By Dave Woods

dwoods@joplinglobe.com

BRANSON, Mo. — He’s called The King of Hearts, The Emperor of Easy and Mr. Moon River.

He’s hobnobbed with political royalty, played golf with the greats of the game, and President Ronald Reagan called his voice “a national treasure.”

In his new memoir, “Moon River and Me,” Andy Williams didn’t want to toot his own horn or brag about the awards he has received. He wanted to give his fans a more personal look into his life — good times and bad.

“When I started the book, I wanted it to be a story on my life,” Williams said. “Not just the part that everybody knows about. I wanted to go back to the roots of my beginnings, singing with my brothers, our start in the church choir and my father’s desire to make the Williams brothers radio stars.”



Williams and his three older brothers, dubbed “The Williams Brothers,” got their start singing at funerals in their hometown of Wall Lake, Iowa. It wasn’t long until the musical family hit the road.

“Dad took us to Des Moines and got us on the radio,” he recounted. “We were on the Iowa Barn Dance Frolic. We moved around the country and to different radio stations and eventually ended up in Hollywood.”

That’s where the brothers’ big break came. When he was 15 years old, The Williams Brothers landed a record deal and recorded “Swinging on a Star” with Bing Crosby.

He said that only recently did he realize what a memorable tune it was.

“When I was out on the book tour I was talking about “Swinging on a Star” and I ask if any one remembered the song,” he said. “Everyone started to clap. Everybody sang along. Everybody seemed to know it.”

For more than a year Williams hammered away, writing almost every day, logging memories of his 80-plus years. It was a labor of love, but grueling work.

“I’ve never worked so hard in my life,” he laughed. “I’d do a 45-minute talk, then a Q and A and then a book signing. It was like the day never ended.”

It was worthwhile, he said. He loved interacting with his fans and old friends.

‘Hard to think about’

“Moon River and Me” follows Williams life from his childhood in Iowa, through the 1992 opening of his Moon River Theatre in Branson.

Many of the memories he recounts are of happy times. Singing with his siblings, making his first movie, “My Best Gal” in 1944, getting his solo break on Steve Allen’s “Tonight Show” in 1955 and his hit variety show, which ran through ‘71.

Other memories he shares are not so easy to relive. One particularly tough period in William’s seemingly-perfect life came in early June, 1968. Williams was at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles the night Sen. Robert F. “Bobby” Kennedy was assassinated.

“It was very difficult to dredge all that up again. It’s difficult to think about it,” Williams said. “The stuff about my relationship and friendship with him, being there the night he was shot, all of that stuff. Going to the hospital to meet him, and the next morning getting on the plane to carry his body back to New York and singing at his funeral and the train trip to Washington D.C., and the burial. All hard to think about.”

Not all of William’s memories of Robert Kennedy are painful.

“I never talked politics with him at all, because I didn’t want to bore the guy who really knew about it,” he said. “We talked about family and sports and music, but we never talked about politics.”

Williams remembers the day RFK asked him to be a delegate from California for the 1968 Chicago Democratic National Convention. Williams agreed, he said, because he “thought he was a wonderful man and would be a great president.”

Then, about two weeks later, Williams called Kennedy back.

“I called him and said, ‘I hope I haven’t messed all this up and embarrassed you, but I can’t be a delegate for you for the convention,’” he said. “‘Why,’ Bobby asked, and I said, ‘Because, I’m a Republican.’ He laughed and laughed. He said to just go down and register as a Democrat, and vote for me if you will, and after I’m in, you can go back to being a Republican.”

That’s what Williams did. It was a few weeks later that Kennedy was shot. He died the following day.

Many people, Williams said, assumed that he was a Democrat, because of his Hollywood friends and his affiliation with the Kennedy’s. But that wasn’t the case. Williams stressed that he votes for the person, not the party.

“I voted for JFK,” he said. “I’ve voted for several Democrats and I voted for President Reagan and a lot of Republicans. I’m really a conservative.”

Few regrets

While Williams considers himself a lifelong Republican, he wasn’t afraid to speak out against the efforts of President Richard Nixon, a Republican, to have musician John Lennon deported in 1972.

The former Beatle was a vocal peace activist and known drug user. Nixon’s FBI and administration used Lennon’s admitted marijuana use as an excuse to try and deport him, but Williams spoke out.

“I supported John Lennon because I thought it was unfair to try to deport him because he had smoked grass,” Williams said. “So did everybody else in those days, and I thought it was unfair and I said so. That’s what I think people should do, stand up for what they believe.”

Williams’ conservative beliefs and desire to speak out are what recently led him to talk openly about the policies of President Barack Obama.

“We are headed right towards socialism,” Williams said. “I don’t like that and I don’t think most Americans do. I think a lot more Americans think he’s taking us down the wrong road than think he’s taking us down the right road. Everybody thought that when he became president he would follow through with his campaign. Things that he said during his campaign are quite different than what happened after he got in.”

On Dec. 3, Williams will celebrate his 82nd birthday. Most people would set back and enjoy their golden years with a little rest and relaxation.

Not Williams. On that Thursday he will take the stage at his Moon River Theatre for two performances of his Christmas show.

“The Christmas show is bigger and better than ever,” he said. “My Christmas show was on television for so many years and I think that makes a difference. People know it and people grew up loving it.”

After the show closes, Williams will head back west to winter in La Quinta, Calif., where he is the honorary mayor. He’ll return to Branson next fall.

Williams said he lived a great life, loved the opportunity to share in his book and has few regrets.

“My biggest regret is that I didn’t spend enough time with my children when they were growing up,” he said. “I got so busy with the television show and making three albums a year and going to do concert dates. If I were to do it all over again, I would take the whole summer off and spend it with my kids. You never see on a grave stone, ‘I wish I spent more time at the office.’”



On stage

The Andy Williams Christmas Show runs through Dec., 7, at The Moon River Theatre in Branson. Go to www.andywilliams.com for show dates and times.