William Broyles Jr. was born on October 8, 1944 in Houston, Texas, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Apollo 13 (1995), Cast Away (2000) and Planet of the Apes (2001). He is married to Andrea Bettina Berndt. They have three children. He was previously married to Linda Purl and Sybil Ann Newman.
A character in his screenplay is technologically dependent but is cast into a situation where he must rely on his instincts and intuition, rather than his technical know-how (Cast Away (2000), Apollo 13 (1995), Planet of the Apes (2001)). This is based on his experience as a Marine infantry lieutenant in Vietnam.
Wrote the book Brother in Arms, an account of his return to Vietnam as
a journalist/civilian 15 years after leading a platoon there as a young
Lieutenant in the Marine Corps.
Attended the prestigious Rice University in Texas and was a Marshall
Scholar at Oxford.
He was inducted into the Texas Film Hall of Fame in March 2002 in Austin, Texas.