Bill Coontz

{{Infobox person |name = Bill Coontz |image = Willard_B._Koontz.jpg |birth_name = Willard B. Koontz<ref name="a">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=10dXAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA55|title=Hollywood Stunt Performers, 1910s-1970s: A Biographical Dictionary, 2d ed.|first=Gene|last=Scott Freese|publisher=McFarland|page=55|date=April 10, 2014|isbn=9780786476435|via=Google Books}}</ref> |birth_date = {{birth date|1917|08|28}} |birth_place = Iowa, U.S. |death_date = {{death date and age|1978|04|07|1917|08|28}} |occupation = Actor, stuntman |years_active = 1949–1978 }}

'''Willard B. Koontz''' (August 28, 1917 – April 7, 1978),<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eWVZAAAAMAAJ|title=Western and Frontier Film and Television Credits 1903-1995: Section I. Actors and actresses. Section II. Directors, producers, and writers|page=184|first=Harris|last=Lentz|publisher=McFarland|date=1996|isbn=9780786402175 |via=Google Books}}</ref> also known as '''Bill Foster''',<ref name="a" /> was an American actor and stuntman.<ref name="a" /><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D9k1DwAAQBAJ|title=Classic Movie Fight Scenes: 75 Years of Bare Knuckle Brawls, 1914-1989|page=164|first=Gene|last=Freese|publisher=McFarland|date=October 5, 2017|isbn=9781476669434|via=Google Books}}</ref>

Coontz was born in Iowa.<ref name="a" /> His film career started in 1949, when he worked as a stuntman on the film ''Apache Chief'', and he spent almost a quarter of a century working as a stunt double in films and television.<ref name="a" /> He played numerous roles in numerous television programs including ''Gunsmoke'', ''Bonanza'', ''Daniel Boone'', ''The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp'', ''The Fugitive'', ''Wagon Train'', ''The Wild Wild West'', ''The Big Valley'', ''Johnny Ringo'', ''The Californians'', ''Tales of Wells Fargo'', ''Mission: Impossible'', ''Bat Masterson'' and ''Rawhide''.<ref name="a" /><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N02kBwAAQBAJ|title=Call Me Lucky: A Texan in Hollywood|page=196|first=Robert|last=Hinkle|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|date=March 25, 2015|isbn=9780806151960|via=Google Books}}</ref>

Coontz appeared in numerous films such as ''Outlaw Gold'' (1950), starring Johnny Mack Brown; ''Gold Raiders'' (1951), starring George O'Brien and The Three Stooges; ''Night Stage to Galveston'' (1952), starring Gene Autry; ''The Law vs. Billy the Kid'' (1954), starring Scott Brady and Betta St. John; ''Hidden Guns'' (1956), starring Bruce Bennett, Richard Arlen and John Carradine; ''The Badge of Marshal Brennan'' (1957), starring Jim Davis; ''Gunsmoke in Tucson'' (1958), starring Mark Stevens, Forrest Tucker and Gale Robbins; ''Lone Texan'' (1959), starring Willard Parker; ''Gunfight at Comanche Creek'' (1963), starring Audie Murphy and ''Heaven with a Gun'' (1969), starring Glenn Ford.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/21481|title=Heaven with a Gun (1969)|work=American Film Institute|access-date=January 25, 2025}}</ref>

Coontz starred in the 1973 film ''Guns of a Stranger'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/94084/Guns-of-a-Stranger/overview|title=Guns of a Stranger (1973)|work=The New York Times|access-date=August 19, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140525022153/http://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/94084/Guns-of-a-Stranger/overview|archive-date=May 25, 2014|url-status=live|via=Wayback Machine}}</ref> playing Ace Gorenum. He was credited as '''William Foster''' in the film.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/77149/guns-of-a-stranger#overview|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118085745/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/77149/Guns-of-a-Stranger/#overview|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 18, 2012|title=Guns of a Stranger (1973)|work=Turner Classic Movies|access-date=August 19, 2022}}</ref> He retired in 1978, last appearing in the film ''Convoy'', playing as the Old Iguana.<ref name="a" />

Coontz died of cancer at the age of 60 on April 7, 1978.<ref name="a" /> == References == {{reflist}}

== External links == *{{IMDb name|0177806}} *{{TCMDb name|38615%7C21033}} *[https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/william_foster/ Rotten Tomatoes profile]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coontz, Bill}} Category:1917 births Category:1978 deaths Category:Male actors from Iowa Category:American male film actors Category:American male television actors Category:20th-century American male actors Category:Male Western (genre) film actors Category:Western (genre) television actors Category:American stunt performers