211:. When Sackter was 7 years old, his father died from complications of the Spanish Flu. It was 1920, and Bill was having difficulty learning in school, and after taking a mandatory intelligence test, he was classified as "subnormal". The State of Minnesota determined that he would be a "burden on society" so he was placed in the Faribault State School for the Feeble-Minded and Epileptic. Sackter remained there for 44 years, never again seeing his mother or two older sisters, Sarah and Alice. He was diagnosed as
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footage, along with interviews with those closest to Bill. Much of the archival footage was taken by Barry Morrow as early as 1972. The documentary shows how Bill
Sackter was allowed to develop as an individual with help from many others, and become an important member of the Iowa City community as
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The documentary was voted the "#1 Audience
Favorite" in five film festivals: The Kansas International Film Festival, Hardacre Film Festival, Omaha Film Festival, Cedar Rapids Independent Film Festival, and the New Strand Film Festival.
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proprietor of Wild Bill's Coffee Shop. It also follows his rise in becoming a national figure that helped change society's perception of people with disabilities.
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174:(April 13, 1913 – June 16, 1983) was an American man with an intellectual disability whose fame as the subject of
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and his wife, Bev, befriended him. Morrow began slowly to make life a bit more comfortable for Bill, getting him new
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In 1964, when new light was being shed on the treatment of the mentally ill and disabled, Sackter was moved to a
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Sackter was named
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was initially based, in part, on
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and worked odd jobs to support himself. He eventually became a
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helped change national attitudes on persons with disabilities.
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The
Unlikely Celebrity: Bill Sackter's Triumph Over Disability
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49:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
203:in 1913, the son of Sam and Mary Sackter, Russian
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347:Sackter's story is told in the 1999 book
109:Learn how and when to remove this message
442:A Friend Indeed – The Bill Sackter Story
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355:A Friend Indeed – The Bill Sackter Story
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343:Biographical works
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157:(1983-06-16)
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41:Please help
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464:1983 deaths
459:1913 births
363:photographs
359:documentary
266:Recognition
99:August 2017
453:Categories
437:(archived)
382:References
319:Helen Hunt
306:Emmy Award
274:President
223:Later life
191:Early life
137:1913-04-13
69:newspapers
290:entitled
260:Iowa City
241:filmmaker
217:telephone
201:Minnesota
400:Rain Man
337:Kim Peek
331:Rain Man
252:guardian
248:dentures
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