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| Bill Lancaster | |
| Birth name: | William Henry Lancaster |
| Gender: | Male |
| Medium(s): | Film |
| Roles: | Writer |
| Date of birth: | November 17th, 1947 |
| Place of birth: | Los Angeles County, California |
| Date of death: | January 4th, 1997 |
| Place of death: | Los Angeles, California |
| 1st Horror: | The Thing (1982) |
William Henry Lancaster was an American film screenwriter born in Los Angeles County, California on November 17th, 1947. Bill's only contribution to the horror genre was writing the screenplay for John Carpenter's 1981 sci-fi/horror classic, The Thing. The script adapts the 1938 novella Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell, Jr. and was also loosely based on the script from the 1951 sci-fi film The Thing from Another World by Howard Hawks and Christian Nyby.
Bill Lancaster suffered a fatal heart attack in Los Angeles, California on January 4th, 1997 and died at the age of 49.
Body of work[]
Film[]
| Film | Year | Role |
|---|---|---|
| The Thing | 1982 | Writer |
Notes & Trivia[]
- Bill Lancaster is the son of noted Silver Screen icon Burt Lancaster.
- Attended Emerson Junior High School in West Los Angeles and later University High School in Los Angeles.
- Suffered polio as a child and had to wear braces on his legs.
- Was married to Kip "Kippie" Raleigh Kovacs, daughter of Ernie Kovacs, from 1965 up until his death in 1997.
- Originally wrote a first draft screenplay for Stephen King's Firestarter in 1982, which would have been directed by John Carpenter. However, due to poor theatrical returns on The Thing, both men were dropped from the project.
Other works[]
- Bill Lancaster is also known for creating the 1976 family/comedy sports film The Bad News Bears as well as it's subsequent sequels, The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training and The Bad News Bears in Japan as well as The Bad News Bears television spin-off series.
External Links[]
- Bill Lancaster at AMG
- Bill Lancaster at IMDB
- Bill Lancaster at Wikipedia
- Bill Lancaster at Horrormovies.org
- Bill Lancaster at Rotten Tomatoes