Earl Holliman obit

Earl Holliman, Actor on ‘Police Woman,’ Dies at 96

He starred on the first 'Twilight Zone' and appeared on the big screen in 'The Rainmaker,' 'Giant' and 'The Sons of Katie Elder.'

 

 He was not on the list.

Earl Holliman, the actor best known for playing Angie Dickinson’s boss on the 1970s NBC cop drama Police Woman, has died. He was 96.

Holliman died Monday in hospice care at his home in Studio City, his spouse, Craig Curtis, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Holliman won a best supporting actor Golden Globe for portraying Katharine Hepburn’s girl-crazy kid brother in The Rainmaker (1956) — he beat out Elvis Presley for the role — and then appeared in another Burt Lancaster film, as Wyatt Earp’s assistant in Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957).

In the George Stevens epic Giant (1956), the Louisiana native played the son-in-law of Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson’s characters, was the cook in Forbidden Planet (1956) and appeared as the brother of John Wayne, Dean Martin and Michael Anderson Jr. in Henry Hathaway’s The Sons of Katie Elder (1965).

Holliman also portrayed a man with amnesia in a deserted town on the very first episode of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone, “Where Is Everybody?” which premiered on Oct. 2, 1959.

Also during the 1959-60 TV season, Holliman starred as Sundance, a Colorado gunslinger-turned-marshal with a sidekick — a dog named Useless — on the short-lived Hotel de Paree.

Three years later, Holliman toplined another TV Western, NBC’s Wide Country; he played a rodeo star on that Ralph Edwards-produced series, but that lasted only a season as well.

Holliman replaced Bert Convy after the pilot to star as the macho Lt. Bill Crowley on Police Woman, which aired from 1974-78. He shared a pleasant chemistry with Dickinson, who starred as LAPD undercover cop Sgt. Suzanne “Pepper” Anderson, on the series’ four seasons.

“She’d get into trouble and I’d run in and save her,” Holliman, talking about a typical Police Woman storyline, said in a 2003 interview. “I would make some smart remark and she would come back at me in some sexy kind of way, and a lot of that was ad-libbed. We had a tacit kind of permission to do that.”

Henry Earl Holliman was born on Sept. 11, 1928, in Delhi, Louisiana. His natural father died six months before he was born, and Holliman was placed in an orphanage before being adopted when he was a week old.

“When [his adoptive parents] came to see me, I was sick and they took me right away to the doctor, who apparently said, ‘You don’t have a baby here, you have a funeral expense,'” he said. “They paid the midwife $7.50 for me — this was in the backwoods of Louisiana.

“I had wonderful parents who gave me all the love in the world. They encouraged me to be whatever I can be. I was their only child.”

Holliman dreamed about becoming an actor, and when he was 14, shortly after his father died, he hitchhiked from a relative’s home in Texarkana, Texas, to the outskirts of Hollywood.

He was talked into returning home, so he came back to Oil City High School, where he played tackle on the football team and was voted president of his senior class.

After a stint in the U.S. Navy, Holliman studied acting at the Pasadena Playhouse and made his professional debut with one line of dialogue as an elevator operator in the Dean Martin-Jerry Lewis comedy Scared Stiff (1953).

He had minor roles in four other films that year, and in 1954, he played Spencer Tracy’s son in Broken Lance and appeared with William Holden and Grace Kelly in The Bridges at Toko-Ri.

In 1957, Holliman starred on an installment of CBS’ Playhouse 90 called “The Dark Side of the Earth,” which was written by Serling. That put him on the writer’s radar for The Twilight Zone.

Holliman received another Globe nomination in 1993 for playing a gruff bar owner on the short-lived ABC series Delta, starring Delta Burke, and he portrayed Luddie Mueller on the landmark 1983 ABC miniseries The Thorn Birds.

His other TV credits included Gunsmoke, Cannon, Bonanza, Slattery’s People, The Fugitive, Dr. Kildare, The Six Million Dollar Man, Empty Nest, Murder, She Wrote and Caroline in the City.

