William Olvis
American composer for TV and movies (1958-2014)
William Patrick Olvis (December 23, 1957 – May 6, 2014) was an American composer for film and television. His most famous compositions were those for TV series Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman and Gabriel's Fire, then Pros and Cons.
He began his professional career in 1988 composing the score for the ABC telefilm Evil in Clear River and went on to compose and work on the scores for many TV series and films including Kill Me Again, 29th Street, Red Rock West, Separate Lives and Steal Big Steal Little.
Personal life
Olvis' father, William Edward Olvis, was an actor and renowned opera singer. His mother, Dorothy Dallas Farnum, was also a renowned opera singer. Olvis had two brothers, Hugo and Steve, as well as two sisters, Yvette and Natasha. He was divorced from wife, Cathleen Young.
He died of throat cancer aged 56 at his home in Malibu, California.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Oct 10, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q16879619. VIAF identifies the subject as 19876235. The Library of Congress control number is no2016107614. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1957, 2014 and 1988.
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This entry incorporates text from “William Olvis” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.