Patrick Billingsley, professor emeritus of mathematics and statistics at the University of Chicago who also was a movie actor, died April 22, 2011, after a brief illness. He was 85.
Billingsley earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the Naval Academy in 1948. After serving in the Navy, he earned a Ph.D. in math from Princeton in 1955. Joining the Chicago faculty in 1958, he rose to full professor by 1963. He retired as professor emeritus in 1994.
Known for lecturing on probability theories in a lucid and witty manner, Billingsley wrote Probability and Measure (1980), a book that was used by innumerable graduate students to comprehend probability theory.
In 1969, he began acting on stage as a hobby. He once stated, “Teaching has a little bit of show biz. When you teach, you perform in front of an audience.” In 1977, he was invited to audition for a movie. He got the part in The Fury, and played a CIA agent out to kill Kirk Douglas. Billingsley appeared in seven other films, including The Untouchables.
He was predeceased in 2000 by his wife, Ruth, whom he had met at Princeton. He is survived by his companion, Florence Weisblatt; five children; and 12 grandchildren.