Quick Tutorial: Billy Dee Williams

Kids, this one if aimed at you.  I've gotten a surprising number of blank stares this year when handing out the free beer card with Billy Dee Williams on it.  I would have thought that if you didn't know who Billy Dee was, then you wouldn't be old enough to drink beer in the first place.  Apparently, the seasons having been rolling by a little quicker than I had realized.  So, it's time to transport your mind back to a time when things like the internet didn't even exist in Bill Gates wet dreams. 

William December "Billy Dee" Williams Jr. was a handsome black actor born on April 6, 1937.  I point out the middle part only because back in the seventies and eighties you could count on one hand the number of African Americans that were cast in movies and on TV.  During the early 70's Billy Dee came to prominence working in several Blaxploitation movies (Although Billy Dee didn't appear in any of these, Shaft, Cleopatra Jones and Dolomite are all fine examples of the genre). 

It was his appearance in the 1980 Star Wars film "The Empire Strikes Back" that really brought Billy Dee fame.  Playing the dashing good guy / scumbag Lando Calrissian:

 
Its his role in the most successful film franchise of all time that made Billy Dee a star.  At that time in this country that means that you now get to pitch products.  Which brings us to one of the greatest commercials of all time.  Once you get past the fact that at one time (before the micro brew booms of the mid 90's and late 00's), malt liquor was actually advertised on TV as a legitimate alcoholic refreshment choice, then the real questions start.  I can only urge you to click the link below and take a couple of viewings to really digest all this is going on in this spot.

http://youtu.be/uHtT0x6_MDM