Title
"As Zorro, I'm idol of TV tots. As Guy Williams, I'm
nobody. But I'm making sure I'll never be typecast."

"As Zorro, I'm the top TV hero of millions of moppets across three continents. But just mention the name of "Guy Williams", 33-year old actor who portrays Zorro, and people immediately assume a blank, inquiring expression. Their astonished lips form the inevitable query; "Who's Guy Williams?" "I'm not complaining, you understand. Zorro, the dashing Robin Hood of old California, has done a lot for me. I get a percentage of the millions of dollars worth of Zorro hats, masks, capes and swords sold across the world every year. Next year, Walt Disney plans to star me in a full-length movie with a gold rush background."

"So I hired a publicity agent recently, just to make sure Disney won't have to bill me as Zorro for that movie. I'm worried, like most heroes of weekly TV shows, that a starring role can submerge an individual and even block the progress of his career. After all, no one has been writing the name of Guy Williams with the same fervor of those making the mark of Zorro - a slashing Z - which is found everywhere from school desk carvings to cement sidewalks."


Sign of 'Zee' bothers British

"Sometimes, that mark of Zorro can become a real headache. Like the time I had to repaint my Cadillac convertible, because some junior joker etched the sign of the Z all over my fenders with a pocket knife. Then, I get hundreds of letters from teachers throughout the British Empire; they complain Zorro is murdering the Queen's English, because he makes the sign of the "Zee" instead of the sign of the "Zed".

"I didn't, like many TV stars today, have to knock myself out to find success. I just grew a mustache, took a few fencing lessons, and walked into the casting office where Walt Disney was screening candidates for the lead in his projected TV series on Zorro. I walked out two hours later, a contract to play the swashbuckling caballero tucked neatly in my breast pocket."


"I live with my wife Janice and our two children, Steve, six, and Toni, one, in a two - story apartment near Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard. But we spend our weekends, when I'm not shooting Zorro episodes, on our 37-foot yacht, The Oceana."

I've never made 'Z' sign myself


"I've wanted a yacht ever since my public school days, when my New York classroom window overlooked the dock where millionaire financier, J. P. Morgan's yacht was moored. I became interested in acting soon after in high school, when I discovered I didn't have to take English courses if I took courses in acting. I was then Guy Catalano, son of an Italian insurance salesman. I changed it after leaving Peekskill Military Academy because no guy called Catalano ever got a chance to see his name spelled right on a billboard".


"In my TV series, I use a double for some of my high-flying leaps off horses and walls. But it's me behind the rapier in my sword-fighting scenes. I learned how to handle myself with the foils by working out with my father before I was out of public school. I never really gave it up, found it a useful arguing point in vying for the Zorro role two years ago. However, I shame-facedly admit I've never really made the sign of the Z myself. Seems ridiculous when you realize I've probably made it the most popular letter in the alphabet with small fry and their pocket knives. But, whenever there's a Z to be carved on a tree trunk or wall during a show, I step aside. A Disney prop man does it with a small hand axe."


Liberty Magazine, 1959.