William Alexander Kirkland, a talented writer, producer, stage and screen actor, was born in Mexico City to Robert Gowland Kirkland and Charlotte Megan, and was the grandson of Rear Admiral William Alexander Kirkland and Consuela Gowland.
As a young boy, Kirkland attended the prestigious Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut, and later enrolled at the University of Virginia. He began his acting career at the historic Hedgerow Theatre in Media, Pennsylvania, and later became associated with the Group Theatre, founded by Harold Clurman, Cheryl Crawford, and Lee Strasberg.
Throughout his career, Kirkland appeared on Broadway, in summer stock productions, and in films. As a writer, he contributed stories to numerous popular national magazines of the time.
Kirkland's personal life was marked by two notable marriages. His first marriage was to Rose Louise Hovick, professionally known as Gypsy Rose Lee, with whom he had a son, Eric, born three months after their divorce. Just hours before their divorce was finalized, Kirkland married socialite Phyllis Ann Adams on December 12, 1944. However, it was later revealed that Eric's real father was director Otto Preminger, and in March 1971, Preminger officially adopted Eric.
Kirkland's marriage to Adams ended in 1950, and he went on to marry Greta Hunter-Thompson Baldridge in 1959. At the time of their marriage, Kirkland was the owner of an art gallery in Palm Beach, Florida, and the couple maintained homes in Fairfield, Connecticut, and Cuernavaca, Mexico. Greta, a former Ziegfeld Follies girl from Toronto, was the recent widow of a co-heir to an estate connected to the National Steel Corporation. She passed away on June 17, 1972, in Mexico City.
After Greta's death, Kirkland was linked to British actress Margot Grahame in the press. At the time of his daughter's death, Kirkland was living in Cuernavaca, where his estate had been used as a filming location for the Vietnam War film Who'll Stop the Rain in 1978.
