Actor and CT native Treat Williams killed in VT motorcycle crash

Connecticut native Treat Williams, the actor best known for his starring role in the TV show “Everwood” and for portraying George Berger in the movie “Hair,” was killed in a motorcycle crash Monday in Vermont, state police said. He was 71.

At the time of his death, Williams was listed as a resident of Manchester Center, Vt., according to the accident report.

“I’m just devastated. He was the nicest guy. He was so talented,” his agent, Barry McPherson, told People magazine.

“He was an actor’s actor,” McPherson said. “Filmmakers loved him. He’s been the heart of the Hollywood since the late 1970s.”

Vermont State Police said Williams was riding a 1986 Honda VT700c motorcycle north on Route 30 when the crash occurred shortly before 5 p.m. Monday in Dorset, a small town in southwestern Vermont about 40 minutes north of Bennington.

State police said the driver of a 2008 Honda Element stopped, signaled a left turn into a parking lot, and then turned into the motorcycle’s path of travel.

Williams was “unable to avoid a collision and was thrown from his motorcycle,” suffering “critical” injuries, state police said. He was flown to Albany Medical Center in Albany, N.Y., where he was pronounced dead.

The driver of the Honda suffered minor injuries in the crash, according to state police, and was not hospitalized.

“The investigation into this crash is in its early stages,” Vermont State Police said in a statement.

Between 2002 and 2006, Williams starred as Dr. Andrew Brown in Everwood, a show about a widowed surgeon who moved to a town in Colorado, the Associated Press reported.

Earlier in his career, he was nominated for a Golden Globe for his portrayal of George Berger in the 1979 movie adaptation of “Hair.”