Stax records has a wonderful William Bell page with interesting information and anecdotes
EXCERPT: Early in life, William Bell had thought to become a doctor. Singing was just a relaxing pastime reserved for social gatherings. But friends convinced him to try his hand at entertaining and he and his group won second prize at the annual Mid-South Talent Contest of Memphis, Tennessee. The prize was a recording contract with Stax Records.
As a sideline to his music career, William Bell is also an actor. A graduate of the two-year program at the Theatre Academy of Dramatic Arts in Atlanta, , where he now resides, he has played a variety of acting roles in stage plays while enrolled at the school. He is probably the only Black actor to play the role of Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire. END OF EXCERPT