Holliman also was in such as films as I Died a Thousand Times (1955), Hot Spell (1958), Last Train From Gun Hill (1959), Summer and Smoke (1961), A Covenant With Death (1967), The Power (1968), Anzio (1968), The Biscuit Eater (1972), Bad City Blues (1999) and The Perfect Tenant (2000).

Holliman ran the Fiesta Dinner Theatre in San Antonio for many years and served as president of Actors and Others for Animals, which promoted animal population control.

Henry Earl Holliman was born on September 11, 1928, in Delhi, Louisiana. His biological father William A. Frost was a farmer. His mother Mary Smith was living in poverty with several other children and gave him up for adoption at birth, while her other children were sent to orphanages until she could take them all back, which she did. Earl was the seventh of ten children overall and, in later years, he was able to reconnect and establish relationships with them. He was adopted a week after his birth by Henry Holliman, a traveling oilfield worker, and his wife Velma, a waitress, who then gave him the name Henry Earl Holliman. He was so frail in his infancy that one doctor predicted he would not live long enough to see childhood, but when Velma's sister provided him with a generous dose of castor oil shortly after, the ingredients proved to heal him tremendously and helped save his life. Although his upbringing and family history have strong ties to Louisiana, during his teenage years he and his family lived in Kerrville, Texas, for a time as well as some parts of Arkansas (which he once stated made him out to be a "red-blooded Ark-La-Texan").

From 1958 to 1963, Holliman also performed as a singer, and had a record deal with such notable recording studios as Capitol Records, Prep, and HiFi. Aside from acting, Holliman was also an activist and was an honorary chairman for Toys for Tots. He was also President of Actors and Others for Animals for 25 years.

 

Actor

 

    The Perfect Tenant (2000)

    The Perfect Tenant

 

4.7

 

    Arthur Michaels

 

    2000

 

Chicken Soup for the Soul (1999)

Chicken Soup for the Soul

4.9

TV Series

 

    Gramps

 

    2000

 

Bad City Blues (1999)

Bad City Blues

4.4

 

    Joe Gags

 

    1999

 

Matt McColm in NightMan (1997)

NightMan

5.6

TV Series

 

    Frank Dominus

 

    1997–1999

 

Caroline in the City (1995)

Caroline in the City

6.2

TV Series

 

    Fred Duffy

 

    1996–1999

 

NightMan (1997)

NightMan

5.4

TV Movie

 

    Frank Dominus

 

    1997

 

Captain Planet and the Planeteers (1990)

Captain Planet and the Planeteers

6.7

TV Series

 

    Milton (voice)

 

    1996

 

Angela Lansbury in Murder, She Wrote (1984)

Murder, She Wrote

7.2

TV Series

 

    Wayne Platte

    Sheriff J.T. Tanner

 

    1991–1994

 

Delta Burke in Delta (1992)

Delta

7.3

TV Series

 

    Darden Towe

 

    1992–1993

 

In the Heat of the Night (1988)

In the Heat of the Night

7.6

TV Series

 

    Dr. Lambert

 

    1992

 

The Larry Sanders Show (1992)

The Larry Sanders Show

8.5

TV Series

 

    Earl Holliman

 

    1992

 

Greg Evigan and Connie Sellecca in P.S.I. Luv U (1991)

P.S.I. Luv U

7.4

TV Series

 

    Matthew Durning

 

    1991–1992

 

Dinah Manoff, Kristy McNichol, David Leisure, Richard Mulligan, and Park Overall in Empty Nest (1988)

Empty Nest

6.6

TV Series

 

    Mike Bradovitch

 

    1990

 

Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge (1987)

Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge

6.9

TV Movie

 

    Jake Flagg

 

    1987

 

American Harvest (1987)

American Harvest

7.8

TV Movie

 

    Krab Hogan

 

    1987

 

Dermot Mulroney, Judd Nelson, Burt Reynolds, and Megan Follows in Shattered If Your Kid's on Drugs (1986)

Shattered If Your Kid's on Drugs

6.0

Video

 

    Mike Wilson

 

    1986

 

Anne Baxter, James Brolin, and Connie Sellecca in Hotel (1983)

Hotel

6.4

TV Series

 

