Carolina, where he was promoted to platoon guide. After basic training, he was sent to the Desert Warfare Training Center at Twenty-nine Palms, near Palm Springs, California.While at Twenty-nine Palms, his superiors became impressed with his leadership skills, and he was recommended for, and accepted to, the Naval Academy Preparatory school at Newport, Rhode Island. He completed the one-year course, and was accepted to the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis.
When he arrived at Annapolis on July 6, 1976, he was honorably discharged as a corporal from the marines, and enlisted into the navy as a midshipman. While at Annapolis, Williams studied Mandarin Chinese and graduated with a degree in general engineering and a minor in International Security Affairs. It was at Annapolis that Williams first began to shave his head. Upon his graduation in 1980, he became the first black enlisted marine to complete and graduate both the Academy Prep School and Annapolis.
Commissioned an ensign, he spent the next one and a half years in Guam as a cryptologic officer for naval intelligence, where he served at sea and ashore. In 1982 he was transferred to Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, where he studied the Russian language for one year. In 1983 he was transferred to Ft. Meade in Maryland, where he worked with the National Security Agency. What Williams did there is vague, due to the sensitive nature of intelligence work, but he performed various intelligence missions. He was offshore aboard ship during the invasion of Grenada.
After three years aboard submarines, Williams, now a full lieutenant, was made supervising cryptologic officer with the Naval Security Fleet Support Division at Ft. Meade. It was while counseling his crew that he discovered a gift for public speaking. In 1988, he began conducting informal counseling for the wives and families of the servicemen in his command. He was later asked to speak to a local group of kids in Kansas City, MO about the importance of leadership and how to overcome obstacles on the road to success—thus beginning a three-year career in motivational speaking.
Williams traveled the country talking to more than three million teenagers nationwide and gave up his naval commission to pursue speaking full-time. He left the navy with the rank of lieutenant, and received the Navy Achievement Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, and the Navy Commendation Medal. In addition, he reached out to thousands of parents, educators and business leaders, encouraging them to work together to address youth issues, trends and to inspire youngsters to reach their highest potential. These efforts to reach out to the community eventually lead to the Montel Williams Show on television
The Montel Williams Show
Montel began The Montel Williams ShowThe Montel Williams Show
The Montel Williams Show is a syndicated talk show hosted by Montel Williams. On January 30, 2008 it was announced that The Montel Williams Show would stop production on new episodes at the end of the 2007-2008 television season after seventeen years...
(syndicated by CBS Paramount Television
CBS Paramount Television
CBS Television Studios is an American television production/distribution company that was formed on January 17, 2006 by CBS Corporation merging Paramount Television and CBS Productions...
) in 1991, after a short stint as a rodeo clown in Switzerland. In 1996, Williams received a Daytime Emmy Award
Daytime Emmy Award
The Daytime Emmy Awards are awards presented by the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the Los Angeles-based Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in recognition of excellence in American daytime television programming...
for Outstanding Talk Show Host. Ratings for the show peaked during the 1996-1997 season, with 4.4 average rating. He was again nominated for Outstanding Talk Show Host in 2002, and the Montel Williams Show was nominated for Outstanding Talk Show in 2001 and 2002..
On January 30, 2008, Variety reported that CBS TV Distribution terminated The Montel Williams Show when key Fox-owned stations chose not to renew it for the 2008-09 season. On May 16, 2008 the last episode of The Montel Williams Show aired.
On November 10, 2010, Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...
invited Williams, along with former talk show hosts Phil Donahue
Phil Donahue
Phillip John "Phil" Donahue is an American media personality, writer, and film producer best known as the creator and host of The Phil Donahue Show. The television program, also known as Donahue, was the first to use a talk show format. The show had a 26-year run on U.S...
, Geraldo Rivera
Geraldo Rivera
Geraldo Rivera is an American attorney, journalist, author, reporter, and former talk show host...
