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IMDbPro

William D. Wittliff(1940-2019)

  • Writer
  • Producer
  • Actor
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
William D. Wittliff at an event for A Night in Old Mexico (2013)
Bill Wittliff was born in Taft, a small town in south Texas, in 1940. After his parents divorced, he and his brother Jim moved with their mother to Gregory, Texas, where Mrs. Wittliff ran a small telephone office during World War II (these experiences provided the basis for "Raggedy Man," Wittliff's feature film). Later, when his mother remarried, the family moved to a ranch in Blanco, a rural community of 700 in the hill country of central Texas.

In 1964, shortly after graduating from the University of Texas, Wittliff, with his wife Sally, founded a book publishing company, The Encino Press, which specialized in regional material about Texas and the Southwest. To date, Encino has won over 100 awards for quality of design and content. The press operated out of a 19th-century Victorian house in Austin in which O. Henry once lived and wrote

An accomplished photographer, Wittliff's photographs documenting the life of the Mexican vaquero (taken 1969-71) have been exhibited in numerous galleries and institutions throughout this country and in Mexico, including the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, and the Texas Capitol. In Japan, they represented the United States during its bicentennial year. After twenty years, the exhibit is still shown as a traveling display in the U. S. and Mexico under the auspices of the Institute of Texan Cultures.

At 29, Wittliff was elected to the Texas Institute of Letters. He served as president during 1974-78, and sat on the Executive Council until 1990. In 1993, he was elected Fellow of the the Institute. He is a member of the historic Texas Philosophical Society, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences; and he served for six years on the Executive Board of Trustees of Robert Redford's Sundance Institute.

In 1985, with the donation of their lifelong collection of original manuscripts and books, Bill and Sally founded the Southwestern Writers Collection at Southwest Texas State University. Since that time the collection has grown rapidly, supported by donors from all over the country. It features original manuscripts by J. Frank Dobie, John Graves, Larry McMurtry, Walter Prescott Webb, Bud Shrake, Larry L. King, Horton Foote, Preston Jones, Sam Shepard, Willie Nelson, and many others. It also includes paintings by numerous regional artists including William Lester, Tom Lea, John Groth, Jerry Bywaters, Kermit Oliver, Robert Wade. Expanding the scope of the current facility, in 1996 the Wittliffs endowed the Wittliff Gallery of Southwestern & Mexican Photography which already includes works by Russell Lee, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Ansel Adams, Keith Carter, Henri Cartier Bresson, Lola Bravo, Laura Gilpin, Edward Weston, Graciela Iturbide, Edward Curtis, Nacho Lopez, Erwin E. Smith, Marco Antonio Cruz, Jim Bones, Paul Strand, Mariana Yampolsky, and many others. Both collections are housed in eight specially designed rooms and a large, chambered gallery on the top floor of the Albert B. Alkek Library on the university campus.

The Wittliffs have two grown children and live in Austin, Texas.
BornJanuary 21, 1940
DiedJune 9, 2019(79)
BornJanuary 21, 1940
DiedJune 9, 2019(79)
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
  • Nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys
    • 4 wins & 3 nominations total

Photos

William D. Wittliff and Jerry Jeff Walker in A Night in Old Mexico (2013)
Robert Duvall, Emilio Aragón, Angie Cepeda, William D. Wittliff, and Jim Parrack in A Night in Old Mexico (2013)
Angie Cepeda and William D. Wittliff at an event for A Night in Old Mexico (2013)

Known for:

Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins, and Aidan Quinn in Legends of the Fall (1994)
Legends of the Fall
7.5
  • Writer(as Bill Wittliff)
  • 1994
Brad Johnson in Ned Blessing: The Story of My Life and Times (1993)
Ned Blessing: The Story of My Life and Times
8.2
TV Series
  • Writer
The Perfect Storm (2000)
The Perfect Storm
6.5
  • Writer(as Bill Wittliff)
  • 2000
Lonesome Dove (1989)
Lonesome Dove
8.7
TV Mini Series
  • Writer(as Bill Wittliff)

