The Montel Williams Show
After graduating from high school in 1974, Williams
enlisted in the United States Marine Corps [1] in his hometown
of Baltimore, Maryland, where his father, Herman Williams
Jr, served as fire chief, and soon thereafter reported for
duty at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island. After six
months, he was meritoriously promoted twice, and in 1975,
became the first black Marine selected to the Naval Academy
Preparatory School. Upon graduating from the Academy's Prep
School one year later, Williams received a presidential appointment
to the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
While at Annapolis, he studied Mandarin Chinese and graduated
in 1980 with a Bachelor of Science in General Engineering
and a minor in International Security Affairs(see discussion).
He served on board the USS Sampson during the U.S. invasion
of Grenada. His awards include the Armed Forces Expeditionary
Medal, two Navy Expeditionary Medals, two Humanitarian Service
Medals, a Navy Achievement Medal, two Navy Commendation Medals
and two Meritorious Service Medals. He retired after 22 years'
service.
In 1991, he began hosting his own TV show, The Montel Williams
Show. Williams has portrayed a Navy Seal Lieutenant in several
episodes of the TV series JAG. Williams also produced a short-lived
TV series called "Matt Waters," which appeared on
CBS in 1996. In this series, Williams played an ex-Navy SEAL
turned inner-city high school teacher. He also played the
Judge presiding over Erica Kane's (Susan Lucci) murder trial
on the ABC soap opera All My Children in 2002. In 2003 he
made a guest appearance on the soap, as himself, to promote
an episode of his show where several of AMC's stars were scheduled
to appear.
During an episode of his show that aired in May 2004, Williams
revealed that he had considered committing suicide, due to
the pain he was in and the stress of finding out he had MS.
He has used marijuana as an alternative to legal medicines.
He has been suffering physical pain for a very long time due
to multiple sclerosis, which was diagnosed in 1999. He supports
the legalization of marijuana for people who suffer from painful
terminal or incurable illnesses.
He has been nominated for three Daytime Emmy Awards: Outstanding
Talk Show in 2001 and 2002, and Outstanding Talk Show Host
in 2002.
Williams made a quick cameo at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards
on August 31, 2006 as Plan B after Jack Black's canon was
a dud, he was introduced as the godfather of daytime television.
More
on The Montel Williams at the Official Web Site
The
Montel Williams Show at Wikipedia.org
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