Misc.: Frank Wills

Frank Wills had his brush with celebrity in 1972 as the security guard who was instrumental in the arrest of a band of political burglars at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C. That arrest was the nail in the coffin for Richard Nixon's presidency.

Wills, African American, was working the 7 a.m. shift at Watergate when in the wee hours, he noticed a piece of tape covering a door lock. He removed the tape, but on his further rounds, saw that it had reappeared and called police.

Caught red-handed and arrested that night in the offices of the Democratic National Committee were former CIA operative James McCord and four cohorts. The trail of responsibility for the bungled burglary ran all the way back to the Oval Office and led to Nixon's resignation and the trials of several of his closest advisers.

Wills began charging for interviews, quit his job, but found his sudden celebrity short lived. He fell upon hard times, was twice arrested for shoplifting, and died an unhappy man--part hero, part victim-- at age 52 in 2000.

The role he played in history was recalled in the highly popular movie Forrest Gump (1994).