Montel Williams for Montel, 1995. (Photo: Paramount)

Bald-shaven, mustachioed African-American daytime TV talk show host who brought a variously incisive, dignified, smarty-pants or pompous style to his duties discussing trashy, trendy topics with distraught studio and home audiences. While serving in the military, Williams began touring the country, giving motivational speeches to young Americans. He later filmed an introduction to the classroom version of the Civil War epic "Glory" (1989) and within two years of that the tall, imposing speaker landed his own syndicated TV show. Something of a vagabond in its search for a home, "The Montel Williams Show" did not challenge the dominance of Phil Donahue and Oprah Winfrey in the ratings, but Williams's more-than-decent start boded well for his future as a TV personality. Williams made his dramatic TV debut as star of the CBS series "Matt Waters" (1996) as a concerned and caring high school teacher.