He developed Electrical Porcelain with transmission engineers at GE. His family continued to work at Building 68 in Schenectady for decades. William's son Frank Cermak advanced insulator design into the mid 20th century.
When Rex Harrison accepted his Academy Award for My Fair Lady (1964), he dedicated it to his two fair ladies, Audrey Hepburn and Julie Andrews both who had played Eliza Doolittle with him.
1 Henry Daniell as the British Ambassador (uncredited) He shot his short scene and died from a heart attack that very evening on the set of My Fair Lady, so that this was his last film. 2  After his death, the role was shortened.