Talk:William Shears Campbell

Evidence, hoax etc

If there's any actual evidence of this person's existence it would be good to post references here. If anyone's done research proving that the "biography" of William "Shears" Campbell of the "Ontario Police Department" with a girlfriend conveniently named "Rita" is a phantasm cobbled together from snippets of Beatles song's and album photographs, a reference to that research would also be good... - Nunh-huh 01:45, 10 Jun 2004 (UTC) (There's also an actual person, two unrelated actors, and probably several other William Campbells that need disambiguation).

William Campbell is far too common a name for this article to live here. However the Paul Is Dead Beatle's hoax is encylopedic - what we need is evidence of this person's connection to the hoax, not necessarily of their actual real-life existence. Secretlondon 02:40, 13 Jun 2004 (UTC)

I agree that the hoax is encyclopedic, and that the rumored existence of a "William Campbell" is part of that hoax, but I do think we need to know if this person actually existed or is fictional for the purposes of the article. I rather suspect he's completely fictional, and if that is the case it would be good to specify it. We shouldn't say he was born on a given date, died on a given date, etc. if we have no evidence/verification of those facts. - Nunh-huh 04:27, 13 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Even a list of who claims (in published form) that he does exist and who says no would be useful. -- Jmabel 22:46, Jun 13, 2004 (UTC)

I can't find much but in The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Beatles p. 248, there's the following: "In October 1969, the release of Abbey Road and Pauls' foray out of the public spotlight for several weeks fueled an idiotic rumor that he'd been killed and replaced by a look-alike. This was started by one Russ Gibbs, program coordinator for radio station WKNR-FM in Detroit...."Investigators" were soon finding a host of other "clues"...According to their "research", the real Paul had been replaced by an actor named either William Campbell or Billy Shears, who had undergone plastic surgery in order to effect a perfect likeness. Thus the introduction of Billy Shears at the end of the opening track on Sgt. Pepper....[The Sgt. Pepper album's gatefold sleeve's central pictures was said to show] "Billy" sporting an arm-patch bearing the letters "OPD," supposedly standing for "Officially Pronounced Dead." (It was, in fact, the badge of the Ontario Police Department.)"

Or if anyone were to take one moment and actually study the origin of that patch they would see it doesn't even stand for "OPD", but "OPP"; the Ontario Provincial Police in Canada. There is no such force named the "Ontario Police Department". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.204.206.249 (talk) 15:12, 1 October 2011 (UTC)

The "sneer quotes" are in the original. It falls short of saying there never was a William Campbell, but I think it clearly implies it. - Nunh-huh 01:05, 14 Jun 2004 (UTC)

This is my first post ... still trying to get the hang of things.

MYTH: Then the Beatles, in the winter of 1966, held a "Paul look- alike" contest but no winner was ever announced. BUT - there was a winner....his name was William Campbell, and he was paid a considerable amount of money to play along with the facade - he was to be the NEW Paul. He supposedly looked enough like PM to sit in with the other Beatles for photographs, sometimes even fooling the photographers. Strangely, nothing was ever heard of William Campbell again. His picture is included on the poster that came with the White album in the lower right-hand corner. Looks like Paul with glasses, mustache, and combed back hair. William Campbell has this faint scar on his upper lip, PM doesn't.

REALITY: Such a contest was actually held, co-sponsored by an American teen magazine (perhaps "Tiger Beat"?) and Dick Clark of the TV show "American Bandstand". The winner of this 1965 contest was Keith Allison, who had a brief brush with fame on teen shows such as "Where The Action Is" and apparently later joined Paul Revere and the Raiders, circa 1966. The real Paul *does* have a faint scar on his upper lip from the above-mentioned motorcycle accident. No William Campbell ever won a Paul look-alike contest.

http://www.recmusicbeatles.com/public/files/faqs/pid.html

Just thought I'd throw in my two pence.

(-- unsigned, posted by 00:27:14 . . User:Vague Rant)

Very nice. Now someone needs to change this into an article about an urban legend. -- Jmabel 16:50, Jul 1, 2004 (UTC)

-As for the badge...It's actually OPP, Ontario Provincal Police, and there is an Ontario Flag on it.

Just to tell you.

