William Sadler

William Thomas Sadler (born April 13, 1950) is an American actor who works in film and television. His television and motion picture roles have included Lewis Burwell “Chesty” Puller in The Pacific, Luther Sloan in Star Trek Deep Space Nine, Sheriff Jim Valenti in Roswell, and—perhaps most notably—the Grim Reaper in Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, a role for which he was nominated for, and won, the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor, and his role as Colonel Stuart alongside Bruce Willis in Die Hard 2.

Known For

The Shawshank Redemption

The Shawshank Redemption

1994

Iron Man 3 Not in library

Iron Man 3

2013

The Green Mile Not in library

The Green Mile

1999

The Flash Not in library

The Flash

2014

Die Hard 2 Not in library

Die Hard 2

1990

The Mist Not in library

The Mist

2007

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Not in library

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

1999

Criminal Minds Not in library

Criminal Minds

2005

Criminal Minds Not in library

Criminal Minds

2005

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Not in library

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

2013

Acting

2026 The Yeti as Hollis Bannister In Library
2025 The Evolution of Horror Cinema Worldwide as Horror Film Expert
2024 Salem's Lot as Parkins Gillespie
2024 A Stage of Twilight as Barry
2023 She Came from the Woods as Gilbert McCalister
2023 Full Circle as Gene McCusker (4 episodes)
2021 Alice Fades Away as James
2021 The Unholy as Father Hagan
2020 Bill & Ted Face the Music as Death
2020 Hunters as Dr. Friedrich Mann (1 episode)
2020 The Comey Rule as Michael Flynn (1 episode)
2019 The Grudge as Detective Wilson
2019 The Highwaymen as Henry Barrow
2019 VFW as Walter Reed
2019 When They See Us as Detective Michael Sheehan (3 episodes)
2018 Living Among Us as Samuel
2018 Deadly Crush as Sheriff Dusty Hawkins
2018 Melvin Smarty as Bob
2018 Our Cartoon President as General Kelly / Mitch McConnell / Jeff Sessions (voice) (18 episodes)
2018 God Friended Me as Rev. Elias (2 episodes)
2018 The Rookie as Walter Fields (1 episode)
2017 Shoot Me Nicely as Roy Barnes
2017 The Good Fight as Judge Nilsson (1 episode)
2016 The Duel as Governor Ross
2016 The Hollow as Sheriff Beau McKinney
2016 Bull as Father Andy (1 episode)
2015 Ava's Possessions as Bernard
2015 Frank the Bastard as Cyrus Gast
2015 Jesse Stone: Lost in Paradise as Gino Fish
2015 Freeheld as Peter Santucci
2015 Edge as Big Bill
2015 WHIH Newsfront as President Ellis (2 episodes)
2014 That Guy Dick Miller as Self
2014 Freedom as Plimpton
2014 The Historian as Valerian Hadley
2014 Walking the Mile as Self
2014 The Flash as Simon Stagg (1 episode)
2014 Power as Tony Teresi (2 episodes)
2014 Delirium as John (archive footage) (1 episode)
2014 Z Nation as Sam Custer (1 episode)
2014 Madam Secretary as George Peters (1 episode)
2013 Iron Man 3 as President Ellis
2013 Machete Kills as Sheriff Doakes
2013 Greetings from Tim Buckley as Lee Underwood
2013 Riddle as Western Man / Jack Abel
2013 The Suspect as Sheriff Dixon
2013 Gilded Lilys
2013 Onion News Empire as Ed Musgrove
2013 Golden Boy as Police Commissioner Jack Dowdell (1 episode)
2013 Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. as President Ellis (3 episodes)
2013 The Blacklist as Sam Milhoan (4 episodes)
2012 Man on a Ledge as Valet
2012 See Girl Run as Marty
2012 Jesse Stone: Benefit of the Doubt as Gino Fish
2012 Nothing Sacred as Chambers
2012 Being Flynn as Ray
2012 Future Weather as Ed
2012 Elementary as Ian Gale (1 episode)
2011 Silent But Deadly as John Capper
2011 Restitution as George Youngstown
2011 Jesse Stone: Innocents Lost as Gino Fish
2011 Person of Interest as Anton's Father (1 episode)
2011 Homeland as Michael Higgins (2 episodes)
2010 Jesse Stone: No Remorse as Gino Fish
2010 The Making of Fallout: New Vegas as Self
2010 The Pacific as Lt Col. Lewis 'Chesty' Puller (10 episodes)
2010 Hawaii Five-0 as John McGarrett (8 episodes)
2009 Shadowheart as Thomas Conners
2009 The Hills Run Red as Wilson Wyler Concannon
2009 Jesse Stone: Thin Ice as Gino Fish
