For the Major League pitcher, see William Pierson (baseball)

William Pierson (baseball)

William Morris Pierson was a Major League Baseball pitcher who played from to , and again in with the Philadelphia Athletics. He batted and threw left-handed.-External links:...

William Pierson (July 17, 1926 – August 27, 2004) was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

, motion picture and stage actor

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

, best known for his raspy voice and his role as Marko the Mailman in the film Stalag 17

Stalag 17

Stalag 17 is a 1953 war film which tells the story of a group of American airmen held in a German World War II prisoner of war camp, who come to suspect that one of their number is a traitor...

.

Biographical Sketch

Pierson, who was born and raised in Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 originally played the role of Marko in the original Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 production of Stalag 17, and was tapped by director Billy Wilder

Billy Wilder

Billy Wilder was an Austro-Hungarian born American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, artist, and journalist, whose career spanned more than 50 years and 60 films. He is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Hollywood's golden age...

 for the role in the 1953

1953 in film

The year 1953 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*September 16 — The Robe debuts as the first anamorphic, widescreen CinemaScope film.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:A...

 motion picture production.

Other Broadway appearances included in High Button Shoes

High Button Shoes

High Button Shoes is a musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Sammy Cahn and book by George Abbott and Stephen Longstreet. It was based on the semi-autobiographical 1946 novel The Sisters Liked Them Handsome by Longstreet...

, Make Mine Manhattan, Reuben, Reuben

Reuben, Reuben (opera)

Reuben, Reuben is a 1955 "urban folk opera" by Marc Blitzstein. Set in New York's Little Italy and inspired by the Faust legend, it concerns Reuben, a suicidal veteran who has received a medical discharge because he cannot speak...

, and in a national touring company of The Odd Couple

The Odd Couple

The Odd Couple is a 1965 Broadway play by Neil Simon, followed by a successful film and television series, as well as other derivative works and spin offs, many featuring one or more of the same actors. The plot concerns two mismatched roommates, one neat and uptight, the other more easygoing and...

.

Pierson also appeared in several television programs during the 1950s and 1960s, including Studio One

Studio One (TV series)

Studio One is a long-running American radio–television anthology series, created in 1947 by the 26-year-old Canadian director Fletcher Markle, who came to CBS from the CBC.-Radio:...

and Kraft Theatre, and had a recurring role as Dean Travers on Three's Company

Three's Company

Three's Company is an American sitcom that aired from March 15, 1977, to September 18, 1984, on ABC. It is based on the British sitcom, Man About the House....

.

He died from respiratory failure

Respiratory failure

The term respiratory failure, in medicine, is used to describe inadequate gas exchange by the respiratory system, with the result that arterial oxygen and/or carbon dioxide levels cannot be maintained within their normal ranges. A drop in blood oxygenation is known as hypoxemia; a rise in arterial...

 in Newton, New Jersey

Newton, New Jersey

Newton is a town in Sussex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the town population was 8,244. It is the county seat of Sussex County....

.

External links