William Roerick

Biography: Fans of the long-running CBS network soap opera Guiding Light will remember distinguished-looking actor William Roerick for playing Henry Chamberlain, the father of characters Vanessa Chamberlain Lewis and Quinton McCord Chamberlain from 1980 through his death in 1995, but his career extends much further back than that and includes many years as a highly regarded performer on Broadway and in Hollywood. Like many other actors, he received his basic training on stage. He made his debut in a 1936 production of Hamlet. During WWII, he was part of a touring production of Irving Berlin's This Is the Army; in 1943, he appeared in the film version. Roerick resumed his stage career and did not reappear in feature films until the mid-'50s, with The Harder They Fall (1956). He subsequently appeared sporadically in films until his final appearance in The Betsy (1978).