Credits

Edit
IMDbPro

Writer

  • Robert Duvall in A Night in Old Mexico (2013)
    A Night in Old Mexico
    • writer
    • 2013
  • The Perfect Storm (2000)
    The Perfect Storm
    • screenplay (as Bill Wittliff)
    • 2000
  • Lone Justice: Showdown at Plum Creek (1996)
    Lone Justice: Showdown at Plum Creek
    • Writer (as Bill Wittliff)
    • Video
    • 1996
  • Lone Justice 2 (1995)
    Lone Justice 2
    • Writer
    • 1995
  • Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins, and Aidan Quinn in Legends of the Fall (1994)
    Legends of the Fall
    • screenplay (as Bill Wittliff)
    • 1994
  • Woody Harrelson and Kiefer Sutherland in The Cowboy Way (1994)
    The Cowboy Way
    • screenplay
    • story (as Bill Wittliff)
    • 1994
  • Brad Johnson in Ned Blessing: The Story of My Life and Times (1993)
    Ned Blessing: The Story of My Life and Times
    • writer
    • creator
    • TV Series
    • 1993
  • Daniel Baldwin in Ned Blessing: The True Story of My Life (1992)
    Ned Blessing: The True Story of My Life
    • Writer
    • TV Movie
    • 1992
  • Lonesome Dove (1989)
    Lonesome Dove
    • teleplay (as Bill Wittliff)
    • TV Mini Series
    • 1989
  • Morgan Fairchild, Katharine Ross, and Willie Nelson in Red Headed Stranger (1986)
    Red Headed Stranger
    • screenplay (as Bill Wittliff)
    • 1986
  • Jessica Lange and Sam Shepard in Country (1984)
    Country
    • Writer
    • 1984
  • Gary Busey and Willie Nelson in Barbarosa (1982)
    Barbarosa
    • Writer
    • 1982
  • Sissy Spacek in Raggedy Man (1981)
    Raggedy Man
    • written by
    • 1981
  • Dyan Cannon, Amy Irving, and Willie Nelson in Honeysuckle Rose (1980)
    Honeysuckle Rose
    • screenplay by
    • 1980
  • The Black Stallion (1979)
    The Black Stallion
    • screenplay
    • 1979

Producer

  • Robert Duvall in A Night in Old Mexico (2013)
    A Night in Old Mexico
    • producer (as Bill Wittliff)
    • 2013
  • Lone Justice 2 (1995)
    Lone Justice 2
    • executive producer (as Bill Wittliff)
    • 1995
  • Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins, and Aidan Quinn in Legends of the Fall (1994)
    Legends of the Fall
    • producer (as Bill Wittliff)
    • 1994
  • Woody Harrelson and Kiefer Sutherland in The Cowboy Way (1994)
    The Cowboy Way
    • executive producer (as Bill Wittliff)
    • 1994
  • Brad Johnson in Ned Blessing: The Story of My Life and Times (1993)
    Ned Blessing: The Story of My Life and Times
    • executive producer
    • producer
    • TV Series
    • 1993
  • Daniel Baldwin in Ned Blessing: The True Story of My Life (1992)
    Ned Blessing: The True Story of My Life
    • executive producer
    • TV Movie
    • 1992
  • Lonesome Dove (1989)
    Lonesome Dove
    • executive producer (as Bill Wittliff)
    • TV Mini Series
    • 1989
  • Morgan Fairchild, Katharine Ross, and Willie Nelson in Red Headed Stranger (1986)
    Red Headed Stranger
    • producer (as Bill Wittliff)
    • 1986
  • Jessica Lange and Sam Shepard in Country (1984)
    Country
    • producer
    • 1984
  • Gary Busey and Willie Nelson in Barbarosa (1982)
    Barbarosa
    • co-producer
    • 1982
  • Sissy Spacek in Raggedy Man (1981)
    Raggedy Man
    • producer
    • 1981

Actor

  • Brad Johnson in Ned Blessing: The Story of My Life and Times (1993)
    Ned Blessing: The Story of My Life and Times
    • (as Bill Wittliff)
    • TV Series
    • 1993
  • Resurrection (1980)
    Resurrection
    • Man in Bar
    • 1980

Personal details

Edit
  • Official sites
    • France's national library catalogue
    • University_archives
  • Alternative names
    • Bill Witliff
  • Born
    • January 21, 1940
    • Taft, Texas, USA
  • Died
    • June 9, 2019
    • Austin, Texas, USA(heart attack)
  • Spouse
    • Sally Wittliff1963 - June 9, 2019 (his death, 2 children)
  • Publicity listings
    • 1 Article

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Perhaps his biggest claim to fame during his university days was the horseshoe-shaped bar he built in his room at the Kappa Sigma fraternity house. At night, he and his roommate would turn the room into a gambling den, where Wittliff won most of the poker games and sold cheap Scotch that he had poured into empty Chivas Regal bottles. Among the regular visitors to his gambling den, he says, was Frank Erwin, who was the fraternity's legal adviser and later became the chairman of UT's board of regents.
  • Quotes
    When I hear younger writers say that Texas has run out of good stories, I tell them to think again. There are still so many stories out there to tell.
  • Nickname
    • Bill

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