Bill Strother
“Miller & Rhoads Legendary Santa Claus”
Richmond, Virginia
1896 – 1957
International Santa Claus Hall of Fame Charter Member – December 2010
Bill Strother – Richmond, Virginia
In 1942, Miller & Rhoads Department Store in Richmond, Virginia, hired former Hollywood stuntman Bill Strother to play Santa Claus. Known as “The Human Spider,” Strother had made his name in Hollywood as a stunt double in the 1923 silent film classic “Safety Last!”
He brought that same professional stagecraft to Richmond, and the Miller & Rhoads Santa became one of the most talked-about holiday attractions in the region.
His Santa makeup, created by cosmetics designer Max Factor, took two hours to apply. The result was widely considered the most realistic Santa Claus anyone had ever seen.
Strother also developed a signature act. He made his entrance, emerging from a chimney, then seated children on his lap and called each one by name. An offstage assistant wearing a concealed throat microphone fed him each child’s name in real time. No Richmond theater act drew crowds like it, drawing adults and children alike.
By 1951, a Saturday Evening Post article declared him both the most famous Santa Claus in Virginia history and the highest-paid Santa Claus in the world.
Bill Strother died on September 6, 1957, in a car accident in Burbank, California. He was 61.
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