When we sit down to remember the career bests of Billy Dee Williams, it is hard to look past his adored Star Wars character Lando Calrissian. But that would be an insult to the actor’s illustrious career and to NCIS.
Yes, Williams has played major roles in some of the biggest, eye-grabbing franchises, like Harvey Dent in 1989’s Batman, Toussaint Dubois in General Hospital and General Hospital: Night Shift, etc. But fans of NCIS will remember him as the inspiration behind Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs’ name.
What character did Billy Dee Williams play in NCIS?
As the overarching storyline of the police procedural series revolved around Mark Harmon’s Gibbs, it was only a matter of time before the story behind his unique name got a face to go with it.
Williams first appeared as the former U.S. Marine, Leroy Jethro Moore, who was a World War II veteran, in 2012 in the fifth episode of season ten, titled, “Namesake.” Gibbs was named after the man as he was once his father’s best friend. But circumstances pulled him away from their lives until Gibbs discovered Moore during an active murder investigation as the latter had pawned away his Medal of Honor.
We soon learn the full story. Moore, after heroically saving lives during the Battle of Iwo Jima during the war, returned to the U.S. and opened a store with his best friend, Jackson Gibbs. But then, Jackson’s wife, who was suffering from cancer, committed suicide, leaving her husband to deal with the knowledge that Morre was aware of her decision and didn’t inform him.
The tragedy ended the friendship as well along with the store they started together. For over forty years, the duo held on to their fight, not speaking with each other. As the episode progressed, Gibbs pushed his father to amend his friendship with Moore and successfully ended their animosity as Jackson brought back his friend’s Medal of Honor, finally forgiving him.
While getting star cameos on NCIS is no biggie, when it came to adding identity to the name Leroy Jethro Moore, producer Mark Horowitz revealed in a chat with CBS (via Cheat Sheet) the search was for an actor with “gravitas.”
“It was a terrific episode that Billy Dee came and played with us. We needed someone with a certain charisma, a certain presence. [His character] was a Medal of Honor winner and he was the namesake of our lead character. We had all this history built into this story, so you really needed somebody who needed to have a certain amount of gravitas. Billy brought a tremendous amount of charm and grace to that part. He had an ease about him. Just a lovely man to work with. He was the perfect person for that role.”
How many NCIS episodes did Billy Dee Williams appear in and will he star in future episodes?
The next time we would see Billy Dee Williams as Moore on NCIS would be season 11’s 24th episode, “Honor Thy Father,” where Gibbs is informed that his father had a stroke and died. Moore made a cameo appearance to attend Jackson’s funeral.
He doesn’t make another appearance after this and nor will he reappear in future episodes- unless it is in a flashback – as in season 16’s 12th episode, another friend from Jackson Gibbs’ past arrives to inform his son that his namesake Moore is dead.