Bill Gillespie

E256273

Bill Gillespie is the white, small-town Mississippi police chief whose uneasy but evolving partnership with Black detective Virgil Tibbs drives the racial and social tensions at the heart of "In the Heat of the Night."

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All labels observed (2)

Label Occurrences
Bill Gillespie canonical 4
Chief Bill Gillespie 1

Statements (36)

Predicate Object
instanceOf fictional character
police chief
appearsIn In the Heat of the Night
surface form: In the Heat of the Night (1967 film)

In the Heat of the Night (TV series)
surface form: In the Heat of the Night (television series)
awardAssociation Rod Steiger
surface form: Rod Steiger won the Academy Award for Best Actor for portraying Bill Gillespie
basedOn character from the novel "In the Heat of the Night" by John Ball
characterArc evolving attitudes toward race and justice
characterDevelopment moves from hostility to respect toward Virgil Tibbs
conflict racial prejudice in law enforcement
tension between local authority and outside expertise
countryOfCitizenship United States of America
surface form: United States
employer Sparta Police Department
ethnicity white American
familyName Gillespie
fictionalUniverse In the Heat of the Night (novel)
surface form: In the Heat of the Night
gender male
genre crime drama
mystery
givenName Bill
languageOfCharacter English
medium film
television
narrativeRole deuteragonist
police authority figure
notableWork In the Heat of the Night (novel)
surface form: In the Heat of the Night
occupation police chief
policeRank chief of police
portrayedBy Carroll O’Connor
surface form: Carroll O'Connor

Rod Steiger
primaryRelationship Virgil Tibbs
relationshipTypeWithVirgilTibbs uneasy partnership
setting small-town Mississippi
themeInvolvement racial tension in the American South
small-town vs outsider conflict
timePeriodOfFiction 1960s American South
workLocation Sparta, Mississippi

Referenced by (5)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

In the Heat of the Night character Bill Gillespie
Carroll O’Connor role Bill Gillespie
this entity surface form: Chief Bill Gillespie
Sparta, Mississippi (fictional town) associatedWithCharacter Bill Gillespie
subject surface form: Sparta, Mississippi
Virgil Tibbs notableInteraction Bill Gillespie