James Olson (actor)

James Olson (October 8, 1930 – April 17, 2022)<ref name="ibdb">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=malibu>Template:Cite news</ref> was an American actor.

Early life

Olson was born in Evanston, Illinois,<ref name=ibdb/> on October 8, 1930, and he was a graduate of Northwestern University.<ref name=ci>Template:Cite magazine</ref> From 1952 until 1954, he was a military policeman in the United States Army.<ref name="bg">Template:Cite news</ref>

Career

He performed stage work in and around Chicago before his 1956 film debut in The Sharkfighters.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

His Broadway credits include Of Love Remembered (1967), Slapstick Tragedy (1966), The Three Sisters (1964), The Chinese Prime Minister (1964), Romulus (1962), J.B. (1958), The Sin of Pat Muldoon (1957), and The Young and Beautiful (1955).<ref name=ibdb/>

He starred alongside Joanne Woodward in the Academy Award nominee for Best Picture Rachel, Rachel<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> in 1968. He made numerous stage, feature film, and TV appearances from the mid-1950s until 1990, when he retired.

On television, Olson portrayed Mickey Mantle in The Life of Mickey Mantle.<ref name=bg/> His other TV appearances included guest roles on scores of shows, including episodes of Kraft Television Theatre; Ironside; Murder, She Wrote; Little House on the Prairie; Hawaii Five-O; Battlestar Galactica; Lou Grant; The Bionic Woman; Wonder Woman; Mannix; Bonanza; Have Gun-Will Travel-as Owen Deaver S1 E32 (1958); Marcus Welby, M.D.; Police Woman; Barnaby Jones; The New Land; Columbo; Maude; The Virginian; The Streets of San Francisco; and Cannon.

Death

Olson died at his home in Malibu, California on April 17, 2022, at the age of 91. He was survived by two nieces, Susan Baker and Robin Olson, a nephew, David James Olson, and three grandnephews.<ref name=malibu/>

Selected filmography

• The Sharkfighters (1956) as Ens. Harold Duncan
• The Strange One (1957) as Roger Gatt
• The Three Sisters (1966) as Baron Tuzenbach
• Rachel, Rachel (1968) as Nick Kazlik
• The Stalking Moon (1968) as Cavalry Officer (uncredited)
• Moon Zero Two (1969) as Kemp
• Crescendo (1970) as Georges Ryman / Jacques Ryman
• The Andromeda Strain (1971) as Dr. Mark Hall
• Wild Rovers (1971) as Joe Billings
• Paper Man (1971) as Art Fletcher
• Columbo: Etude in Black (1972, TV movie) as Paul Rifkin
• The Groundstar Conspiracy (1972) as Sen. Stanton
• Incident on a Dark Street (1973) as Joe Dubbs
• The Missiles of October (1974, TV movie) as McGeorge Bundy, Special Assistant for National Security Affairs
• Strange New World (1975, TV movie) as Surgeon
• The Spell (1977) as Glenn
• The Mafu Cage (1978) as David
• Hawaii Five-O (1978) as Stoner
• Ragtime (1981) as Father
• Amityville II: The Possession (1982) as Father Adamsky
• Cave-In! (1983) as Tom Arlen
• Commando (1985) as Major General Franklin Kirby
• Rachel River (1987) as Jack Canon

External links

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• James Olson at Internet Off-Broadway Database
• James Olson at the University of Wisconsin's Actors Studio audio collection