‘The Naked Gun’ actor Ed Williams dead at 98
Ed Williams, the actor who played the earnest lab scientist on the Police Squad! series and original Naked Gun movies, has died at the age of 98.
Williams passed away on October 2nd in Los Angeles. His granddaughter originally shared the news with The Hollywood Reporter.
Williams is also recognisable as the man who married Annie Banks, played by Kimberly Williams, and Bryan MacKenzie, played by George Newbern, in the 1991 film Father of the Bride, starring Steve Martin and Diane Keaton. Keaton also recently passed away from pneumonia.
Before he moved to Los Angeles in 1955, Williams acted in plays at San Jose State and Stanford and in scores of radio productions.
He moved to Los Angeles City College in 1961 to teach broadcasting, while also working as a booth announcer at KCET television. For 24 years, he did not audition for an acting role.
Williams put aside his acting career until the early 1980s, when he resumed auditions and was hired to play Olson on ABC’s Police Squad! In a 2017 interview with Matthew Worley of the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters, he said: “I made up for lost time and got a fairly decent part to start coming back into acting.”
Police Squad! debuted in March 1982 and had only six episodes to its name when Paramount Pictures picked it up. Then came 1988’s The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!, followed by 1991’s The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear and 1994’s Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult.
The franchise has also enjoyed a 2025 reboot, starring Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson. Williams was still acting into his 90s.
He appeared on TV shows including Cheers, MacGyver, Hooperman, Matlock, L.A. Law, Sisters, Father Dowling Mysteries, and House.
Williams is survived by Nancy, whom he married in September 1954, his sons Fred and Ian, and his grandchildren, Stephanie and Maureen.
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