Earl Holliman, whose prolific acting career included a Golden Globe-winning role in “The Rainmaker” and television series such as “Police Woman,” has died. He was 96 years old.
Holliman died Monday afternoon at her Studio City home, her husband, Craig Curtis, told The Times. No cause of death was given.
The actor, with a square jaw and a unique voice, high and soft but convincing, left his mark in film, television and theater. He appeared in more than 50 films and nearly 50 television shows, starting in the early 1950s.
He is perhaps best known for his role as Lt. Bill Crowley, the macho counterpart of undercover cop Angie Dickinson on “Police Woman” from 1974 to 1978.
Holliman told The Times in 1993 that his best memory of the show was his friendship with Dickinson. He recalled moving into an unfurnished house and putting off decorating only to return from a film project to discover that she had left her house fully furnished while he was away.
The actor won a Golden Globe as supporting actor for “The Rainmaker” in 1956, alongside Katharine Hepburn and Burt Lancaster.
“It was my first co-starring role,” Holliman said in a 1975 interview of his role as Jimmy Curry, brother to Hepburn's Lizzie. But it wasn't easy. “I had to fight to get tested,” he said. But he said: “Working with Katharine Hepburn was the joy of my life.”
That same year, the actor appeared in the film “Giant” as Bob Dace, son-in-law of the characters played by Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor. Other classics he was a part of include 1957's “Gunfight at the OK Corral” and 1965's “The Sons of Katie Elder.”
Earl Holliman sits with fellow actors Angie Dickinson, center, and Susan Strasberg at Boston's Park Plaza Hotel in 1983. The three had appeared at a protest rally against the abuse of laboratory animals.
(Sean Kardon / Associated Press)
He was also, notably, in the first episode of “The Twilight Zone,” which premiered in October 1959. He played a man with amnesia in “Where Is Everybody?” Other television series he starred in include “Hotel de Paree” (1959-60) and “Wide Country” (1962-63).
Holliman spoke to The Times in 1993 about his years doing live television, which he said was an adrenaline rush.
He recalled one show: “At the end of the first act, I was up to my neck in quicksand. While I'm being rescued, I have 90 seconds for the people backstage to strip me down to a jockstrap, rinse me off, change my clothes, and I have to move to the other side of the stage for the next act, which has Me Opening a Coconut. …
“Sometimes, when they had a close-up of your face, they would change your costume. You would be talking to someone who changed their costume a long time ago. “I think all the actors who did that live television really miss that stuff.”
Holliman was born on September 11, 1928 in Delhi, Louisiana. He was adopted when he was one week old, according to the Hollywood Reporter. When his new parents saw him, “he was sick and they immediately took me to the doctor, who apparently told me, 'You don't have a baby here, you have funeral expenses.' They paid the midwife $7.50 for me; “This was in the woods of Louisiana.”
As a teenager, he hitchhiked to Los Angeles, using money he had saved working as a movie usher and other small jobs. He soon ran out of money and had to return home, where he enlisted in the Navy. But when they discovered that he was only 15 years old, they discharged him.
He later re-enlisted and, while stationed in Norfolk, Virginia, participated in Navy theater productions. After his service, he returned west and worked at his craft at UCLA and the Pasadena Playhouse.
Holliman was also an animal rights activist and served as president of Actors and Others for Animals for decades. In 1977 he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
She is survived by her husband Curtis and a handful of nieces and nephews.
