- Gave early encouragement to a young Richard Burton. In fact, Burton's stage debut, "The Druid's Rest", and film debut, Woman of Dolwyn (1949), were both written and directed by Williams. Later, his son Brook Williams, became a very close friend of Burton.
- Was godfather of actress Kate Burton, daughter of Richard Burton.
- He was 12 when his family moved from the rural village of Pen-y-Fforddto to the English-speaking town of Connah's Quay. There, at Holywell County School, he caught the eye of his eccentric and forthright teacher Miss Sarah Grace Cooke. Cooke encouraged his literary talents and it was mainly through her efforts he won an open scholarship to go to Christ Church College Oxford.
- From the 1950's until shortly before his death, he toured in several versions of his one-man show "Emlyn Williams as Charles Dickens", which he also recorded on LP and performed on television in two different versions. He also performed the show on Broadway.
- He was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1962 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to drama.
- Father of actor Brook Williams and novelist Alan Williams.
- Was nominated for Broadway's 1958 Tony Award as Best Actor (Dramatic) for "A Boy Growing Up."
- His 1980 novel "Headlong" was loosely adapted as King Ralph (1991), in which John Hurt played the role of Lord Percival Graves. Both Williams and Hurt played the Roman Emperor Caligula in adaptations of Robert Graves' 1934 novel "I, Claudius": Williams in the unfinished film I, Claudius (1937) and Hurt in I, Claudius (1976).
- In 1940 he appeared in a film Mr Borland Thinks Again.
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