# William Tepper

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/William_Tepper
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/William_Tepper.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Tepper
> Source revision: 1356633540
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

**William Tepper** (June 27, 1948 – October 4, 2017) was an American actor and [screenwriter](/source/Screenwriter), best known for his lead role in [Jack Nicholson](/source/Jack_Nicholson)'s directorial debut, *[Drive, He Said](/source/Drive,_He_Said)* (1971).

## Biography

Tepper was born on June 27, 1948, in [The Bronx](/source/The_Bronx) borough of [New York City](/source/New_York_City).[1] He studied filmmaking at the [University of California, Los Angeles](/source/University_of_California,_Los_Angeles).[1]

Tepper starred opposite [Karen Black](/source/Karen_Black) in *[Drive, He Said](/source/Drive,_He_Said)*, which also marked [Jack Nicholson](/source/Jack_Nicholson)'s debut as a [film director](/source/Film_director).[2] Tepper and Nicholson traveled to the [1971 Cannes Film Festival](/source/1971_Cannes_Film_Festival) for the film's debut.[2] Tepper's other film roles included *[Breathless](/source/Breathless_(1983_film))* in 1983 and a co-starring role in the 1984 [Tom Hanks](/source/Tom_Hanks) film, *[Bachelor Party](/source/Bachelor_Party_(1984_film))*, as well as the 1970s television series, *[Ironside](/source/Ironside_(1967_TV_series))* and *[Kojak](/source/Kojak)*.[2]

In addition to acting, Tepper co-produced the 1980 dramatic film, *[Heart Beat](/source/Heart_Beat_(film))*, which starred [Nick Nolte](/source/Nick_Nolte) and [Sissy Spacek](/source/Sissy_Spacek). Tepper also produced and wrote the [screenplay](/source/Screenplay) for the 2006 film, *[Grilled](/source/Grilled_(film))*, starring [Ray Romano](/source/Ray_Romano), [Kevin James](/source/Kevin_James) and [Sofia Vergara](/source/Sofia_Vergara).[2]

Tepper died of a heart attack on October 4, 2017, at the age of 69.[2]

## Filmography

Year Title Role Notes 1971 Drive, He Said Hector 1972 Call Her Mom Roscoe ABC Movie of the Week 1973 Ironside Johnny Episode: "A Game of Showdown" 1974 Kojak Santangelo Episode: "The Only Way Out" 1982 Miss Right Terry Bartell 1983 Breathless Paul 1984 Bachelor Party Dr. Stan Gassko

## References

1. Lentz, Harris (2018). *Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2017*. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. p. 385. ISBN 978-1-476-63318-3.

1. Evans, Greg (October 5, 2016). ["William Tepper Dies: Star Of Jack Nicholson's 'Drive, He Said' Was 69"](https://deadline.com/2017/10/william-tepper-dies-obituary-drive-he-said-jack-nicholson-1202182877/). *[Deadline Hollywood](/source/Deadline_Hollywood)*. Retrieved November 4, 2017.

## External links

- [William Tepper](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0855335/) at IMDb

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [William Tepper](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Tepper) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Tepper?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.