, Ricki Lake
Ricki Lake
Ricki Pamela Lake is an American actress, producer, and television host. She is best known for her starring role as Tracy Turnblad in the original Hairspray, her ground-breaking documentary film The Business of Being Born, and her talk show which was broadcasted internationally from...
and Sally Jessy Raphael
Sally Jessy Raphaël
Sally Lowenthal , better known as Sally Jessy Raphael, is an American talk show host, known for the eponymous Sally talk show she hosted for two decades.-Early years:...
as guests on her show. This was the first time that she had fellow talkers appear together since their programs left the air.
Radio, infomercial, & news shows
On April 6, 2009, Williams began hosting a daily radio show, Montel Across America, on Air America Media. On January 21, 2010, Air America ceased broadcasting, leaving Williams without a radio outlet.As of May 2009, he started hosting an infomercial
Infomercial
Infomercials are direct response television commercials which generally include a phone number or website. There are long-form infomercials, which are typically between 15 and 30 minutes in length, and short-form infomercials, which are typically 30 seconds to 120 seconds in length. Infomercials...
for the Living Well Healthmaster, a blender product. It is presented under the title Living Well with Montel; the infomercial is structured similarly to his old talk show, featuring guests talking about their health problems, with the Healthmaster mixer being the solution. In November 2009, Williams began appearing in television commercials endorsing Money Mutual, an online payday advance lender.
In June 2010, Williams began doing infomercials for LifeLock, a security fraud company.
During May 24–27, 2011, Montel became a guest host news anchor on the comedic local Sacramento, California
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
news station Good Day Sacramento. Where he would answer questions by viewers and also on his first day, he got dressed up as Paul Stanley
Paul Stanley
Stanley Harvey Eisen , better known by his stage name Paul Stanley, is an American hard rock guitarist, singer, musician, painter and songwriter best known for being the rhythm guitarist and primary lead vocalist of the rock band Kiss. He is the writer or co-writer of many of the band's...
.
Acting
Williams has also guest-starred in episodic television and off-Broadway plays. Among other roles, he portrayed a Navy SEALUnited States Navy SEALs
The United States Navy's Sea, Air and Land Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the U.S. Navy's principal special operations force and a part of the Naval Special Warfare Command as well as the maritime component of the United States Special Operations Command.The acronym is derived from their...
lieutenant in three episodes of the television series JAG
JAG (TV series)
JAG is an American adventure/legal drama television show that was produced by Belisarius Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television and, for the first season only, NBC Productions...
. He also produced and starred in a short-lived television series called Matt Waters
Matt Waters
Matt Waters is an American drama television show which aired in 1996 on CBS. The program starred talk show host Montel Williams, and was created by James D. Parriott...
, which appeared on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
in 1996. He played an ex-Navy SEAL turned inner-city high school teacher. In 1997, he played Lt. Colonel Northrop a Nuclear Silo commander in the fictional movie The Peacekeeper
The Peacekeeper
The Peacekeeper also known as Hellbent is a 1997 Canadian and American action film directed by Frédéric Forestier. It stars Dolph Lundgren as a Major in the US Air Force and the only man who can prevent the president being assassinated and with the ability to thwart an imposing nuclear holocaust...
.
Williams played the judge presiding over Erica Kane
Erica Kane
Erica Kane is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children.The character has been portrayed by actress Susan Lucci since the show first aired in January 1970, until the last broadcast television episode aired in September 2011. Erica is considered to be the most popular...
's (Susan Lucci) murder trial on the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
All My Children
All My Children
All My Children is an American television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 5, 1970 to September 23, 2011. Created by Agnes Nixon, All My Children is set in Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, a fictitious suburb of Philadelphia. The show features Susan Lucci as Erica Kane, one of daytime's most...
in 2002. In 2003 he made a guest appearance on the soap as himself, to promote an episode of his own show on which several AMC stars were scheduled to appear. In 2004 he hosted American Candidate
American Candidate
American Candidate is a political reality television show. The program aired for one season on Showtime in 2004, and was hosted by Montel Williams. It was created by documentary filmmaker R. J...
