(written from a Production point of view)
Bill Witthans (born 26 January 1955; age 69) worked as Dolly Grip on Star Trek: The Next Generation and as Dolly Grip and Second Unit Key Grip on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager. [1]
Witthans graduated from college as a theater arts major in 1979 and started to work as a construction grip at Sam Goldwyn Studios followed by employment through Metro Goldwyn Mayer, Universal, Warner Brothers, and 20th Century Fox. He also started to work on productions such as Battlestar: Galactica, Fame, and Dallas and the horror film Poltergeist (1982). Between 1982 and 1982, Witthans worked with cameraman Frank Thackery for seven months on location shooting the drama series Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, featuring Grainger Hines, Tige Andrews, William Lucking, Charles Napier, Tracey Walter, and Stephen Lee.
Since 1985, Witthans worked in the camera and electrical department as Dolly/Crane/Key Grip on television series including Paper Dolls, Magnum, P.I., Jake and the Fatman, Police Story, Sisters, Court House, Dark Shadows (1991), Ellen, Wings, Profiler, Charmed (2000-2005), Arliss (1998-2002), The West Wing, Andy Richter Controls the Universe (2002-2003), and Come Fly With Me.
Film work include Misery (1990), the television comedy Frankenstein: The College Years (1991, with Greg Grunberg and Joe Farago), Hocus Pocus (1993, with Charles Rocket, Michael McGrady, and Teda Bracci), Blankman (1994, with Jason Alexander, Conroy Gedeon, and Biff Manard), Drop Zone (1994), The Indian in the Cupboard (1995, with Keii Johnston, J.R. Horsting, Michael Papajohn, Erik Stabenau, and Christopher Gilman), several Playboy video productions (1992-1997), and Smart House (1999, with Emilio Borelli and Eric Steinberg, cinematography by Jonathan West, gaffer R.D. Knox, and directed by LeVar Burton).
More recently, Witthans worked as grip on In Gayle We Trust (2009-2011, with Todd Waring), Southland (2010-2012), the television drama Cutthroat (2010, with Branscombe Richmond), and the short drama Dinner with Fred (2011, with Adam Harrington and Marcy Goldman).
External links[]
- HistoricalHobbies.com – official site
- Bill Witthans at the Internet Movie Database