Darnell Williams Gains Success On A Daytime Drama

For actor Darnell Williams of All My Children, the popular ABC-TV daytime soap, television stardom can be at times a heavy crown to wear. Especially when overzealous fans recognize him in public or go out of their way to seek him out.

While interviewing him in his dressing room at the ABC Television Center on West 67th Street [in Manhattan], I asked Darnell if he was by nature a private person. "More private now than I was before. I like to be outside now. I live in Brooklyn and it's a black neighborhood and black people are overenthusiastic. There was a time when they were at my door and knew where I lived and that kind of stuff. I can't deal with it. A couple of people got my phone number. My roommate was at the butt of all that attention  because I'm  hardly ever there. He works a different shift. One week he works a night shift, one week he works the day shift. He'd be sleeping. Ding dong. Twelve, fifteen girls."

"The visibility of an actor," explains Darnell, who plays Jesse Hubbard, the 17-year old black streetwise kid, "is just incredible. Even more so than movies because there are so many people that watch soaps and see it every day. [They] see me two or three times in a week. I'm on often enough to be recognized constantly. In the beginning, it's great. Me and my brother were trying  to go out and count how many people recognized me. But after awhile, after a year, it just gets to be a pain in the ass. A regular person can't deal with that stuff [excessive recognition] and they [the fans] don't understand. I wish there was a way that they could understand." But despite the agony of being "recognized constantly," whenever a fan approaches him for an autograph, "I usually smile, show my teeth, and sign," says the 5-foot, eleven-inch actor who was nominated for (but did not win) the Daytime Emmy for Best Supporting Actor.

Darnell, who describes  himself as a "nice, easy-going, soft-spoken" person, was born in London, England on March 3, 1954, the second of eight children. And because his father was a career Air Force officer, the family moved all over the globe which offered Darnell the chance to experience and appreciate other cultures. (This probably explains his liking for Japanese food.)

Darnell appeared in several school plays and in 1974 he began acting professionally, a decision he came to after watching the old TV series Lost in Space. (Although as a kid he dreamed of becoming a teacher.)

The year 1975 found him studying under the tutelage of veteran black actor Glynn Turman who "was my first acting teacher. He had a great impact on me. To me, he was great."

Darnell believes that acting study is a way of "sharpening your craft. It's like keeping your car tuned. Some people feel they don't need it. I felt that way for awhile, too."

The one thing Darnell had prior to acting study was confidence. "I just knew it was a matter of time, a matter of a vehicle, a national vehicle before everybody would say 'Hey, this guy is great.'"

During this early stage of his career, Darnell felt and was told by others that he "had the instinct for an actor."

This instinct and skill led him to play roles in such TV productions as The White Shadow and Rich Man, Poor Man. And eventually All My Children, which was conducting a routine audition. "Fred Hudson down at the Frederick Douglass [Creative Arts] Center produced a play I was doing, Maurice Hines's Reach for the Sky, and some months after the show had closed he called me and said 'Listen, they're looking for Jesse.'" And, as the saying goes, the rest is history.

"This soap opera," says Darnell, "has a tremendous black following. It's probably even doubled since I've been on the show. Jesse has caught on like wildfire. It's time for them [network brass] to sit up and check out the demographics."

The Jesse character and storyline has caused a lot of controversy in spite of Darnell's comment that all of his "feedback has been positive," which would include his fan mail. The controversy arose, writes Linda Yearwood in the Amsterdam News (August 8, 1982), "for reasons ranging from his [Jesse's] overt, anti-white militarism to his quelled love affair turned platonic, with a local white maiden (the rumor flying around the daytime circuit was the viewer response was so vehemently opposed to this romantic entanglement, that the writers were forced to find Jesse a soulmate." Says Darnell: "The more controversy the better. I'm here for awhile, it can't do me any harm." (Williams has a three-year contract with AMC.)

Has his popularity on the show resulted in any movie offers? "I haven't been offered a wet sock yet," he replies. "If someone offered me a movie and it was pretty much like Jesse, [but] there was no positive growth, then I wouldn't do that."

Williams has not yet reached the point in his career where he can pick the roles he wants to do--"It's about getting whatever is there"--but he hopes some day he'll be able to do so.

One goal he has in mind once he's finished with AMC is to "produce and direct eventually." If black actors and actresses want to bring about change in the entertainment industry, says Darnell, "they have to stop acting and start producing and directing." He does feel, however, that the image of blacks on TV is "changing a little bit but not as quickly as it needs to."

Money coming in is certainly not a worry for Darnell Williams anymore. Being on All My Children, says Darnell, has made him "a little sure, able to pay [my] bills on time and [able to] buy a few things for [myself]. It just makes [me] a little more positive, a little more secure."

This is an excerpt of an article that was originally published in the Harlem Weekly newspaper (February 16-22, 1983).