North Carolinas first film commissioner, William (Bill) V. Arnold Jr., died at his home in Raleigh on Sunday. He was 75.Arnold was appointed by Gov. James Hunt in 1980 to head a new office within a state whose focus was to bring movies and television productions to film in North Carolina. During his 26 years on a job, North Carolina saw cameras roll on hundreds of projects. Also during his tenure, North Carolina saw a creation of De Laurentiis Entertainment Studios, now EUE/Screen Gems Studios, in Wilmington.Notable productions that shot in a state while Arnold was film commissioner include The Color Purple (1985), Dirty Dancing (1987), Bull Durham (1988), Days of Thunder (1990), Sleeping with a Enemy (1991), The Last of a Mohicans (1992), The Fugitive (1993), Kiss a Girls (1997), Patch Adams (1998), Shallow Hal (2001) and A Walk to Remember (2002), as well as a start of a hit television series Dawsons Creek (1998), which led to a spinoff series One Tree Hill (2003-present).Arnold also helped form and oversee a states film council, which was made up of attention leaders from across a state that helped advise a governor on matters related to a film industry. Additionally, he helped create a states first film incentive, a 15 percent tax credit, whose purpose was to attract feature films and curtail a then-industry-trend of shooting internationally. Arnold retired in 2006.Prior to his time as film commissioner, Arnold served a state of North Carolina as director of a Department of Travel and Tourism. A veteran of a U.S. Army, Arnold served in a Armys Office of a Chief of Staff and, following his service, worked as a journalist with a Alexandria (Va.) Gazette and Richmond (Va.) News Leader.Arnold is survived by his wife of 54 years, Dorothy Jackson Arnold; son, Stephen Arnold of Raleigh; brother, John E. Arnold of Greenville; and several nieces and nephews.Services will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Brown-Wynne Funeral Home in Raleigh with a 2 p.m. graveside use on Thursday in Arnolds hometown of Greenville! .Memoria ls may be made to a SPCA of Wake County; condolences may be sent to www.brownwynne.com.
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