Treat Williams loved Utah — something he reminded me every time I saw him. And I saw him fairly frequently from 2002 to 2006, when he worked in the Beehive State as the star of “Everwood.”
“It is a remarkably beautiful place,” said the actor, who was killed in a motorcycle accident on Monday in Vermont. Even years after the show ended, Williams always spoke of what a great experience “Everwood” was, and how much he enjoyed his time in Utah.
His career — which included starring roles in “Hair,” “Prince of the City,” “Once Upon a Time in America” and guest appearances in “Blue Bloods,” “Chicago Fire,” “CSI” and “The Simpsons” — had made him a “gypsy,” he said. And putting down temporary roots in Utah gave him “an opportunity to raise my children. I come home to dinner most nights. I take them to school at least three or four days a week. And for the first time in my life, we have a stable home life. It’s an extraordinary place to raise children. … There is no bad.”
Following his death, his family issued a statement that read, in part, “As you can imagine, we are shocked and greatly bereaved at this time. Treat was full of love for his family, for his life and for his craft, and was truly at the top of his game in all of it.”
For four seasons, Williams starred in “Everwood” as Andy Brown — a renowned New York doctor whose career kept him from spending much time with his children. But when his wife was killed in an accident, he moved his small family to a small Colorado town to spend more time with them. (Park City, Ogden and locations in the Salt Lake City area stood in for the fictional town of Everwood.)
(Courtesy Photo) Tom Amandes, Gregory Smith, Emily VanCamp and Treat Williams starred in "Everwood," which ran for four seasons
The show was created and produced by then-29-year-old Greg Berlanti, who has since gone on to become a TV mogul, producing more than a dozen series, including “Brothers & Sisters,” “Arrow,” “The Flash,” “Supergirl” and “You.”
On an Instagram post Tuesday, Berlanti recalled his first meeting with Williams: “I can still feel the warmth of your presence back then. People could feel it through the screen when watching ‘Everwood.’ That was the secret magic of the show, every week you were giving the world a much-needed hug.”
It was always clear that Williams greatly enjoyed working on the show. And he never stopped saying how delighted he was to be in the Beehive State. “I loved my time there,” he said in 2017, the 15th anniversary of the show’s premiere.
A lot of actors say that their cast is like family, but when it came to Williams and the cast of “Everwood,” that certainly seemed to be true. “It’s amazing how actors can drop everything and become very close for a very short period,” he said. “What’s wonderful about this is we are becoming real neighbors and friends. It’s an experience I’ve never had as an actor, and it’s a great one.”
(Photo: Chris Frawley/The CW) Vivien Cardone and Treat Williams at an “Everwood” reunion.
Every member of that cast — including Chris Pratt, Emily VanCamp, Gregory Smith, Tom Amandes, Debra Mooney and Scott Wolf — expressed that feeling, and expressed love for Williams. Including Vivien Cardone, who was just 9 years old when she was cast as Andy Brown’s daughter, Delia, and moved to Utah, while her father had to stay behind in New York.
“I couldn’t see him a lot, and it was very, very difficult,” she said. “And Treat came up to me, and he said, ‘Listen, I know that it’s been hard. Your dad is away, and I’ll make a deal with you. My family is not with me either. So if you promise to be my temporary daughter, I’ll be your temporary father.’ And that bond has stayed ever since.”
As she said that at the 15th anniversary gathering, Williams (and other cast members) teared up.
On Tuesday, Cardone tweeted, “My heart is shattered. You were my second father, both on and off screen. … You will always be my TV Papa. I love you so much.”
(Leah Hogsten Tribune File Photo) Treat Williams, center, starred in the made-in-Utah TV series "Everwood."
Smith, who played Williams’ son and Cardone’s older brother, issued a statement that included, “I’m very grateful for the time I got to spend as part of his extended TV family. He made an indelible impression on me during my most formative years. I will always cherish my time with Treat and think fondly of his stories, his laugh and his passion for adventure.”
And VanCamp, who starred as Smith’s on-and-off love interest, posted, “The many times we worked together — always wonderful and I was always excited for the next time. Sending all my love to your family Treat. Fly high my friend.”
You could argue — and Williams did — that the cast was inclined to love Utah because of what might have been. Although 88 of the 89 episodes of “Everwood” were filmed in the Beehive State, the pilot episode was filmed in Calgary in early 2002. And it was not a great experience because of the weather — temperatures hit 40 degrees below zero during production. And that made it tough when it came time to film a scene when Williams was talking to his neighbor (Stephanie Niznik, who died in 2019, as Nina) in her garden.
“We had to scrape away about two feet of snow for a little patch of dirt,” he said, “and make it look like she was planting. … It was a great feeling, knowing we were going to go to Utah.”
Episode 2 was filmed in the midst of a Utah heat wave, with temperatures exceeding 100.
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