Earl Holliman Dies: ‘Police Woman’, ‘Twilight Zone’ & ‘Forbidden Planet’ Actor With Dozens Of Film & TV Credits Was 96

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Posted on 11/26/2024 4:53:04 PM PST by abb

Earl Holliman, an actor with scores of credits spanning a half-century that ranged 1950s films Forbidden Planet and Giant to Police Woman and popular ’70s and ’80s TV dramas and starred the first episode of The Twilight Zone, died Monday in Los Angeles after a short illness. He was 96.

His niece, Theresa Mullins Harris, announced the news on social media, writing in part: “His dream at 5 years old of becoming a movie star came true, more than he ever could have imagined.”

Holliman got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame won a Supporting Actor Golden Globe for 1957’s The Rainmaker and was nominated for the short-lived early-’90s ABC sitcom Delta, starring Delta Burke. He was a series regular on the latter, playing the understanding owner of a bar where aspiring country singer Delta Bishop (Burke) worked while trying to make it.

Born on September 11, 1928, Holliman began his screen career with roles in 1950s movies including the sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet and James Dean’s final film Giant among many others. He co-starred opposite Burt Lancaster and Katharine Hepburn in The Rainmaker as Jim Curry, the randy brother of Hepburn’s spinster Lizzie.

Holliman had done several guest-starring roles on 1950s TV before making history as the focus of the first episode of The Twilight Zone, Rod Serling’s landmark anthology series that put ordinary people in extraordinary situations. The October 1959 episode “Where Is Everybody?” opened with Holliman’s Mike Ferris wandering in a deserted town, which appears to be populated — coffee is boiling, a jukebox is playing, a cigar is burning — but no one is seen. The unsettling scenario continues to build to a wildly unexpected climax that would be the still-loved series’ signature.

Around that time, Holliman landed his first starring role on the CBS western Hotel de Paree. He toplined as Sundance, who accidentally had killed a man in Colorado town but returned after a long prison term. When he got back to town, the hotel was being run by two of his victim’s relatives (Jeanette Nolan and Judi Meredith). Sundance got a job as a strongarm and peacekeeper. Among his stocks in trade were shiny discs in his hatband that could blind any rivals.

The series failed to catch on in a three-network universe where half of the Top 20 series were westerns, and it aired just one season min 1959-60.

Holliman continued to guest on TV before landing a second series-regular role on Wide Country, starring as a champion bronc buster who made the rodeo-circuit rounds while trying to keep his younger brother (Andrew Prine) from following in his footsteps. The NBC western also lasted a single season in 1962-63.

After that show ended, Holliman toured the U.S. as lead Curly McLain in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma! He also would appear in numerous local and touring stage productions into the 1980s, including in such beloved shows as A Streetcar Named Desire, A Chorus Line and Arsenic and Old Lace.

Holliman returned to guesting on such popular 1960s and ’70s dramas as Bonanza, The Virginian, The Fugitive, Marcus Welby M.D., It Takes a Thief, Ironside, The Rookies, Medical Center, The F.B.I., The Streets of San Francisco. and Police Story. The latter led to his signature role.

Holliman was cast to star opposite Angie Dickenson in Police Woman, NBC’s 1974-78 drama centered on LAPD undercover cop Sgt. Pepper Anderson and her vice squad team that reported to Holliman’s Lt. Bill Crowley. The show was an initial hit, finishing in the Primetime Top 15 in 1974-75, but couldn’t hold that momentum and ended in 1978.

Holliman continued to work in films and TV during the 1980s, notably playing a Georgias gubenatorial candidate in the 1981 Burt Reynolds-directed and -led actioner Sharkey Machine alongside Charles Durning, Bernie Casey and others.

He would land a fourth TV-regular gig in 1991, this time co-starring in CBS’ P.S. I Luv U. Connie Sellecca and Greg Evigan played ex-NYPD partners-turned-fake spouses in a witness-relocation program in Palm Springs. The “couple” worked for a private-security firm run by Holliman’s Matthew Durning — the only person who knew their true identities. The drama also lasted just a single season, ending in 1992.

Holliman worked steadily through the 1990s, guesting on episodes of the smash Angela Lansbury drama Murder, She Wrote, recurring on NBC’s Lea Thompson sitcom Caroline in the City and appearing as himself on Garry Shandling’s revered late-night talk-shop sendup The Larry Sanders Show.

He would land a final series-regular role on the syndicated NightMan in 1997. He starred opposite Matt McColm, whose Johnny Domingo becomes the title superhero after a lightning strike. Holliman played his ex-cop dad who appeared in two dozen episodes before being killed off in the Season 2 premiere.

Holliman also was a regular presence on TV game shows including The Hollywood Squares and multiple interations of the Pyramid game. He made more than a dozen appearances as a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and visited several other talk shows hosted by Mike Douglas, Dinah Shore, John Davidson and Chuck Woolery, who died over the weekend.

Holliman also had a brief side career as a singer in the late ’50s and early ’60s. That included a label deal with Capitol Records in 1958, where he covered “I’m in the Mood for Love” and other songs, but none hit the national charts.

Forbidden Planet just finished airing on TCM a few minutes ago.

1 posted on 11/26/2024 4:53:04 PM PST by abb

To: abb

2 posted on 11/26/2024 4:56:16 PM PST by wally_bert (I cannot be sure for certain, but in my personal opinion I am certain that I am not sure..)

To: abb

3 posted on 11/26/2024 4:57:40 PM PST by ClearCase_guy (My decisions about people are based almost entirely on skin color. I learned this from Democrats.)

To: abb

4 posted on 11/26/2024 4:59:46 PM PST by Libloather (Why do climate change hoax deniers live in mansions on the beach?)

To: abb

5 posted on 11/26/2024 5:00:18 PM PST by RBStealth (-- raised by wolves, educated by nuns)

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