Actor and prominent member of the Los Angeles theatre community Bill M. Wingard died in a pedestrian/car accident in the Silver Lake area on Jan. 20. He was 43.
Known for his trademark positive attitude, Wingard moved to Los Angeles in 2000. He wrote, produced, and performed in his play Kill Your Darlings at the Hudson Mainstage Theatre in 2004. The actor also was a member of Company of Angels, the oldest professional non-profit theatre in Los Angeles. Wingard was also known for his memorable role in the Company's production of XXX Love Act. At the time of his passing, he had been working on numerous stage and screen works.
Born and raised in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Wingard moved to New York City in 1982 where he pursued a modest modeling career that led to acting roles in a few off-Broadway productions. In the early 1990s, he co-founded the small theatre group, Nakedville with Laurie Bailey and Kim Dooley in New York where Wingard also wrote numerous screen and stage plays.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be sent to the Grand Strand Humane Society, 3241 Mr. Joe White Ave. North, Myrtle Beach, SC 29577, attn: Donation in Memory of Bill Wingard.
UPDATE:
Bill Wingard will be honored at a memorial on Sun., Feb. 11 at 2 p.m. at the Silver Lake Community Church located at 930 Hyperion Ave., Los Angeles. For more details and information on Bill's life and death, please visit www.companyofangels.org and sign the petition "Bills Bill," a petition to have a stoplight installed where he died. If you would like to speak, recite, sing or perform at this gathering, please email Tony Gatto at tonygatto@companyofangels.org.