Dirty Dancing has found its bandleader. Star Wars‘ Billy Dee Williams has been cast as Tito in Dirty Dancing, ABC’s three-hour remake of the hit Patrick Swayze-Jennifer Grey movie. The role was played by Charles ‘Honi’ Coles in the original film.
Like the 1987 feature, ABC’s Dirty Dancing movie centers on Baby (Abigail Breslin), an innocent young woman in the early 1960s who vacations with her affluent parents and siblings in the Catskills and falls for Johnny (Cole Prattes), the resort’s charismatic, skilled dance instructor and leader of the working-class entertainment staff. Williams’ Tito is the charismatic, lively, longtime bandleader for the early resort. Tito oversees and advises the resort’s musicians and entertainers, and must acquiesce to the changing times. Sarah Hyland, Nicole Scherzinger and Debra Messing also star.
Williams is best known as Lando Calrissian in Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back and Episode VI – The Return of the Jedi . He also starred in Brian’s Song and Batman. Williams most recently was featured in The Man In 3B, and his voice has been heard in The Lego Movie, Star Wars Rebels, Robot Chicken and Lego Star Wars: Droid Tales. He’s repped by Kramer Management and TalentWorks.
Dirty Dancing is produced by Lionsgate Television in association with Allison Shearmur Productions.
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