Trivia

On the set of the Criminal Minds episode Blood Relations (2014), Oberst stayed off the communications grid entirely; remaining in solitude, character and wardrobe whether shooting or not.

Sara Karloff inscribed a photo of her father Boris Karloff to Oberst with the phrase "Bill, that's NOT a scary face!" after meeting the actor and finding him to be "just like my father; not at all scary up close.".

The facial scarring that gives Bill his menacing look is largely a result of a childhood bicycle accident which necessitated reconstructive surgery.

For his 2007 audition for the role of Adolf Eichmann in the World War II drama, The Glass House, Bill borrowed a reproduction Nazi SS uniform, jackboots and an antique German Iron Cross from a museum curator. As he walked from his car to the audition in downtown Los Angeles, he was spat on by passers-by and verbally assailed from passing cars for 3 blocks.

Came to Sherman's March (2007) audition in full make-up and wearing an authentic uniform (including sword and pistol) borrowed from a Civil War reenactor.

Worked with two of Dick Van Dyke's grandsons in A Haunting in Salem (2011). Shane Van Dyke directed and 'Carey Van Dyke' co-starred with Bill.

Oberst lived in isolation during filming of his role as cult leader Simon Leach in Children Of Sorrow, with no internet or phone access, speaking little except on camera and retreating to Leach's office set in between takes.

A copy of John Landis' 2011 book Monsters In The Movies signed by Landis "To Bill Oberst Jr - One Scary Badass" is one of Oberst's most prized possessions.

Toured the country with an interactive portrayal of Jesus of Nazareth for 10 years to houses of worship of all denominations.

A lifelong Trekkie, Bill was thrilled that his make-up artist for the Hallmark Channel movie, The Shunning (2011) was Dean Jones, who was responsible for Rene Auberjonois's character of "Odo" on the series, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993).

Bill was the last actor to ride Scamp, Jason Issac's horse from The Patriot (2000)The Patriot and a veteran of dozens of period films, before the prolific movie horse's death in 2012. Bill rides Scamp as the bounty hunter Burrell in director Chris Eska's The Retrieval (2013).

As the Facebook stalker in 2011's Take This Lollipop (2011), Bill wears the t-shirt and boots from his role as the cannibal "Dale" in 2009's Dismal (2009). Both were gifts from the "Dismal" wardrobe department and have since appeared in three of Oberst's film and television appearances.

As "Abraham Lincoln" in Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies (2012), Bill Oberst Jr. battles "John Wilkes Booth", played by actor Jason Vail, who also who played "Booth" in the original "Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter" book trailer.

When Lon Chaney's great-grandson Ron Chaney presented Oberst with the inaugural Lon Chaney Award For Outstanding Achievement In Independent Horror Films, the actor was so surprised he choked up and could barely deliver a thank you. Organizers had kept the award a secret from Oberst, a self-described "Lon Chaney fanatic.".

The "blood"-stained uniform Bill wore as Ranger Dale in Dismal (2009) was a high-bid item when it was auctioned off at the 2008 Horrorfind Convention in Washington, D.C. by Scares That Care, a non-profit organization that raises money for children's cancer research and care.

Oberst's clown make-up in Circus of the Dead (2014) is inspired by that of his cinematic role model, Lon Chaney, in the 1924 film He Who Gets Slapped (1924).

A lifelong Ray Bradbury fan, Oberst performed at a tribute in Bradbury's boyhood home of Waukegan, IL on Halloween the year the author died, with his dog-eared boyhood paperback of Bradbury's "S Is For Space" tucked into the jacket of his tuxedo.

The Bigfoot tracker Bill plays in Hunting Grounds (2015), Bauman, is named after a hunter who encountered a Sasquatch in 1892. Teddy Roosevelt wrote of the encounter in his book The Wilderness Hunter.

Was nominated for the Best Actor award at the 2015 Horrible Imaginings Film Festival in San Diego, CA for his work on Hunting Grounds (2015).

Spoofed his "killer" image in a 2010 commercial for a ScreenplayCoverage.com with the tag line 'Killer Scripts Don't Just Happen.'.

Bill's "killer" combat boots from Coyote (2014) also appear in death scenes in Stressed to Kill (2016)and Werewolf Rising (2014). The boots were a gift from the Coyote wardrobe department, and have become Oberst's favorite murderous footwear on screen.

Bill is quoted in the 1996 book "Who Do Men Say That I Am? Reflections On Jesus In Our World Today" from Macmillan Publishing. The book's editors approached him after reading of his stage tour as Jesus Of Nazareth in "Guideposts" magazine.

Tours colleges and universities with a self-deprecating lecture entitled "Still Waiting For My Close-Up".

Jamie Lee Curtis tweeted from the set of Fox-TV's Scream Queens "Trying not 2 laugh at BillOberstJr & KekePalmer is impossible!" Curtis, directing an episode in which Oberst guest-starred, repeatedly covered her mouth to keep from laughing during takes.

When a power outage threatened to cancel a performance of "Ray Bradbury's Pillar Of Fire" in Pasadena CA, Oberst did the show on the lawn. The site of a barefoot man in zombie rags climbing trees to shout Ray Bradbury prose attracted much attention from passersby.

His mother is of Portuguese descent. His father is of half Irish half German descent.