About 80 years ago, this iconic actor was guiding moviegoers to their seats in the dim aisles of a theater in Shreveport, Louisiana.
However, his true aspiration was to be on the screen.
Facing numerous auditions, the determined young actor was frequently told, “you just don’t look the part.” Determined to succeed, he visited the Paramount Studio barber shop and transformed his appearance.
Continue reading to discover more about the Golden Globe-winning actor and the transformative haircut that launched his career!
Born in 1928, Louisiana’s Earl Holliman always dreamed of making it to the big screen.
Around the age of 14, he earned 25 cents an hour guiding movie patrons to their seats at Shreveport’s Strand Theater. Saving his money, the aspiring star accumulated “a few bucks,” and at 15, he hitchhiked to Hollywood.
“I brought along a pair of dark sunglasses, which I associated with Hollywood,” Holliman, now 95, recalled in an earlier interview. “On my first day, I went to Grauman’s Chinese Theater and walked up and down the forecourt where movie stars put their handprints and footprints, hoping everyone would wonder who I was. But I didn’t last long. I thought I’d be able to get a job, but I couldn’t.”
Feeling defeated, the young man returned home to complete high school. After graduation, he served in the navy, which led him to a radio communications school in Los Angeles.
“Whenever I’d get liberty (shore leave), I’d hightail it over to the Hollywood Canteen and meet people I’d later work with, like Roddy McDowall. Eventually, I applied to and was accepted at the Pasadena Playhouse,” said Holliman, who landed a small role in the 1953 film Scared Stiff with Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin.
However, Hollywood proved harsh to the ambitious actor, who kept hearing during auditions, “you just don’t look the part.”
“I was told that even though I was a good actor, I wasn’t handsome enough to be a leading man and wasn’t offbeat enough to be a character actor. I was just kind of in between,” he recalled.
Determined to find a path to stardom and secure a role in the 1953 film The Girls of Pleasure Island, Holliman decided to get a makeover.
‘Funny-looking haircut’
Describing his big break that came with his new look, the Forbidden Planet star says, “When I sat in the barber’s chair, they cut my hair about a quarter of an inch long, and in the front, it laid down like bangs. With my big ears, broken nose, two front teeth, little eyes, and funny-looking haircut, I was suddenly a character actor. Just like that.”
After landing the role in The Girls of Pleasure Island, Holliman delivered a Golden Globe-winning performance in 1956’s The Rainmaker, starring alongside Katharine Hepburn and Burt Lancaster.
“That’s still my favorite film,” he said in a 1991 interview with the Calgary Herald. “It was the one that made all the difference in lifting my career to a whole new plateau.”
Over the next several years, Holliman—who also enjoyed a successful music career—appeared on screen with Hollywood legends like John Wayne, Dean Martin, Kirk Douglas, and Rock Hudson.
From 1974 to 1978, the star of the TV series Wide Country became widely recognized as Sergeant Bill Crowley in Police Woman, a TV show that also starred Angie Dickinson.
Speaking of the chemistry he shared with his co-star, now 92 years old, the Giant star said, “She was very sexy yet at the same time had a little girl quality that made you want to protect her, to put your arm around her and say it was going to be okay. We were together 12 or 14 hours a day. Angie’s very opinionated, and when she thinks she’s right, that’s the way it is. We had our share of disagreements, but you could tell we had a warmth. It looked like two people who adored each other. It was there.”
After small appearances in TV series like The Twilight Zone and the short-lived Delta with Delta Burke, as well as films including Bad City Blues (1999) and The Perfect Tenant (2000), the Thorn Birds actor, who earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1977, retired from acting.
Animal advocacy
Since leaving the screen, Earl Holliman has focused on his role as an animal rights advocate.
The former star, who has cared for a blind possum, injured doves, and mauled cats, doesn’t discriminate in his compassion for animals.
He even loves pigeons.
“I feed at least 500 of them a day. In fact, it’s like a pigeon McDonald’s at my property,” he says.
For 25 years, Holliman served as the president of Actors and Others for Animals, an organization supported by numerous celebrities like the late Betty White, Lily Tomlin, Valerie Bertinelli, and Wendie Malick.
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