Will Pryor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| American Dreams character | |
| Will Pryor | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Hair color | Brown |
| Eye color | Blue |
| Portrayed by | Ethan Dampf |
Will Pryor (born c. Spring, 1956) is a fictional character from the NBC television show American Dreams. Will (nicknamed "Thrill" by his father) is portrayed by the young actor Ethan Dampf. The youngest of the four Pryor children, viewers see Will from the second through the fourth grade between November of 1963 and August of 1966.
Will contracted a mild case of polio when he was toddler. While he was still able to walk, he was forced to wear a leg brace on one leg. Will's father Jack initially refused to get the Pryor children inoculated against polio after the new vaccine came out in the mid-1950's. He feared that it was not safe, and he felt responsible for Will's polio for years to come.
However, early in the second season of American Dreams Will underwent an experimental surgery that ultimately allowed him to walk normally. Will's recovery was long, and he missed so much school that he almost had to repeat the third grade.
Like his older sister Patricia Pryor (with whom he bickers quite often), Will frequently dominates subplots and represents the innocence of childhood amidst the very turbulent world of the 1960's. Will is very close with his older brother John Pryor, Jr. ("JJ"), and he aspires to be the star athlete that his older brother was at Philadelphia's East Catholic High School, from which Will is scheduled to graduate in 1974. American Dreams creator Jonathan Prince's long term plans for his show was to depict the Pryor family between JFK's assassination (November, 1963) and Richard Nixon's resignation (August, 1974). Had the show lasted into the early 1970s, it's possible Will Pryor would have evolved into a major character, given that Will's brothers and sisters would be all grown up and out of the Pryor house.
NBC cancelled American Dreams in May, 2005, leaving Will's future unknown to fans of the show. In the third season finale, set in August, 1966, Will and his father resolve an argument over the boy attending summer camp. Jack agrees to send Will to summer camp the following year.
