Earle Hyman

Not to be confused with Earl Hindman.

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.

Earle Hyman
Born	George Earle Plummer (1926-10-11)October 11, 1926 Rocky Mount, North Carolina, U.S.
Died	November 17, 2017(2017-11-17) (aged 91) Englewood, New Jersey, U.S.
Other names	Earl Hyman
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1943–2001

Life and career

Hyman was born 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.

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 again 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 actor Bill Cosby, despite only being 11 years older than Cosby.^[11]

Death

Hyman died at age 91 on November 17, 2017, at the Lillian Booth Actors Home in Englewood, New Jersey.^[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]

Connections to Norway

In Norway, Hyman was seen as a friend of the country^[13] and had a cabin in Skånevik.^[14]

Earle Hyman learned to speak Norwegian through Sirnes, who was originally from Haugesund. In the 1990s, they lived in New York City.^[15]

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
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[16]
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

1. "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.
2. Debold, Elizabeth (26 June 2020). "Announcing the Earle Hyman Collection". Folger University. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
3. "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.
4. Winer, Laurie (1991-03-24). "From Cosby's Father to Colonel Pickering, By Way of Norway". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-11-09.
5. Debold, Elizabeth (26 June 2020). "Announcing the Earle Hyman Collection". Folger College. Folger Shakespeare Library. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
6. HB Studio Alumni
7. 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.
8. Cooper, Roberta Krensky (1986), The American Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford 1955–1985, Folger Books, p. 43, ISBN 0-918016-88-6
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. "Earle Hyman, Grandpa Huxtable on 'The Cosby Show,' Dies at 91". The Hollywood Reporter. 19 November 2017. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
12. DeBold, Elizabeth (26 June 2020). "Announcing the Earle Hyman Collection". Folger College. Folger Shakespeare Library. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
13. "Give my regards to Norway" from The Washington Post (29.11.2006)
14. "Earle Hyman snart hjem til Norge" Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine from skaanevik.no (in Norwegian)
15. Karin Muri, "Bestefar Cosby kaster masken", VG, 28 August 1994. (in Norwegian)
16. Classic Sesame Street – "Big and Little"

External links

• Earle Hyman at IMDb
• Earle Hyman at the Internet Broadway Database
• Earle Hyman at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Audio Interview (2008)