Biography

More than a century ago, Billy B. Van (born William Webster Van de Grift; August 3, 1870 – November 16, 1950) built the Equity Motion Picture Company in Georges Mills, New Hampshire, on the shores of Lake Sunapee. There, he built a casino, a theater, and what may have been Northern New England’s earliest motion-picture studio. Van produced several silent comedies at his empire— but almost nothing survives from this surprising heyday of early filmmaking. Billy B. Van's life in the movies is only one chapter in an entire lifetime in the entertainment industry- from his well-documented days as an acclaimed actor in minstrel shows, vaudeville and Broadway, spanning to his career as a recording artist, filmmaker, businessman and motivational speaker. Billy B. Van was truly a show-business entrepreneur cut from the same cloth as the stars of today.