Biography
Billy Williams, also credited as W.D. Williams, was a British cinematographer. Born William Desmond Williams on 3 June 1929 in Walthamstow, London, he died on 20 May 2025. His father was a cinematographer, and Williams left school at 14 to apprentice with him for four years before national service in the RAF as a photographer.
He began working in features in the mid-1960s and collaborated frequently with director Ken Russell. His credits include Billion Dollar Brain (1967), Women in Love (1969), Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), The Wind and the Lion (1975), Saturn 3 (1980), On Golden Pond (1981) and Gandhi (1982). For Gandhi, which he co-shot with Ronnie Taylor after a back injury, Williams shared the Academy Award for Best Cinematography.
Williams retired in 1996. He was appointed OBE in 2009 and conducted workshops on cinematography after retirement.
