Wilhelm was born into a film family. His father was silent film child actor and second unit man Otto Wilhelm Von Hohenzollern whom was called Willie Hon because it was easier to say it then his name.
His grandmother Mary L Shriver came west in the early days of the industry and became a script supervisor and not a actress like she wanted because she was a stickler for making certain things being done right and not a very good actress. The only time she ever acted was in the 10 Commandments.
Both were responsible for him becoming what he became and getting lots of float in float out work over the years proving nepotism does work. To many he was simply known as JR or Willie's kid or Mary's grand kid.
Shortly after he was born in 1932 he was used as a stand-in in a stunt that required a child be thrown from a wagon in a land rush western. Thus a career that has lasted in the industry for over 80 years was born. He is highly recognizable because of his blond hair and big ears. People are always coming up to him asking to take pictures with him
Do to it not being a good idea to have German Names during WW2 and work the family became more Americanized in their name like other German families of the time. Yes PC has been around for a very long time.
During career he floated in and out of more then 1,000 credited and unaccredited acting ,singing or dancing roles. Add to this he had a second career as a writer of editorials back in the days that TV stations had to do editorials to keep their broadcasting licenses
During Vietnam he was severely injured and took sometime to recovery from burns to his feet, hands and face beside other injures suffered at the same time. The burns still show up badly when he sweats allot.
In the last decade besides working as a actor or producer in his daughters projects he has also created a character called Oldecam that calls upon his acting ability and journalistic training to do a series shows of over 1,000 satirical looks at the Headlines of today. Then shows were done in 2D, then 3D and now new shows are being done in VR
He has also did the scores for all the projects his daughter has did "Why Don't You Know" with his daughter and him both playing saxes.
His daughter has more then a dozen projects in various stages and six of which will be taken to Cannes this year. Last few years they have taken more then a dozen films with them to the market side.
