John Joseph Williams

 John Joseph Williams, known as Grant Williams (August 18, 1931 – July 28, 1985)

After graduating from high school, he enlisted in the United States Air Force, serving from 1948 to 1952, before and during the Korean War. He was discharged as an Air Force staff sergeant. Following small roles on television, Williams was spotted by a talent scout on Kraft Television Theater in 1954, and signed with Universal Pictures in March 1955. He made his film debut in Jack Arnold's Red Sundown in March of the following year. In his most memorable role, Williams starred as Scott Carey in his seventh film, the Hugo Award-winning science fiction film The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957). Despite good reviews and the success of the film, his career continued with only lackluster roles. Universal Pictures dropped his contract in 1959, and he signed in 1960 with Warner Brothers, where he had a continuing role as the private detective Greg McKenzie on the series Hawaiian Eye. Several film and television roles followed, including playing Col. Geo. Custer on the show Yancy Derringer, and the role of the psychopathic killer in Robert Bloch's The Couch (1962). As his acting career declined, he opened a dramatics school in West Hollywood. His last TV appearance was in 1983 on the game show Family Feud along with other former cast members from Hawaiian Eye. He never married, or had children. Williams died on July 28, 1985, of peritonitis at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Los Angeles. He is buried at the Los Angeles National Cemetery.