LANSING, Mich. — William McCallum, an actor from Lansing, passed away in March, but on Tuesday, family, friends and community members gathered to celebrate his life.
William, who was also known as Dirty Bill, died at the age of 78. He was battling cancer.
“Towards the end of his treatment and in February, he had a brief fall didn’t hurt himself, we took him to the hospital, and it was just a quick decline from that, he was in ICU for 11 days,” his son Michael McCallum confirmed.
Michael is a filmmaker and director, and he remembers sharing his passion for films with his dad. William often played the lead roles in his son’s movies.
William was also a car enthusiast. That’s why on Tuesday Michael organized a car show downtown to celebrate his father’s life on the day he would have turned 79 years old.
“It’s a blistering, hot day, but it’s his birthday, and I wanted to do something special for him, get some old cars out, a DJ and just celebrate how he would have wanted to celebrate,” Michael said.
While William is no longer here, Michael is confident that his dad’s legacy will live on.
“He should be here, but I know people will remember, and his life will live on in films,” he said.
