William 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]

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	Ripley's Believe It or Not! The Charles Hodges Side Show James E. Strates Shows Hubert’s Museum
Known for	Performing as “The Man With Three Eyes”
Spouse	Mildred Durks

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

William Durks (second from top left) among other sideshow performers on Strates Shows.

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]

Bill and his wife Mildred.

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]