    Owen McDermott

 

    1986

 

Richard Chamberlain and Rachel Ward in The Thorn Birds (1983)

The Thorn Birds

7.9

TV Mini Series

 

    Luddie Mueller

 

    1983

 

Country Gold (1982)

Country Gold

6.6

TV Movie

 

    Wade Purcell

 

    1982

 

Burt Reynolds, Charles Durning, and Bernie Casey in Sharky's Machine (1981)

Sharky's Machine

6.3

 

    Hotchkins

 

    1981

 

Erik Estrada and Larry Wilcox in CHiPs (1977)

CHiPs

6.5

TV Series

 

    Earl Holliman (uncredited)

 

    1979–1980

 

Where the Ladies Go (1980)

Where the Ladies Go

5.8

TV Movie

 

    Buck

 

    1980

 

Michelle Pfeiffer and Earl Holliman in The Solitary Man (1979)

The Solitary Man

6.0

TV Movie

 

    Dave Keyes

 

    1979

 

Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff (1979)

Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff

6.0

 

    Ed Eckles

 

    1979

 

Angie Dickinson in Police Woman (1974)

Police Woman

6.6

TV Series

 

    Lt. Bill Crowley

    Sgt. Bill Crowley

 

    1974–1978

 

Alexander: The Other Side of Dawn (1977)

Alexander: The Other Side of Dawn

6.4

TV Movie

 

    Ray Church

 

    1977

 

Robert Forster, David Birney, and Richard E. Kalk in Police Story (1973)

Police Story

7.5

TV Series

 

    Sgt. Charlie Ryan

 

    1974

 

I Love You... Good-bye (1974)

I Love You... Good-bye

5.4

TV Movie

 

    Tom Chandler

 

    1974

 

John Forsythe in Cry Panic (1974)

Cry Panic

6.2

TV Movie

 

    Sheriff Ross Cabot

 

    1974

 

Susan Clark, Earl Holliman, and Robert Hooks in Doberman Patrol (1973)

Doberman Patrol

6.4

TV Movie

 

    David Moore

 

    1973

 

The Six Million Dollar Man: Wine, Women and War (1973)

The Six Million Dollar Man: Wine, Women and War

6.8

TV Movie

 

    Harry Donner

 

    1973

 

The Streets of San Francisco (1972)

The Streets of San Francisco

7.3

TV Series

 

    Chris Conway

 

    1973

 

The F.B.I. (1965)

The F.B.I.

7.4

TV Series

 

    Frank Rodman

    Drake Faron

    Walker Carr ...

 

    1966–1973

 

The Magical World of Disney (1954)

The Magical World of Disney

8.4

TV Series

 

    Cal Winslow

    Cal Finch

 

    1970–1973

 

James Daly in Medical Center (1969)

Medical Center

7.1

TV Series

 

    Brent

    Dr. Ian Hayton

 

    1971–1973

 

James Arness, Amanda Blake, Milburn Stone, and Dennis Weaver in Gunsmoke (1955)

Gunsmoke

8.1

TV Series

 

    Boone Shadler

    Hackett

    Will

 

    1969–1973

 

Kate Jackson, Georg Stanford Brown, Sam Melville, and Michael Ontkean in The Rookies (1972)

The Rookies

6.8

TV Series

 

    Easy Wyatt

 

    1972

 

The Biscuit Eater (1972)

The Biscuit Eater

5.7

 

    Harve McNeil

 

    1972

 

Pete Duel and Ben Murphy in Alias Smith and Jones (1971)

Alias Smith and Jones

7.6

TV Series

 

    Wheat

 

    1971

 

Cannon (1971)

Cannon

7.3

TV Movie

 

    Magruder

 

    1971

 

Keir Dullea, Rip Torn, Geraldine Page, and Jess Walton in Montserrat (1971)

Montserrat

7.0

TV Movie

 

    Luhan

 

    1971

 

Raymond Burr and Barbara Sigel in Ironside (1967)

Ironside

6.9

TV Series

 

    Gordy Brokaw

 

    1971

 

The Tribe (1970)

The Tribe

7.3

 

    DePayster

 

    1970

 

It Takes a Thief (1968)

It Takes a Thief

7.5

TV Series

 

    Major Arlin McCoy

 

    1970

 

Ron Howard in Smoke (1970)

Smoke

6.6

TV Movie

 

    Cal Finch

 

    1970

 

James Brolin, Robert Young, Barbara Sigel, and Elena Verdugo in Marcus Welby, M.D. (1969)

Marcus Welby, M.D.

