Earle Hyman
Template:Short description Script error: No such module "Distinguish".
Page Module:Infobox/styles.css has no content.
Earle Hyman | |
|---|---|
| Born | George Earle Plummer Script error: No such module "person date". |
| Died | Script error: No such module "person date". Englewood, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Other nameTemplate:Pluralize from text | Earl Hyman |
| OccupationTemplate:Pluralize from text | Actor |
| Years active | 1943–2001 |
| EmployerTemplate:Pluralize from text | Template:Pluralize from text |
| OrganizationTemplate:Pluralize from text | Template:Pluralize from text |
| AgentTemplate:Pluralize from text | Template:Pluralize from text |
| Notable creditTemplate:Pluralize from text | Template:Pluralize from text |
| LabelTemplate:Pluralize from text | Template:Pluralize from text |
| OpponentTemplate:Pluralize from text | Template:Pluralize from text |
Criminal chargeTemplate:Pluralize from text | Template:Pluralize from text |
| SpouseTemplate:Pluralize from text | Template:Pluralize from text |
| PartnerTemplate:Pluralize from text | Template:Pluralize from text |
| Template:Pluralize from text | |
Script error: No such module "Check for conflicting parameters".Script error: No such module "Check for deprecated parameters".
Earle Hyman (born George Earle Plummer; October 11, 1926 – November 17, 2017) was an American stage, television, and film actor. Hyman is known for his role on ThunderCats as the voice of Panthro and various other characters. He also appeared on The Cosby Show as Cliff's father, Russell Huxtable. Singer Phyllis Hyman was his cousin.
Life and career
Hyman was born in 1926 in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, as George Earle Plummer according to the North Carolina Birth Index. He claimed Native American ancestry.[1] His parents, Zachariah Hyman and Maria Lilly Plummer, seeking better educational opportunities, moved their family from the south [2] to Brooklyn, New York, in the late 1920s, where Hyman primarily grew up.[1] Hyman knew at age 4 that he wanted to become an actor after performing a poem at a church play and was determined to become one after seeing a production of Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts.
Page Template:Blockquote/styles.css has no content.
The first play I ever saw was a present from my parents on my 13th birthday – Nazimova in Ghosts at Brighton Beach on the subway circuit – and I just freaked out.[3][4][5]
He studied acting at HB Studio[6] in New York City. He made his Broadway stage debut as a teenager in 1943 in Run, Little Chillun, and later joined the American Negro Theater. The following year, Hyman began a two-year run playing the role of Rudolf on Broadway in Anna Lucasta, starring Hilda Simms in the title role.[7] He was a member of the American Shakespeare Theatre beginning with its first season in 1955, and played the role of Othello in the 1957 season.[8]
In December 1958, he came to London to play the leading role in Moon on a Rainbow Shawl, by Errol John, at the Royal Court.[9]
In 1959, he again appeared in the West End, this time in the first London production of A Raisin In the Sun, alongside Kim Hamilton. The show ran at the Adelphi Theatre and was directed by Lloyd Richards. A life member of The Actors Studio,[10] Hyman appeared throughout his career in productions in both the United States and Norway, where he also owned property. In 1965, he won a Theatre World Award and in 1988, he was awarded the St Olav's medal for his work in Norwegian theater.
In addition to his stage work, Hyman appeared in various television and film roles including adaptions of Macbeth (1968), Julius Caesar (1979), and Coriolanus (1979), and voiced Panthro on the animated television series ThunderCats (1985–1989). He played two roles (at different times) on television's The Edge of Night.
One of his most well known roles, that of Russell Huxtable in The Cosby Show, earned him an Emmy Award nomination in 1986. He played the father of lead character Cliff Huxtable, played by Bill Cosby.[11]
Death
Hyman died in 2017, at the Lillian Booth Actors Home in Englewood, New Jersey. He was 91.[11]
In June 2020, the Folger Shakespeare Library, a private research library in Washington D.C., acquired Hyman's personal items and memorabilia to be displayed as the Earle Hyman Collection. In personal correspondences Hyman wrote that he and Rolf Sirnes (1926–2004), a Norwegian seaman, had lived together for fifty years. Hyman described their relationship as a passionate friendship and wrote that Sirnes was his partner.[12]
In March 2026, actor Delroy Lindo, soon after receiving his Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor nomination, tearfully told an interviewer how eternally thankful he was for Earle Hyman having been a "savior" in his life. When Lindo was still a young actor, out of work and feeling "hopeless...at such a low point when Earle gave me that affirmation. He said, 'Young man, you have nothing to worry about.' " And Lindo said he cries every time he recalls Hyman's compassionate, encouraging words.[13]
Connections to Norway
In Norway, Hyman was seen as a friend of the country[14] and had a cabin in Skånevik.[15] Hyman learned to speak Norwegian through Sirnes, who was originally from Haugesund. In the 1990s, they lived in New York City.[16]
Filmography
| Film | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1945 | The Lost Weekend | Smoking Man | Uncredited |
| 1954 | The Bamboo Prison | Doc Jackson, medic | |
| 1966 | Afrikaneren | Raymond | Alternative title: The African |
| 1972 | The Possession of Joel Delaney | Charles | Credited Earl Hyman |
| 1975 | The Super Cops | Police Detective | Uncredited |
