William Durks
Bill Durks | |
|---|---|
Portrait of William Durks. | |
| Born | William Durks April 13, 1913 Jasper, Alabama |
| Died | May 7, 1975 Gibsonton, Florida |
| Other names | Bill Durks |
| Occupation | Sideshow performer |
| Employers |
|
| Known for | Performing as “The Man With Three Eyes” |
| Spouse | Mildred Durks |
William “Bill” Durks (Jasper, Alabama, April 13, 1913 - Gibsonton, Florida, May 7, 1975) was an American sideshow performer born with diprosopus (“two faces”),[1] billed as “The Man With Three Eyes”[2] or sometimes “The Two-Faced Man”.[3][4]
Early life
William Durks was born in Jasper, Alabama in 1913 to a family of farmers. He was born with a cleft palate, cleft lip, two noses with one functional nostril each, and, contrary to what his stage name implied: two eyes, which had to be opened surgically—one of which was blind. His condition has been described as both diprosopus and frontonasal dysplasia.[5]
Career
At the age of fourteen, Durks started working at a Single-O show as “The Man with Two Noses and Three Eyes”.[6] Over the course of his career, he was signed to multiple traveling shows including Ripley’s Believe It or Not! and the Slim Kelly and Whitney Sutton sideshow on James E. Strates Shows.[6]
Durks’ central “third eye” was painted on for shows.[7]
His wife, Mildred Durks, was also a performer billed as “The Alligator Woman” due to her lamellar ichthyosis.[6] They married and performed together as “The World’s Strangest Married Couple” until Mildred’s death in 1968.[6] This title was used by multiple other married sideshow couples for promotional purposes. Other “World’s Strangest Married Couples” include Al and Jeanie Tomaini, and Percilla and Emmitt Bejano.
Legacy
In 2024, 49 years after his death, Durks was inducted into the Coney Island Sideshow Hall of Fame.[8]
References
- ^ Kennedy, Randy (2007-11-22). "Genuine Wonders From the Flea Circus: Photos by Arbus". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-05-22.
- ^ Mannix, Daniel P. (2000). Freaks: we who are not as others. s.l.: Juno. ISBN 978-0-9651042-5-8.
- ^ Amusement Business. BPI Communications. June 1971.
- ^ Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 1958-06-16.
- ^ Drimmer, Frederick (1973). Very Special People: The Struggles, Loves and Triumphs of Human Oddities (9780907934004 ed.). Amjohn Publishers.
- ^ a b c d Hartzman, Marc (2006). American Sideshow. East Rutherford: Penguin Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-58542-530-3.
- ^ Lewis, Arthur H. (1970). Carnival. New York: Trident Press. ISBN 978-0-671-27049-0.
- ^ "Sideshow Hall of Fame". Coney Island USA. Retrieved 2025-05-23.