We know a lot about William Witney the director but what about Bill Witney the man?

Well, first and foremost he was a US Marine and extremely proud of it right up until the day he passed way. Whenever a conflict surfaced abroad his solution was always to send in a platoon of marines and end it right there! It was hard to convince him otherwise.

Few people know that he was an AKC dog show judge back in the late 30's and 40's.  He also had a pilot's license and flew both single and double engine private aircraft.  Just as photography was his expertise in the motion picture business, so it was at home with still photography. He would crank out family pictures on a regular basis from a fully equipped black and white darkroom in his small workshop and kept the local photo shop in business.  He kept many tools in his workshop - table saws, planers, routers - you name it, he had it - and he loved to build things like picture frames, lamp shades, coffee tables, pigeon coops and, once in a while, even small additions to the house.

One day, while spending an afternoon with his friend Dick George, who was a studio set builder and carpenter they decided to build a porch off the front of the house. The next thing you know there was a hole in the wall with no plans of what to do next and two very pissed off wives! Well, many months and bottles of bourbon later, there was a fully enclosed porch.  "Now what do we do with the porch?" -- that's another story!

When he was very young he was an expert on rattlesnakes. As a kid growing up in Oklahoma he and his buddies would catch rattlesnakes, since there was a bounty on them.  The bounty was based on weight so the kids would fill the snakes with lead and turn them in for money.  You'd think a paper route would have been a safer way to make some cash --not for young Witney!

His love and respect for horses began in his pre-teen years. After his father passed away when he was about 5, it was arranged that he leave his mother and two older sisters and move to the cavalry post at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas to be raised by his uncle Lou (army captain Louis Arthur Witney).   That marked the beginning of his military upbringing and horsemanship.

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