Paul Willson
Born
Paul Lee Willson

(1945-12-25) December 25, 1945
Fairmont, Minnesota, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Alma materReed College
OccupationActor
Years active1970–present

Paul Lee Willson (born December 25, 1945) is an American film, television and voice actor who played Paul Krapence on Cheers.

Early life

Willson was born in Fairmont, Minnesota, the son of Doris Geraldine and Lee Wilford Willson, and was raised in San Francisco, California.[1] He attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon, where he began performing in improvisational theatre.[1]

Career

Willson has appeared on shows including Laverne & Shirley as Eraserhead in episode "A Date with Eraserhead", and Full House as Stu in episode "Crimes and Michelle's Demeanor" in 1990, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Boston Public, Caroline in the City, The Newsroom and Star Trek: Voyager. He played guest character Paul Krapence on the television show Cheers (which he also reprised in an episode of the Cheers spin-off, Frasier). His character was originally called Gregg because Paul Vaughn was already playing a character named "Paul" on the show.

For five years (1986-1990) he was Garry Shandling's neighbor Leonard Smith on It's Garry Shandling's Show. Willson also appeared on Garry Shandling's The Larry Sanders Show playing Larry's accountant, and the brother of Sid the cue card holder.

His film appearances include The Pack (1977), The Devonsville Terror (1983), My Best Friend Is a Vampire (1987), Moving (1988), 976-EVIL (1988), Problem Child 2 (1991), Circuitry Man (1990), Plughead Rewired: Circuitry Man II (1994) and the comedy film Office Space (1999) as one of "The Bobs".

He has also done voice work as Sam Detweiler, T.J.'s father in Disney's Recess and in the 2001 feature film Recess: School's Out. Cheers producer Ken Levine has described Willson as "one of the greatest improv artists I have EVER seen."[2]

References

  1. 1 2 Willson, Paul (2023). "The Incredible Melting Man!: An Interview with Actor Paul Willson". The Devonsville Terror (Blu-ray documentary short). Vinegar Syndrome.
  2. ↑ Levine, Ken. "The CHEERS names not everybody knows". Retrieved October 21, 2016.


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