Tony Williams obituary
My husband, Tony Williams, who has died aged 80, was a film and literature scholar whose varied interests ranged from Vietnam war movies and Hong Kong martial arts films to the work of Jack London.
His first book was The Italian Western: Opera of Violence (1975), co-authored with Laurence Staig. After moving to the US in the mid-1980s, to take up a position at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, he published many titles, including Hearths of Darkness: The Family in the American Horror Film (1996, updated 2014), The Cinema of George A Romero: Knight of the Living Dead (2003, second edition 2015) and The Gothic Peckinpah (2024). His final book, The Italian Western: Rounding the Circle, will be published later this year.
Born in Swansea, south Wales, Tony was the son of Glyn, a chief steward in the merchant navy, and Margaret (nee Cunnick), an avid reader and lifelong learner who instilled in Tony the same valuable habits.
After his secondary education he gained a teaching certificate from Swansea College of Education in 1967, then a degree in biblical studies from the University of Manchester. He stayed on at Manchester to do a PhD in theology, before completing an MA in film studies at Warwick University in 1977. There he studied under the film and cultural critic Robin Wood, and with Andrew Britton, Wood’s pupil.
Tony then worked as a lecturer in general studies at West Glamorgan Institute of Higher Education for two years, before taking on administrative posts with Bury metropolitan borough leisure services, and the Northern Black Light theatre in York. He also lectured at Manchester’s extramural studies department, and on Manchester Polytechnic’s training course for television directors. During this time he was an enthusiastic member of Manchester and Salford Film Society and the Fantastic Film Society.
Having written about Jack London for the Jack London Newsletter, Tony was notified about and applied for a position as assistant professor of film studies at Southern Illinois University. He took up the post in 1984. In 1994 he joined the English department at SIUC, becoming professor there after five years.
Tony did not give up his British passport after becoming a naturalised US citizen. He was truly international in spirit, a person who appreciated and lived simultaneously within more than one culture. Being able to connect online with similarly minded people from around the world, through contributing to podcasts and forums and writing articles for film studies publications and websites, brought him great joy. A dedicated educator, Tony was teaching classes until a week before his death.
We met in 1987 when I was a fine art master’s student at SIUC, and married in 1990. I survive him, along with our daughter, Natalie.
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