Celebrity Hosts, Guests & Narrators
Barry Corbin, best known for his TV role as Maurice Minnifield on Northern Exposure, earning him back-to-back Primetime Emmy nominations. Barry attended the 2nd Annual Cutters Reunion on 12-12-2019 at the Will Rogers Memorial Center in Fort Worth, TX.
Pictured right: Tanya Tucker, won Best Country Song, "Bring My Flowers Now" and Best Country Album, "While I'm Livin'" at the 62nd annual Grammy Awards held in January 2020. The photograph was taken during the 2nd Annual Cutters Reunion on 12-12-2019 at the Will Rogers Memorial Center in Fort Worth, TX.
Jimmy Dean was one of the celebrity guests who appeared on "Water Sports Weekly" when the set for the show was located at The Studios of Las Colinas in Irving, TX. Dean shared his knowledge of yacht construction, which he attributed to personal experiences during the building of his yacht, "Big, Bad John". Yacht building was a "Water Sports Weekly" featured segment on "The World of Yachting" series.
Former Houston Astros pitcher J.R. Richard participated in a shark fishing episode with Ms Wills for "Water Sports Weekly" while on-location in Galveston, TX. Dave Fulson hosted the episode. The goal was to catch a large tiger shark, but the adventure became a blacktip shark expedition instead.
Country music legend George Strait is an avid roper, and occasionally attended roping events held at The Wills Ranch. Betty's late husband, Connie Wills, was also an avid roper and designed the indoor arena at the ranch to accommodate both roping and cutting horse events.
Terry Bradshaw with the late Connie Wills. Bradshaw was the quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers and led them to 4 Super Bowl championships. He is also an NFL Hall of Famer. Betty Wills traveled to Bradshaw's Quarter Horse ranch in Louisiana to interview him for ''The Texas & Southern Quarter Horse Journal".
James Drury hosted or narrated 3 PBS specials for Ms. Wills including:
Alex Cord hosted a PBS special for Ms. Wills titled ''The Paddlefish: An American Treasure''. Cord is probably best known for his role as Archangel in the CBS TV series "Airwolf" .
Willam "Bill" Shatner with Betty Wills. Shatner invited Wills to his Belle Reve Farm near Lexington, KY. to videotape him at work with his American Saddlebred Horses for the PBS special, "A Celebration of Horses: The American Saddlebred". The program won the American Horse Shows Association award for broadcast media excellence.
Aerosmith's Steven Tyler with Betty Wills. A chance encounter in a country restaurant near Sturgis, SD during the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. Tyler, owns a custom chopper shop and was staying off-the-beaten-path in the same area as Wills, also an avid motorcyclist.
Ice Cube's production company, Cube Vision, has one of Wills' screenplays titled, The Ragman, and also a treatment for a screenplay titled, Suvate, also written by Wills. Wills met Ice Cube when he was filming "The Longshots" in Shreveport, LA.