7.0

TV Series

 

    Father Hugh

 

    1969

 

Ricardo Montalban in The Desperate Mission (1969)

The Desperate Mission

6.2

TV Movie

 

    Shad Clay

 

    1969

 

Insight (1960)

Insight

7.4

TV Series

 

    Fleming

 

    1968

 

Anzio (1968)

Anzio

6.0

 

    Platoon Sgt. Abe Stimmler

 

    1968

 

George Hamilton, Richard Carlson, Arthur O'Connell, and Suzanne Pleshette in The Power (1968)

The Power

5.9

 

    Talbot Scott

 

    1968

 

Carl Betz and Stephen Young in Judd for the Defense (1967)

Judd for the Defense

7.7

TV Series

 

    Sheriff Lonny Querido

 

    1968

 

Wayne Maunder in Custer (1967)

Custer

6.5

TV Series

 

    Dan Samuels

 

    1967

 

A Covenant with Death (1967)

A Covenant with Death

6.0

 

    Brian Talbot

 

    1967

 

David Janssen in The Fugitive (1963)

The Fugitive

8.1

TV Series

 

    Charley Judd

 

    1965

 

Richard Crenna and Maxine Stuart in Slattery's People (1964)

Slattery's People

8.1

TV Series

 

    Major Roger Dyne

 

    1965

 

James Drury, Doug McClure, and John McIntire in The Virginian (1962)

The Virginian

7.6

TV Series

 

    Wiley

 

    1965

 

John Wayne, Dean Martin, Michael Anderson Jr., and Earl Holliman in The Sons of Katie Elder (1965)

The Sons of Katie Elder

7.1

 

    Matt Elder

 

    1965

 

Dr. Kildare (1961)

Dr. Kildare

7.0

TV Series

 

    Capt. Bob Hill

 

    1965

 

12 O'Clock High (1964)

12 O'Clock High

8.1

TV Series

 

    Lt. Paul Stiger

 

    1965

 

Bonanza (1959)

Bonanza

7.3

TV Series

 

    Sherman Clegg

 

    1965

 

The Great Adventure (1963)

The Great Adventure

8.3

TV Series

 

    Will Cross

 

    1964

 

Wide Country (1962)

Wide Country

8.0

TV Series

 

    Mitch Guthrie

 

    1962–1963

 

Sebastian Cabot, Anthony George, and Doug McClure in Checkmate (1960)

Checkmate

7.5

TV Series

 

    Jack Quentin

 

    1962

 

Ronald Reagan in General Electric Theater (1953)

General Electric Theater

6.8

TV Series

 

    David Seymour

 

    1962

 

Fred Astaire in Alcoa Premiere (1961)

Alcoa Premiere

7.1

TV Series

 

    Mitch Guthrie

 

    1962

 

Joan Freeman, Marilyn Maxwell, and Rhodes Reason in Bus Stop (1961)

Bus Stop

7.1

TV Series

 

    Allan Stumbo

 

    1962

 

Westinghouse Presents: The Dispossessed

8.6

TV Movie

 

    Webster

 

    1961

 

The Dick Powell Theatre (1961)

The Dick Powell Theatre

7.4

TV Series

 

    Paul Williams

 

    1961

 

Laurence Harvey and Geraldine Page in Summer and Smoke (1961)

Summer and Smoke

6.8

 

    Archie Kramer

 

    1961

 

Armored Command (1961)

Armored Command

5.1

 

    Mike

 

    1961

 

Earl Holliman in Hotel de Paree (1959)

Hotel de Paree

8.2

TV Series

 

    Sundance

 

    1959–1960

 

