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William E. Martin (October 8, 1945 – January 27, 2016),^[1] also credited asBill E. Martin andBill Martin, was an American musician, screenwriter, songwriter and voice actor.

A friend ofMonkeeMichael Nesmith, Martin wrote the first song ("All of Your Toys") to be recorded with all four Monkees singing and playing. However, the song's copyright was owned byTickson Music, for whom Martin worked;Screen Gems, who supervised music selection for the Monkees, had a rule that only Screen Gems-owned material could be released, and Tickson Music refused to sell the copyright. Martin took the setback in stride, signed a new contract with Screen Gems, and the band recorded his "The Door into Summer" (with title inspired byRobert A. Heinlein's novel).

A later teaming with singer-songwriterHarry Nilsson resulted in the song "Rainmaker", released in two different versions by Nilsson (onsingle and onLP) in 1969. Nilsson also covered some of Martin's songs, including "Fairfax Rag" and "City Life". Martin released a concept album in 1970, titledBill Martin's Concerto for Head Phones and Contra-Buffoon in Asia Minor.^[2] It failed to sell. Shortly after their initial collaboration, Nilsson's filmThe Point would feature Martin's voice talent in the character of the Rockman.

Martin also wrote the song "Evergreen (Earth Anthem)", recorded byCyrus Faryar,The Turtles,Dan Fogelberg and others.^[3]

Martin co-starred with Nesmith in hisGrammy-winningElephant Parts in 1981, and Nesmith also producedAn Evening with Sir William Martin, with Martin delivering a half-hour monologue dressed in asmoking jacket and parodyingOrson Welles, interspersed with different character voices.

Among Martin'sscreenwriting credits was the 1987 movieHarry and the Hendersons. Martin's first movie voice role came in the 1971 animated movieThe Point as the Rock Man and later in the 1989 animated movieLittle Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland as the villainous Nightmare King. He also had acameo role inHey, Hey, It's the Monkees, the 1997television movie which reunited the full band. He was the model for Bigfoot inHarry and the Hendersons.

His voice skills also earned him roles in numerousanimated series, includingTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (taking over the character of The Shredder afterJames Avery's departure from the role),Transformers,Challenge of the GoBots, and severalStar Wars video games.

He died on January 27, 2016,^[4] aged 70.^[5]

• Bill Martin (IV) atIMDb

• 1945 births
• 2016 deaths
• American male comedians
• American male screenwriters
• American male songwriters
• The Monkees
• American male voice actors
• Comedians from Washington, D.C.

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• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles needing additional references from January 2016
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• Place of birth missing