William Greaves

1926–2014

Introduction

William Garfield Greaves (October 8, 1926 – August 25, 2014) was an American filmmaker and actor. Trained at the Actors Studio, he worked as a stage and film actor but became disillusioned with the roles available to Black performers, and transitioned into a career a pioneering documentarian at the highest of the civil rights movement. He produced more than 200 documentaries, and wrote and directed more than half of these. He garnered many accolades for his work, including four Emmy nominations.

Wikidata identifier

Q8010139

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Information from Wikipedia, made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License . Accessed February 21, 2026.

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First acquired
2022

Date of birth
October 8, 1926

API
artists/20209


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