2009 Last Day of Summer as Mr. Crolick
2009 Stream as Dr. Shelby
2009 Beyond All Boundaries as Lt. Colonel Lewis B. 'Chesty' Puller
2009 Three Rivers
2009 White Collar as Brett Gelles (1 episode)
2008 Eagle Eye as Jerry's Dad
2008 When Darkness Came: The Making of 'The Mist' as Self
2008 Fringe as Dr. Sumner (2 episodes)
2007 August Rush as Thomas Novacek
2007 The Mist as Jim
2007 Jesse Stone: Sea Change as Gino Fish
2007 A New Wave as Roger Dewitt
2007 Abandoned in the Arctic as Adolphus Greely (voice)
2007 Traveler as Carlton Fog (8 episodes)
2007 Damages as McClarenTruth.org's Financier (1 episode)
2007 Damages as Helmut Torben (5 episodes)
2006 The Good Student as Phil Palmer
2006 Premium as Cole Carter
2006 Jimmy and Judy as Uncle Rodney
2006 Unspoken as Dad
2006 The Path to 9/11 as Neil Herman (2 episodes)
2005 Confess as Senator Lampert
2005 Purple Heart as Colonel Allen
2005 DeVour as Ivan Reisz
2005 Medium as John Edgemont (1 episode)
2005 Numb3rs as J. Everett Tuttle (1 episode)
2005 Law & Order: Trial by Jury as Paul Rice (1 episode)
2005 Criminal Minds
2005 Criminal Minds as Ray Finnegan (1 episode)
2004 Kinsey as Kenneth Braun
2004 Wonderfalls as Darrin Tyler (13 episodes)
2003 The Battle of Shaker Heights as Abe
2003 Tru Calling as Travis (1 episode)
2002 Another Life as Man
2001 Skippy as Ringo
2001 Law & Order: Criminal Intent as Kyle Devlin (1 episode)
2000 Walking the Mile: The Making of The Green Mile as Self - 'Klaus Detterick'
2000 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation as Red Cooper (1 episode)
2000 Ed as Lee Leetch (1 episode)
1999 Stealth Fighter as Adm. Frank Petersen
1999 Witness Protection as Sharp
1999 The Green Mile as Klaus Detterick
1999 Third Watch as Scotty Murray (1 episode)
1999 Roswell as Jim Valenti (61 episodes)
1999 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as Gary Dolan (1 episode)
1998 Disturbing Behavior as Newberry
1998 Reach the Rock as Quinn
1998 Ambushed as Jim Natter
1997 RocketMan as Wild Bill Overbeck
1996 Bordello of Blood as Mummy
1996 Solo as Colonel Frank Madden / Improved Solo
1996 Poltergeist: The Legacy as Shamus Bloom (2 episodes)
1995 Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight as Frank Brayker
1995 A Night to Die For as Self
1995 The Omen as Dr. Linus
1995 Valerie 23 as Frank Hellner
1995 JAG as Saul Wainright (1 episode)
1995 The Outer Limits as Frank Hellner (1 episode)
1994 The Shawshank Redemption as Heywood In Library
1994 Roadracers as Sarge
1994 Bermuda Grace
1994 Rebel Highway as Sarge (1 episode)
1993 Freaked as Dick Brian
1993 Jack Reed: Badge of Honor as Anatole
1993 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as Sloan (3 episodes)
1992 Trespass as Don
1992 Two-Fisted Tales as Mr. Rush (Presenter)
1992 HBO First Look
1991 Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey as Grim Reaper
1991 Rush as Monroe
1991 The Last to Go as Treat
1991 Tagget as Yuri Chelenkoff
1990 Die Hard 2 as Stuart
1990 Hard to Kill as Senator Vernon Trent
1990 The Hot Spot as Frank Sutton
1990 The Face of Fear as Anthony Prine
1990 Law & Order as Kevin Drucker (1 episode)
1989 Unconquered as Coach Dickey
1989 K-9 as Salesman Don
1989 Tales from the Crypt as Niles Talbot (segment "The Man Who Was Death") (1 episode)
1989 Tales from the Crypt as The Grim Reaper (1 episode)
1988 Roseanne
1988 Murphy Brown as Colonel Fitzpatrick (1 episode)
1988 Dear John as Ken (2 episodes)
1987 Project X as Dr. Carroll (as Bill Sadler)
1987 Tour of Duty as Major Rigby (1 episode)
1987 Private Eye
1986 Off Beat as Dickson
1985 The Equalizer as Rick Dillon / Kevin Moore (1 episode)
1982 Hanky Panky as Hotel Clerk
1982 Newhart as Clumsy Guest (1 episode)
1982 St. Elsewhere as J.J. Oppenheimer (1 episode)
1981 Charlie and the Great Balloon Chase as Joey
1979 The Other Side of Victory as Captain Rogers
1978 The Great Wallendas as Dieter Schmidt
It's Not Real Until You Shoot It: Making HILLS RUN RED as Self
New England Toys

Directing

1999 Roswell Director

Production

2023 She Came from the Woods Producer
2020 Bill & Ted Face the Music Executive Producer

Crew

2008 When Darkness Came: The Making of 'The Mist' Thanks