William “Bill” Countryman

Bill T. Countryman, Jr. died peacefully on April 7th, at Elkhorn Nursing home in Clancy, MT from natural causes. He was 93 years old. Countryman was born on August 2nd, 1923, in Bernice, OK to Bill and Vernela Countryman, the first of three boys. When he was very young, his parents relocated to South Bend, Washington where he was raised. Upon his high school graduation, his parents then relocated to Eugene, Or. Countryman knew from an early age that he wanted to pursue a career in acting, and the acting bug hit him hard. He studied drama for one year at the University of Oregon in Eugene. During WWII he was called to duty staying state side in San Francisco to serve in the Special Services. He was a 1st Lt and was stationed at the Presidio in San Francisco where he did theatre and brought entertainment for the troops. He was in charge of getting famous stars to come and entertain the men.
After the war, he enrolled in the theater program at the University of Iowa, known at that time as having one of the best theater programs in the country. He then attended Brandeis University in Massachusetts, where he earned his master’s degree in Theatre arts. In 1951 he moved his then wife and young baby son, Michael to New York City to pursue his acting career. He did some theatre and television work at that time. When his wife became pregnant with their second son, Gregory they returned to Eugene to be around family. Unfortunately his marriage ended and his wife and sons stayed in Eugene while Countryman returned to New York to continue his pursuit of his dream of acting. While in New York, he met Anne McClarnan, (Countryman) who was also in New York pursuing her dreams of an acting and singing career. Anne was an accomplished pianists and singer and with her help, Countryman learned to sing.
He finally got a part on Broadway in “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,” playing the role of the Player King. It was this role that got him noticed by the famous William Morris Agency and they picked him up as a client. With a top agency representing him, he began to get more and more auditions.
He then landed several more roles on Broadway including the lead role in “Solitaire Double Solitaire” by Robert Anderson, “Luther”, which his then Wife Anne Countryman was in as well as the famous English actor Albert Finney, Two by Two, a musical about Noah’s ark and “Kiss Me Kate”, just to name a few.
During this time he was also doing lots of commercials and occasional TV shows. In 1966 his wife gave birth to his daughter Jennifer, and he and his wife often took their small baby with them on the road. That year they toured all over the country doing a two person show where they show cased many of their Broadway hits. His marriage to Anne ended in 1974, and he then met his partner Bill Hunter, Wanting to pursue more television roles, he moved with Bill to Los Angeles in 1975 where he was cast in several westerns including “Wagon Train” and “The Rifleman” as well as 77 Sunset Strip. In order to pay the bills, he started a catering business as his other love outside of acting was cooking. He was an amazingly great cook, by everybody’s standards. He and Bill loved to entertain and amazing food, friends and much laughter was always a central part of a night at the “Bills” house. He was hired to cater a Christmas party where he made a cake and everyone just went crazy over this cake. This was the beginning of his and Hunter’s cake business called “The Cake Walk”. The business took off and was so busy that Countryman had to give 100% focus to the business and gave up acting. They had many famous and wealthy clients, and were very well known for their quality and creative cakes. Gladys Beagelman, the wife of then head of Columbia pictures discovered their cakes and it was not unusual for her to come into the bakery accompanied by the likes of Barbara Streisand or Elizabeth Taylor. Their cake business became very big and by the time they sold it they had approximately 275 restaurants as clients as well as hundreds of loyal clients that they serviced for their specialty cakes as well as thousands of mail orders. Tiring of the rat race, they decided to sell the business and move to Helena, as Bill Hunter was a Helena Native, and they saw it as a great place to slow down a bit and eventually retire. They started an interior design business called naming in The Lemon Tree and were very successful. Countryman did some local acting at Grand Street Theatre to continue to feed his first love of being on the stage. They sold the business several years back due to Countryman’s failing health and retired. He lived comfortably for many years after that in his home surrounded by his beloved dogs and cats. He was an animal lover beyond most. He eventually was moved to Elk Horn where he was well cared for until his passing.
He is survived by his partner, Bill Hunter, daughter Jennifer Countryman, Granddaughter Jessica Shatney, brothers Gary and Jack Countryman, his sons Michael and Greg Gerot, their six children combined and multiple great grandchildren. He was one of a kind and will be sorely missed.
Services to celebrate his life will be held on Saturday, May 6th beginning at 1:00pm at St. Peter’s Cathedral, 511 N Park Ave, Helena, MT 59601.

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