Earl Holliman, whose prolific acting career included a Golden Globe-winning role in “The Rainmaker” and TV series such as “Police Woman,” has died. He was 96.
Holliman died Monday afternoon at his home in Studio City, his husband, Craig Curtis, told The Times. No cause of death was given.
The actor, square-jawed and with a unique high and soft but compelling voice, made his mark in film and TV as well as theater. He appeared in more than 50 movies and nearly 50 television shows, beginning in the early 1950s.
He may be best known for his role as Lt. Bill Crowley, macho counterpart to undercover cop Angie Dickinson on “Police Woman” from 1974 to ’78.
Holliman told The Times in 1993 that his fondest memory of the show was his friendship with Dickinson. He recalled moving into an unfurnished house and putting off the decorating only to return from a film project to find she had had his house fully furnished while he was away.
The actor won a supporting actor Golden Globe for “The Rainmaker” in 1956, starring opposite Katharine Hepburn and Burt Lancaster.
“It was my first co-starring part,” Holliman said in a 1975 interview of his role as Jimmy Curry, brother to Hepburn’s Lizzie. But it didn’t come easy. “I had to fight to get a test for it,” he said. But, he said, “Working with Katharine Hepburn was the joy of my life.”
That same year, the actor appeared in the movie “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 O.K. Corral” and “The Sons of Katie Elder” in 1965.
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 TV series that he starred in include “Hotel de Paree” (1959-60) and “Wide Country” (1962-63).
Holliman talked with The Times in 1993 about his years doing live television, which he said was an adrenaline rush.
He recalled of one show: “At the end of the first act, I was up to my neck in quicksand. As I’m being rescued, I have 90 seconds to have the folks backstage strip me down to a jockstrap, rinse me off, change my clothes, and I have to get on the other side of the stage for the next act, which has me cracking open a coconut. …
“Sometimes, when they had a close-up on your face, your wardrobe was being changed. You’d be talking to someone who had long gone for their own costume change. I think all the actors who did that live television really miss that stuff.”
Holliman was born Sept. 11, 1928, in Delhi, La. He was adopted at a week old, according to the Hollywood Reporter. When his new parents saw him, “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.’ They paid the midwife $7.50 for me — this was in the backwoods of Louisiana.”
As a teen, he hitchhiked to Los Angeles, using money that he’d saved from working as a movie theater usher and in other small jobs. He soon ran out of money and had to return home, where he enlisted in the Navy. But when they discovered he was only 15, he was discharged.
He later reenlisted and while stationed in Norfolk, Va., took part in Navy theater productions. After his service, he went west again and worked on 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 Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.
He is survived by husband Curtis and a handful of nieces and nephews.