| 1979 | Julius Caesar | Cicero | |
| Coriolanus | Cominius | ||
| 1982 | Fighting Back | Police Chief Freeman | Alternative title: Death Vengeance |
| 1985 | Thundercats – HO: The Movie | Panthro | Voice |
| 1987 | Light Years | Maxum | Voice, Alternative title: Gandahar |
| Television | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1957 | Hallmark Hall of Fame | Adam | 1 episode |
| The United States Steel Hour | Jim | 1 episode | |
| 1963 | Espionage | Premier Djatuma | 1 episode |
| East Side/West Side | Mr. Marsden | 1 episode | |
| 1964 | The Nurses | Buratta | 1 episode |
| Playdate | Crouch | 1 episode | |
| The Defenders | District Attorney | 1 episode | |
| Esso World Theater: Nigeria: Culture in Transition | Self | 1 episode | |
| 1965 | Seaway | Tom Nkomo | 1 episode |
| 1968 | Macbeth | Macbeth | Television movie |
| 1969 | Sesame Street | "Big" tuba player | Film about "Big and Little" musician friends, first aired on Episode 16[17] |
| 1980 | The Ivory Ape | Inspector St. George | Television movie |
| 1982 | Long Day's Journey Into Night | James Tyrone | Television movie |
| 1984 | The Edge of Night | Bailiff | Unknown episodes |
| 1984–1992 | The Cosby Show | Russell Huxtable | 40 episodes |
| 1985 | The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus | King Awgwa | Voice, Television movie |
| 1985–1989 | ThunderCats | Panthro / Redeye | Voice, 125 episodes |
| 1987 | A Different World | Russell Huxtable | Episode: "Sometimes You Get the Bear, Sometimes the Bear Gets You" |
| 1989 | A Man Called Hawk | Jefferson Adams | Episode: "Passing the Bar" |
| 1994 | Seier'n er vår | Sammy | Unknown episodes |
| 1995 | All My Children | Mr. Patterson | Unknown episodes |
| 1996 | Hijacked: Flight 285 | Wayne Edwards | Television movie |
| 1997 | Cosby | Rev. Mitchell | 1 episode |
| 2000 | The Moving of Sophia Myles | Bishop Heath | Television movie |
| 2001 | Twice in a Lifetime | Charley Freeman | Episode: "Moonshine Over Harlem" |
Awards and nominations
| Year | Award | Result | Category | Film, series or play |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | Theatre World Award | Won | -
|
-
|
| 1980 | Tony Award | Nominated | Best Featured Actor in a Play | The Lady From Dubuque |
| 1983 | CableACE Award | Won | Actor in a Dramatic Presentation | Long Day's Journey Into Night |
| 1986 | Emmy Award | Nominated | Outstanding Guest Performer in a Comedy Series | The Cosby Show (For episode "Happy Anniversary") |
| 2009 | Obie Award for Lifetime Achievement | Won | N/A | n/A |
References
Page Template:Reflist/styles.css has no content.
- ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Tony & Emmy Nominated Actor Earle Hyman Passes Away at 91". Broadway Black. Black Broadway T&L Productions. 18 November 2017. Archived from the original on 5 March 2019. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Debold, Elizabeth (26 June 2020). "Announcing the Earle Hyman Collection". Folger University. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."From Ibsen to Pinter and back again Earle Hyman's long journey with the masters". Thevillager.com. Archived from the original on 12 June 2011. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Winer, Laurie (1991-03-24). "From Cosby's Father to Colonel Pickering, By Way of Norway". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-11-09.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Debold, Elizabeth (26 June 2020). "Announcing the Earle Hyman Collection". Folger College. Folger Shakespeare Library. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
- ^ HB Studio Alumni
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Buckley, Michael (2005-10-23). "Stage and Screen Star Earle Hyman". Playbill.com. Archived from the original on 2008-12-24. Retrieved 2008-11-09.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Cooper, Roberta Krensky (1986), The American Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford 1955–1985, Folger Books, p. 43, ISBN 0-918016-88-6
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Stephens, Frances (1959). ""Moon on a Rainbow Shawl"". Theatre World Annual (London). A Pictorial Review of West End Productions with a record of Plays and Players. London: Barrie & Rockliff. p. 89.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Garfield, David (1980). "Appendix: Life Members of The Actors Studio as of January 1980". A Player's Place: The Story of The Actors Studio. New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc. p. 278. ISBN 0-02-542650-8.
- ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Earle Hyman, Grandpa Huxtable on 'The Cosby Show,' Dies at 91". The Hollywood Reporter. 19 November 2017. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.DeBold, Elizabeth (26 June 2020). "Announcing the Earle Hyman Collection". Folger College. Folger Shakespeare Library. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Cruz, Clarissa. "Delroy Lindo on 'Sinners,' Speaking Up and the Power of Affirmation". nytimes.com. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 7 March 2026.
- ^ "Give my regards to Norway" from The Washington Post (29.11.2006)
- ^ "Earle Hyman snart hjem til Norge" Script error: No such module "webarchive". from skaanevik.no Template:In lang
- ^ Karin Muri, "Bestefar Cosby kaster masken", VG, 28 August 1994. Template:In lang
- ^ Classic Sesame Street – "Big and Little"
External links
- Earle Hyman at IMDbTemplate:Edit at Wikidata
- {{IBDB name}} template missing ID and not present in Wikidata.
- Earle Hyman at the Internet Off-Broadway Database (archived)Template:Edit at Wikidata
- Audio Interview (2008)
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Authority control/config' not found.
