Bill Paterson

A graduate of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Stage, Bill Paterson made a name for himself in Scotland's burgeoning "alternative theatre" movement. He was most prominently associated with a theatrical aggregation known as the 7:84 Company--which, as virtually every chronicler of the 1970s British theatrical scene has duly noted--referred to the percentage of property owners and the amount of owned property in England. Making a bizarre first TV appearance in 1971's Licking Hitler, Paterson waited until 1978 to give movies a try. His star-making part was the recently jilted radio DJ in director Bill Forsyth's deliciously unpredictable Comfort and Joy (1984). Bill Paterson's TV credits include the hallucinatory Dennis Potter miniseries The Singing Detective.

~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide