Karl William Marcus (formerly Șderstr̦m; 12 January 1917 Р10 October 1989) was a Finnish-British film director, actor, screenwriter, and producer who used the stage name William Markus.
Markus was born in Liverpool, England, to an English mother and a Finnish father. He held dual citizenship in the United Kingdom and Finland.
His acting career started in 1944, and he changed his surname from Söderström to Marcus.
Traveler's Oases (1953) is a short film directed and starred by Marcus. The story tells of a Finnish family, which lives in the United States of America. The family visits famous Finnish cities and landmarks.
Autuas Eversti (The Blessed Colonel, 1958) was censored because the Colonel came to life and rose from the coffin. Eventually, the film was released from censorhip after removing unwanted scenes.
Censorship also affected his next film, Verta käsissämme (Blood on our Hands), in 1958. The film was censored four times. Finland's foreign policy was heading towards Finlandization Public outrage forced the censorship to be lifted.
Marcus acted in the British film, The Wooden Horse in 1950. The film was the third most popular film at the British box office in 1950.
He acted in 14 films between 1944 and 1957. He was a writer in six productions.
He directed 13 films between 1953 and 1965. Marcus was a film director at Suomen Filmiteollisuus.
His film Miriam was entered into the 8th Berlin International Film Festival as an Official Selection.
Anneli Sauli, Elina Pohjanpää, Tauno Palo, Olavi Virta, Pentti Siimes, Jussi Jurkka, and àke Lindman performed in his films.
Markus died in Espoo, Finland, at the age of 72 in 1989.