, a political reality show on Showtime. Williams has also guest starred on Touched By an Angel
Touched by an Angel
Touched by an Angel is an American drama series that premiered on CBS on September 21, 1994 and ran for 211 episodes and nine seasons until its conclusion on April 27, 2003. Created by John Masius and produced by Martha Williamson, the series stars Roma Downey, as an angel named Monica, and Della...
and Guiding Light
Guiding Light
Guiding Light is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running drama in television and radio history, running from 1937 until 2009...
.
Production
Williams produced and narrated the Starline Films documentary film 4CHOSEN: The Documentary, which tells the story about the New Jersey Turnpike shooting in 1998, and the racial profiling case that followed the incident.Spokesperson
Williams is a national spokesman of the Partnership for Prescription AssistancePartnership for Prescription Assistance
The Partnership for Prescription Assistance is a United States patient-assistance program clearinghouse that designed to help low-income patients apply for free or reduced-priced prescription drugs.-History:...
(PPA), a patient-assistance program clearinghouse that helps low-income patients apply for free or reduced-priced prescription drugs. On November 30, 2007, while in Savannah, Georgia
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important...
to promote PPA, he threatened reporters following an earlier interview at which Courtney Scott, a 17-year-old high school intern reporter for the Savannah Morning News
Savannah Morning News
The Savannah Morning News is a daily newspaper in Savannah, Georgia. It is published by Morris Communications, Inc. The motto of the paper is "Light of the Coastal Empire and Lowcountry"...
, had asked him a question about whether restriction of pharmaceutical profits would discourage research and development of new drugs. Angered by the question, Williams subsequently terminated that videotaped interview; Williams later ran into Scott in his hotel and threatened to "blow [her] up". Williams' public relations representatives later apologized for his hostile outburst in an issued statement, "I mistakenly thought the reporter and photographer in question were at the hotel to confront me about some earlier comments. I was wrong, and I apologize for my overreaction." In 2010, Williams became chief spokesperson for the Poker Training Network, a MLM
Multi-level marketing
Multi-level marketing is a marketing strategy in which the sales force is compensated not only for sales they personally generate, but also for the sales of others they recruit, creating a downline of distributors and a hierarchy of multiple levels of compensation...
-based poker instruction and playing website.
Personal life
Williams has two daughters, Ashley Williams (b. 1984) and Maressa Williams (b. 1988), with his first wife, Rochele See. Williams married Grace Morley, a burlesqueAmerican burlesque
American Burlesque is a genre of variety show. Derived from elements of Victorian burlesque, music hall and minstrel shows, burlesque shows in America became popular in the 1860s and evolved to feature ribald comedy and female striptease...
dancer on June 6, 1992. They have a son, Montel Brian Hank Williams (b. 1993), and a daughter, Wyntergrace Williams (b. 1994). The couple divorced in 2000. In July 2006, Williams proposed to girlfriend Tara Fowler, an American Airlines
American Airlines
American Airlines, Inc. is the world's fourth-largest airline in passenger miles transported and operating revenues. American Airlines is a subsidiary of the AMR Corporation and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas adjacent to its largest hub at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport...
flight attendant. They married before friends and family on a beach in Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
on October 6, 2007. He is also featured in Making Music Magazine.
Williams participated in the 2007 World Series of Poker
World Series of Poker
The World Series of Poker is a world-renowned series of poker tournaments held annually in Las Vegas and, since 2005, sponsored by Harrah's Entertainment...
main event, and planned to donate any potential winnings to families affected by the Iraq war. He was eliminated in Day 2. During the event Williams also spoke out about the port security bill signed in 2006 that banned on-line gaming sites from accepting money transactions from the U.S.
Williams was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination and scarring as well as a broad spectrum of signs and symptoms...
in 1999. In the following year, Williams created the MS Foundation, a non-profit with a focus on research and education. Williams has openly stated that he uses medical marijuana, stating it helps to ease his Multiple Sclerosis-caused neuropathic pain. Williams has become a vocal advocate of marijuana, supporting efforts to pass medical marijuana laws in states, as well as calling for full legalization.