Billy Dee Williams had a lot to say in promotional interviews about his role in The Empire Strikes Back when the movie was initially released, including how he felt about the name Lando Calrissian.
When Empire director Irvin Kershner visited Williams at his house to try and talk him into the part, they ended up discussing philosophy for two hours. Eventually, when they got to discussing the role, Williams had already decided to be a part of the film since he obviously knew how successful Star Wars was, and he also believed in George Lucas’ vision. He felt that Lucas and Steven Spielberg were the filmmakers of the future, and he was right.
What he didn’t know was that the role of Lando Calrissian was written with him in mind. This made it a perfect match.
Needless to explain, Williams became a part of the Star Wars galaxy, and one of the smoothest-talking characters in the entire series. When he began to promote the film upon its release, he did numerous interviews, including one spoiled-filled interview on the Today Show which has to be seen to be believed. In all of those interviews, one thing was always brought up: The unusual name of Lando Calrissian.
Interviewers couldn’t help themselves, perhaps because the name — when pronounced correctly — is as smooth as Billy Dee. In almost every interview I can find, including old print interviews from the time, Williams explains that it’s an Armenian name (something I admit I never realized). He repeats himself in interview after interview, “It’s actually an Armenian name,” though I personally believe it’s a Bespin name.
One interviewer even told him, “It sounds Italian,” to which Williams responded, “Well, I have an Italian heart.”
Finally, one reporter, Steve Millburg of the Omaha World-Herald dug deeper and found out how Williams personally felt about the name. Williams told him, “I flipped out over the name when I first heard it. I said, ‘Lando Calrissian.’ He’s an Armenian, right? I thought that was great because it transcended all of the usual cliche issues and questions.”
In television interviews, when he’s always explaining that the name is Armenian, he says it proudly, clearly reacting in a way where he still finds it to be a perfect name for his character.
He further explained to Millburg, “I see myself anyway as a mongrel. I’m so sick and tired of ‘black’ and ‘white.’“
When discussing the Cloud City known as Bespin that Calrissian oversees, he had one request of Kershner. “I said, ‘Please don’t put just black folks in there. I want everybody in there because I want a planet where everybody coexists in some beautiful, incredible way.’”
Of course, Bespin lived up to his vision and Billy Dee Williams reprised the role of Lando Calrissian for Return of the Jedi, where he was more clearly a good guy than in Empire.
The smooth-named and smooth-talking Lando Calrissian was so popular that he had his own Star Wars book trilogy at the time and continues to populate the Star Wars galaxy in films, comics, and shows.