- Born
- Died
- Birth nameLouis Jacob Weertz
- Nicknames
- Pianist to the Presidents
- Mr. Piano
- Roger Williams was born on October 1, 1924 in Omaha, Nebraska, USA. He was an actor, known for Quelque part dans le temps (1980), Coeur sauvage (1993) and M. Butterfly (1993). He died on October 8, 2011 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Gender / Gender identityMale
- Roger Williams' piano rendition of "Autumn Leaves" in October 1955, is the greatest-selling piano instrumental of all time and the only piano recording to reach #1 on the Billboard Hits chart.
- His piano version of "Born Free", the title theme from the 1966 movie hit, Vivre libre (1966), made the song popular even before it won an Academy Award.
- First pianist to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located at Hollywood & 1533 Vine Street in Hollywood, California.
- Performed annual Piano Marathons, playing continually for 14 hours improvised medleys of audience requested songs. Williams could play over 10,000 melodies by ear.
- Roger Williams earned him the title, "Pianist to the Presidents," having played for nine chief executives, from Truman to Bush.
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