Jerry Lewis in Visit to a Small Planet (1960)

Visit to a Small Planet

5.9

 

    Conrad

 

    1960

 

Rod Serling in The Twilight Zone (1959)

The Twilight Zone

9.0

TV Series

 

    Mike Ferris

 

    1959

 

Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, Earl Holliman, and Ziva Rodann in Last Train from Gun Hill (1959)

Last Train from Gun Hill

7.3

 

    Rick Belden

 

    1959

 

Tina Louise, Richard Widmark, Lee J. Cobb, and Earl Holliman in The Trap (1959)

The Trap

6.6

 

    Tippy Anderson

 

    1959

 

Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse (1958)

Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse

7.9

TV Series

 

    Les Tranier

 

    1958

 

Playhouse 90 (1956)

Playhouse 90

8.3

TV Series

 

    Robin Tripp

    Capt. Volodney

 

    1957–1958

 

Marsha Hunt and John Rodney in Studio One (1948)

Studio One

7.5

TV Series

 

    Wayne Pilgrim

 

    1958

 

Anthony Quinn and Valerie Allen in Hot Spell (1958)

Hot Spell

6.9

 

    John Henry 'Buddy' Duval Jr.

 

    1958

 

Kraft Theatre (1947)

Kraft Theatre

7.9

TV Series

 

    American airman

    Danny Smith

 

    1958

 

Don't Go Near the Water (1957)

Don't Go Near the Water

6.1

 

    Adam Garrett

 

    1957

 

Barbara Stanwyck and Joel McCrea in Trooper Hook (1957)

Trooper Hook

6.6

 

    Jeff Bennett

 

    1957

 

Matinee Theatre (1955)

Matinee Theatre

6.8

TV Series

 

    Tom Cotterell

 

    1957

 

Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, Rhonda Fleming, and Jo Van Fleet in Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

7.1

 

    Charles Bassett

 

    1957

 

The Rainmaker (1956)

The Rainmaker

6.9

 

    Jim Curry

 

    1956

 

James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor, and Rock Hudson in Giant (1956)

Giant

7.6

 

    'Bob' Dace

 

    1956

 

Natalie Wood and Tab Hunter in The Burning Hills (1956)

The Burning Hills

5.8

 

    Mort Bayliss

 

    1956

 

Forbidden Planet (1956)

Forbidden Planet

7.5

 

    Cook

 

    1956

 

Jack Palance and Shelley Winters in I Died a Thousand Times (1955)

I Died a Thousand Times

6.4

 

    Red

 

    1955

 

Richard Conte, Cornel Wilde, and Jean Wallace in The Big Combo (1955)

The Big Combo

7.3

 

    Mingo

 

    1955

 

The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954)

The Bridges at Toko-Ri

6.7

 

    Nestor Gamidge

 

    1954

 

Broken Lance (1954)

Broken Lance

6.9

 

    Denny Devereaux

 

    1954

 

Shelley Winters and Keenan Wynn in Tennessee Champ (1954)

Tennessee Champ

5.7

 

    Happy Jackfield

 

    1954

 

Jeff Chandler, Suzan Ball, and Marilyn Maxwell in East of Sumatra (1953)

East of Sumatra

5.4

 

    Cupid (as Henry Earl Holliman)

 

    1953

 

Devil's Canyon (1953)

Devil's Canyon

5.4

 

    Joe

 

    1953

 

Carmen Miranda, Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin, and Lizabeth Scott in Scared Stiff (1953)

Scared Stiff

6.3

 

    Elevator Operator (uncredited)

 

    1953

 

Peter Baldwin, Gene Barry, Dorothy Bromiley, Audrey Dalton, Joan Elan, and Don Taylor in The Girls of Pleasure Island (1953)

The Girls of Pleasure Island

5.7

 

    Marine (uncredited)

 

    1953

 

Destination Gobi (1953)

Destination Gobi

6.3

 

    Frank Swenson (uncredited)

 

    1953

 

Tyrone Power and Penny Edwards in Pony Soldier (1952)

Pony Soldier

5.8

 

    Undetermined Secondary Role (uncredited)

 

    1952