On Monday, statements from local police and fire officials near Dorset, Vermont, reported on a late-afternoon accident involving a Honda SUV and a motorcycle. The SUV driver escaped the crash with minor injuries, but the motorcycle driver was airlifted to a hospital in Albany, New York, and was pronounced dead there. CNN reports the deceased is veteran actor Treat Williams, best known for his roles in the movie Hair and, more recently, the TV dramas Everwood and Blue Bloods. Williams' death was confirmed by his longtime agent, Barry McPherson, to People. Williams was 71. Per a report from Vermont State Police, the driver of the southbound SUV, 35-year-old Ryan Koss, had been attempting to make a left turn off of Vermont Route 30 into a parking lot when he "turned into the path of a ... motorcycle operated by Williams" in the northbound lane.
"Williams was unable to avoid a collision and was thrown from his motorcycle," the report notes. An investigation is ongoing. Born Richard Treat Williams, the Connecticut native became immersed in theater in college, and he headed to New York soon after graduation, landing an understudy role for John Travolta and three other male leads for a road company production of Grease, per Deadline. "Within two weeks, I was on Broadway performing," Williams told Vermont magazine in 2021. "It was a baptism by fire, but it was great." The actor next found his big-screen break in the 1979 movie Hair, in which he played George Berger and earned a Golden Globe nomination (he was also nominated in 1982 for Prince in the City and in 1985 for A Streetcar Named Desire).
Williams starred in a slew of other movies over the next two decades, including Once Upon a Time in America (1984), Dead Heat (1988), and Deep Rising (1998). The AP notes he also appeared in dozens of TV shows, including as Dr. Andrew Brown in Everwood, and as detective Lenny Ross in Blue Bloods. Before his death, he filmed his final role for Ryan Murphy's FX anthology series Feud: Capote's Women. Williams played ex-CBS chief and media tycoon Bill Paley. Friends and fellow actors expressed sorrow at Williams' death. "Treat Williams was a passionate, adventurous, creative man," actor Wendell Pierce tweeted. "In a short period of time, he quickly befriended me & his adventurous spirit was infectious."
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In a statement to Deadline, Williams' family wrote, "Treat was full of love for his family, for his life, and for his craft, and was truly at the top of his game in all of it. ... To all his fans, please know that Treat appreciated all of you and please continue to keep him in your hearts and prayers." The outlet notes that a final tweet from Williams' Twitter account, on the same day he died, highlighted his love of living in Vermont, where his family has a farm. "There's ... always something new to discover somewhere on a dirt road that you've never traveled on before," he said in an interview last year. "Every day I wake up so grateful to see the view that I see out of my window and to be living up here." Williams is survived by his wife, actor Pam Van Sant, and their two children, 31-year-old Gill and 24-year-old Ellie. (More celebrity death stories.)
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