Biography
Independent writer/producer/director William Winckler comes from a show-business background. His late father, Robert Winkler--aka "Bobby" Winkler--was a famous child actor during the Golden Age of Hollywood. As an adult he became a successful entertainment attorney. He followed in his father's footsteps, but in a slightly different path.
William studied acting and directing at UCLA with the late Don Richardson, director/teacher to Anne Bancroft, Grace Kelly, Zero Mostel, John Cassavetes, Elizabeth Montgomery and countless other stars. He learned a great deal from Don, and applied it to his acting and directing career.
From the mid to the late 1980s, William worked as an actor in various TV series, films and theater. He then wrote and produced two syndicated series of his own, the animated sci-fi show Tekkaman: The Space Knight (1984) and the all-dwarf comedy/variety series Short Ribbs (1989), starring the late Billy Barty. When the internet boom hit, William was head of development for a science-fiction entertainment company, developing star-driven feature films and shorts for internet webcast and DVD.
The late Jonathan Harris, best known for his starring role as "Dr. Smith," in the classic TV series Lost in Space (1965), was William's close mentor throughout the 1990s and taught him a great deal about the business.
Winckler formed William Winckler Productions Inc., in 2001 to write, produce and direct low-budget feature films in the sci-fi, fantasy, horror and adventure genres. His sexy action comedy, The Double-D Avenger (2001) has been a great creative and financial success for him, being a top cult movie best seller in America, and internationally in France and French-speaking Europe, in Japan, and many other countries.
William Winckler continues to produce feature films. He absolutely loves classic sci-fi, horror and fantasy films from the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, and he has a huge collection of related memorabilia, toy robots, action figures, etc., in his personal collection.
