What is Bill Duke's Net Worth?
Bill Duke is an American actor, director and producer who has a net worth of $3 million. Bill Duke is best known for his menacing 6 foot 4-and-half-inch stature and his portrayals of various law enforcers in action and crime-drama television shows and motion pictures such as the 1999 film "The Limey" and the television series "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit." Bill Duke has also directed some of the most popular prime time soap operas of all time, such as "Dallas" and "Knots Landing."
The Early Years
William Henry "Bill" Duke Jr. was born in Poughkeepsie, New York on February 26, 1943 to William Henry Duke Sr. and Ethel Louise (Douglas). He attended Franklin D. Roosevelt School in Hyde Park, New York and went on to study creative writing and the performing arts at Dutchess Community College in Poughkeepsie. Bill Duke then attended Boston University, an American private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, where an academic-based scholarship allowed him to start down the road to medical school.
Bill Duke eventually had a change of heart when it came to his education and he switched his focus from medicine to the study of English Education. He then reconsidered his future again and decided to pursue dance and drama. After earning his Bachelor of Arts degree, Bill Duke enrolled at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, followed by the AFI Conservatory – a private, non-profit graduate film school in the Hollywood Hills.
Broadway
Bill Duke appeared on Broadway in the 1971 musical "Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death" by American writer and composer Melvin Van Peebles.
Films
Bill Duke has had roles in over three dozen motion pictures. In 1976, he portrayed a young black Muslim in the film "Car Wash" and a homosexual pimp in the 1980 crime drama "American Gigolo," which starred Richard Gere.
Bill Duke eventually began working alongside some of the biggest stars in motion pictures. He appeared in two films with Arnold Schwarzenegger; "Commando" in 1985 and "Predator" in 1987. In the 1988 film "Action Jackson," Bill Duke portrayed a police chief and, in the 1993 teen drama "Menace II Society," he played a police investigator.
In the 1999 crime film "The Limey," Bill Duke portrayed a Drug Enforcement Administration officer; in the 2001 action film "Exit Wounds," he played the role of a police chief.
Bill Duke appeared in two films with American actor Mel Gibson; the 1990 action comedy "Bird on a Wire" and the 1999 action thriller "Payback." He starred in the police action comedy "National Security" in 2003, the crime drama "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" in 2005, and played super-villain Bolivar Trask in the 2006 superhero film "X-Men: The Last Stand."
In 2014, Bill Duke starred in the American crime drama "Bad Country," which was based on a true story and, in 2018, the psychological horror film "Mandy."
Television Directing
Bill Duke has appeared in over 30 television shows and has directed some of the most popular prime time soap operas of all time. During the 1980s, he directed several episodes of "Knots Landing," "Dallas" and "Falcon Crest." He went on to direct episodes of the police television series "Hill Street Blues," the television crime drama "Miami Vice" and the science fiction television series "Starman."
In 1984, Bill Duke directed the made-for-television drama film "The Killing Floor," which concerned the plights of meatpacking industry laborers attempting to build an interracial labor union.
Bill Duke directed the Arts & Entertainment Network original film "The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery" in 2002. In 2007, he directed the historical reenactments in "Prince Among Slaves," an award-winning PBS documentary based on the story of enslaved Guinea prince Abdul Rahman Ibrahima Sori.
Bill Duke has appeared in television shows such as "Kojak," "Lost," "Battlestar Gallactica" and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit." In 2018, he joined the cast of the superhero drama series "Black Lightening" as government official Agent Percy Odell.
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Motion Picture Directing
Bill Duke has directed over a dozen films, including the 1991 crime drama "A Rage in Harlem," which was loosely based on the Chester Himes novel and starred Forest Whitaker and Danny Glover. The following year, he directed the crime thriller "Deep Cover." In 1993, Bill Duke directed the comedy film "The Cemetery Club," starring Olympia Dukakis and the comedy film sequel "Sister Act 2: back in the Habit," starring Whoopi Goldberg. In 1997, he directed the crime drama film "Hoodlum." The 2011 documentary "Dark Girls," which he directed, was nominated for a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Award.
Community Involvement
Bill Duke has served on the board of trustees at the American Film Institute, as a member of the California Film Commission and as a member of the National Endowment for the Humanities. He is also the founder of the Duke Media Foundation, an organization which helps to prepare young adults for careers in film, video and television production.
In 1973, Bill Duke trained under the guidance of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi – the creator of Transcendental Meditation – to become a Transcendental Meditation teacher.
