Born
and raised in Los Angeles, Bill Graham was the only child of
a German immigrant mother and a father, who was an Arkansas
native and
a Los Angeles firefighter.
Bill
graduated from John Marshall High School in 1979 and in the
1980s, was the Political Director of Research for Glendale-based
Republican Associates, which, at the time, was the chartered
research arm of the Los Angeles County Republican Party.
In
the 1990s, Bill served as a Membership Associate for the
Glendale
Chamber of Commerce. Glendale, a notably business-friendly
city, boasts, among other things, no business tax and the distinction
as California’s third largest financial center. With
more than 200,000 residents, it is the third most populous
city -- behind Los Angeles and Long Beach -- in Los Angeles
County.
In
1999, Bill moved ten miles down the road to the world famous
Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, where he sold memberships
and specialized in retaining existing members.
Despite
his close working relationship with Johnny Grant, the Honorary
Mayor of Hollywood, Bill’s abject lack of talent and
creativity prevented him from getting a star on the Hollywood
Walk of Fame, although Grant once called Graham: "The
Cecil B. DeMille of the Sunset Boulevard ribbon-cutting ceremony."
In 2004, Bill signed on with Globalist Films,
motivated by the challenge to help bring important, independently-produced
and non-partisan documentaries to a large and serious audience.
Over the past several years, he has raised money for a number
of causes and charities.
Bill
lives in Burbank with his wife of 9 years, the former Kathy
Lizarazo, the daughter of Colombian immigrants and a self-employed
physical therapist.
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