JoBeth Williams

Acting

JoBeth Williams

Born 1948-12-06 · Houston, Texas, USA

Margaret JoBeth Williams (born December 6, 1948) is an Academy Award, Golden Globe, and Emmy nominated American film and television actress and director, and current President of the Screen Actors Guild Foundation. Williams rose to prominence appearing in such films as Stir Crazy (1980), Poltergeist (1982), The Big Chill (1983), The Day After (1983), Teachers (1984), and Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986). A three-time Emmy Award nominee, she was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie for her work in the TV movie Adam (1983) and the TV miniseries Baby M (1988). Her third nomination was for her guest role in the sitcom Frasier (1994). Her directorial debut with the 1994 short film On Hope earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Live Action Short Film. She also starred in the TV series The Client (1995–96), and had recurring roles in the TV series Dexter (2007) and Private Practice (2009–11). In 2009 she began serving as president of the Screen Actors Guild Foundation; she is President Emeritus of the foundation. She has also had numerous guest starring roles on TV and has starred in several TV movies.

Acting credits

Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot poster
5.4

A tough police sergeant's mother comes to visit him, and promptly starts trying to fix up his life, much to his embarrassment. For his birthday she buys him a machine gun out of the back of a van, and begins to further interfere with his job and love life, eventually helping him with a case he's on.

Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot

1992

Poltergeist poster
7.2

The Freelings' suburban home becomes the center of paranormal activity that opens a portal to the 'other side'. With help, they must cross over to get their daughter back.

Poltergeist

1982

Teachers poster
5.7

A teacher reconnects with an old student who is now an attorney representing a family who is suing the school for graduating their son who still cannot read or write. Amid the daily chaos of teaching in an inner city school, Alex Jurel tries to decide if he will lie at his deposition to protect the school or tell the truth and risk throwing away his career.

Teachers

1984

Kramer vs. Kramer poster
7.6

Ted Kramer is a career man for whom his work comes before his family. His wife Joanna cannot take this anymore, so she decides to leave him. Ted is now faced with the tasks of housekeeping and taking care of himself and their young son Billy.

Kramer vs. Kramer

1979

Poltergeist II: The Other Side poster
6.0

The Freeling family move in with Diane's mother in an effort to escape the trauma and aftermath of Carol Anne's abduction by the Beast. But the Beast is not to be put off so easily and appears in a ghostly apparition as the Reverend Kane, a religious zealot responsible for the deaths of his many followers. His goal is simple - he wants the angelic Carol Anne.

Poltergeist II: The Other Side

1986

Dutch poster
6.5

To get to know his girlfriend's son, a man volunteers to pick him up from a prep school... only to learn that her son's not the nicest kid.

Dutch

1991

The Big Year poster
6.0

Three fanatical bird-watchers spend an entire year competing to spot the highest number of species as El Nino sends an extraordinary variety of rare breeds flying up into the U.S., but they quickly discover that there are more important things than coming out on top of the competition.

The Big Year

2011

Wyatt Earp poster
6.8

From Wichita to Dodge City, to the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Wyatt Earp is taught that nothing matters more than family and the law. Joined by his brothers and Doc Holliday, Earp wages war on the dreaded Clanton and McLaury gangs.

Wyatt Earp

1994

Stir Crazy poster
6.5

New Yorkers Skip Donahue and Harry Monroe have no jobs and no prospects, so they decide to flee the city and find work elsewhere, landing jobs wearing woodpecker costumes to promote the opening of a bank. When their feathery costumes are stolen and used in a bank robbery, they no longer have to worry about employment — they're sent to prison.

Stir Crazy

1980

The Big Chill poster
6.8

Seven old college friends gather for a weekend reunion after the funeral of one of their own.

The Big Chill

1983

TiMER poster
6.3

When implanted in a person's wrist, a TiMER counts down to the day the wearer finds true love. But Oona O'Leary faces the rare dilemma of a blank TiMER. Her soul mate - whoever and wherever he is - has yet to have a TiMER implanted. Staring down the barrel of thirty and tired of waiting for her would-be life partner to get off the dime, Oona breaks her own rules and falls for Mikey, a charming and inappropriately young supermarket clerk with a countdown of four months.

TiMER

2009

The Day After poster
6.8

In the mid-1980s, the U.S. is poised on the brink of nuclear war. This shadow looms over the residents of a small town in Kansas as they continue their daily lives. Dr. Russell Oakes maintains his busy schedule at the hospital, Denise Dahlberg prepares for her upcoming wedding, and Stephen Klein is deep in his graduate studies. When the unthinkable happens and the bombs come down, the town's residents are thrust into the horrors of nuclear winter.

The Day After

1983

Switch poster
5.9

Steve Brooks, a sexist womanizer, is killed by a group of his angry former lovers. In heaven, he makes a bargain with God for redemption and agrees to return to Earth. Once there, he must have a sincere relationship with a female and make her fall in love with him. If not, Steve's soul will become the property of the devil. But the devil hedges his bet, and Steve is reincarnated as a woman named Amanda Brooks.

Switch

1991

Jackie's Back! poster
6.9

A British documentarian profiles washed-up diva Jackie Washington as she prepares for her comeback concert.

Jackie's Back!

1999

Within poster
5.4

A widower, his daughter, and his new wife move into a peaceful neighborhood. At first it appears to be a perfect neighborhood but the family quickly realize that something is not right about their new home.

Within

2016

The Dogs of War poster
5.8

Mercenary soldiers Jamie and Drew are hired by a large corporation to liberate Zangaro, a small African nation, from an despot. Havoc ensues.

The Dogs of War

1980

Not Without Hope poster
6.7

A group of friends' fishing boat capsizes off the coast of Mexico and they're left alone stranded at sea and struggling for survival.

Not Without Hope

2025

Searching for Debra Winger poster
6.4

Rosanna Arquette talks to various actresses about the pressures they face as women working in the entertainment industry.

Searching for Debra Winger

2002

Fever Pitch poster
6.2

Lindsay is stuck in the middle of her relationship with Ben and his passion for the Boston Red Sox.

Fever Pitch

2005

Jungle 2 Jungle poster
5.4

Uptight New York City executive, Michael Cromwell, pursues his soon-to-be ex-wife to South America and returns home with the son he never knew he had—a boy raised in a tribal village in Brazil. Armed with only his blowgun, the 13-year-old Mimi-Siku discovers that the world outside his jungle home is indeed a strange place.

Jungle 2 Jungle

1997

In My Dreams poster
6.4

Natalie and Nick are frustrated with their luck in romance. After tossing coins into a fountain, the two then begin dreaming about each other. But, according to fountain mythology, they only have a week to turn those dreams into reality.

In My Dreams

2015

Joe Dancer: The Big Black Pill poster
6.8

The first of three private-eye movies created by Robert Blake about rugged Joe Dancer as the forerunner to a prospective but unrealized series after the retirement of his "Baretta" character. In the initial outing, Blake, as Dancer, follows a trail of bodies through a maze of corruption involving a politically ambitious Beverly Hills family.

Joe Dancer: The Big Black Pill

1981

In the Land of Women poster
5.9

After a bad breakup with his girlfriend leaves him heartbroken, Carter Webb moves to Michigan to take care of his ailing grandmother. Once there, he gets mixed up in the lives of the mother and daughters who live across the street.

In the Land of Women

2007

Behemoth! poster
NR

Gifted cellist Alex Serian returns home to Los Angeles after 20 years on the road. Music, which has been the constant, all-consuming river of his life, begins to carry Alex on an adventure that will change him forever.

Behemoth!

2026

Behind the camera