== The Real Question Here Is- == ITS REAL BELIEVE IT

Who the hell would ever hold (or attend) a Paul McCartney look alike contest? The whole 'Paul Is Dead' fiasco is a wonderful piece of Pop-Culture, a fantastic addition to the Beatles myth and legacy, and certainly deserves to be on this site, in its entirety, but you'd have to be a fool to believe it!

--Crestville 18:42, 21 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Alas, celebrity look-alike contests are far too common. Amusingly, though, during the height of the BeeGees' popularity in the seventies, Barry Gibb lost a Barry Gibb look-alike contest! (Source: Biography Channel) JHCC 16:34, 30 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Funny, that happened to Charlie Chapman, too.

http://www.snopes.com/movies/actors/chaplin2.htm Vague Rant 06:46, Sep 7, 2004 (UTC)

I noticed that I said "Chapman" in place of "Chaplin" some months ago, but I wasn't going to draw attention to it. However, I'd rather people knew that I realise I got it wrong than think that I thought it was right. I don't have anything else to say. - Vague | Rant 12:34, Mar 23, 2005 (UTC)

That's pretty funny.--Crestville 17:40, 8 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Congratulations on creating a totally biased article on the Paul is dead myth. I don't believe the myth, but you should have presented it without an obvious opinion one way or another.

Something I've been noticing in any article or video that talks about this is one of the so called clues.... The O.P.D. patch on Paul's Sgt Pepper uniform. There is no such thing as the Ontario Police Department. Since I am from Ontario I can assure you that the patch actually says O.P.P. which stands for Ontario Provincial Police. It is hard to see the 2nd P on the patch because of the angle Paul is standing at on the cover the Sgt Pepper album so it appears as O.P.D. but as I said it is really O.P.P. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.46.189.122 (talk) 14:56, 8 October 2010 (UTC)

Hello. After doing a little reading and seeing all the talk about O.P.D. really being O.P.P. (Officially pronounced dead VS. Ontario Provincial Police), has anyone dared to ask the Question what Canada has to do with the British Pop Band, The Beatles? So far from what I've read, that is the real question that should be in standing, since that has been made the focus. Next to that, Sgt. Peppers album cover has two Beatles groups standing side by side. The Beatles on the left wearing all black and are a younger version than the older psychedelic Sgt. Pepper Beatles. That's a little eerie... All aside, I feel like sharing George Harrison's last testimony. You can stream it through Netflix or rent the disc from them.... I'm sure youtube would be a lovely place to visit if Netflix is not available to you. All I can say is brace yourself for some chilling evidence that even the most credible nay sayer can't deny. I.e. My husband, he didn't believe me for the longest time. After watching a SNL skit that had Chris Farley and "Paul McCartney" playing out an interview, I couldn't help but notice the plastic surgery that was apparent in his aging face and how, as comic as it was suppose to be, "Paul McCartney" really doesn't say anything and neither does his body language... Except that he might be a little uncomfortable. When my hubby and I watched this skit together, I had already been a five year believer that Paul really did die in the Year of '66 and that watching this skit with the older Fake Paul pretty much sealed the deal for me (I'm a nuance person, it's in the details that gives it away). But my hubby didn't want to hear my Mumble jumbo, so I got the disc and had him watch/listen to it. I knew if I put it on he wouldn't be able to help himself... Before I knew it he was scrambling for album covers with his jaw dropped and eyes wide.

All of the clues and hints are so well versed together. It also explains why John Lennon had such an estranged life as he got older too.

Hope this helps ease some of those conspiracy questions you Beatle fans have and hopefully no harm done either.

To the poster above and any other”Paul is dead”theorists that want to use the”George Harrison’s last will and testiment”video , it was a mockumentory, it was made to be a joke, it’s not real, which is the same as Paul is dead, that’s fake and not real too.

William Campbell the actor

What about the IMDB article on [William Campbell]? According to the trivia page, the William Campbell of Paul is Dead fame is the same one as the actor who played Trelane and Koloth on Star Trek, but the Wikipedia article says that he is fictional. If there are two William Campbell's, one real and one fictional, then perhaps there should be a new article like William Campbell. Duomillia 03:46, 3 August 2005 (UTC)