Earl Hindman (Actor)

Earl Hindman picture
Earl Hindman on Home Improvement. (Photo: Buena Vista)

About Earl Hindman

Supporting actor Earl Hindman was best known among fans of the long-running ABC sitcom Home Improvement for playing the over-educated, enigmatic but wise neighbor Wilson. Ask those fans if they would recognize Hindman's face and they would be at a loss, for he never showed his full countenance upon the show.

Hindman was a pipeliner's son and had a peripatetic upbringing that took him to various Southwestern locales. He attended high school in Tucson, AZ, where he was a natural athlete. At the same time, he became interested in drama and then still photography. Following time at Phoenix Junior College, he enrolled in the University of Arizona where he renewed his interest in drama.

Hindman's first professional acting job was to perform in a Shakespearean play at San Diego's Globe Theatre. The experience was such that Hindman dropped out of school to become a full-time actor. He learned his craft as he went, performing in countless repertory theaters. Eventually, he made it to New York, where he appeared on and off-Broadway. He made his feature film debut in the obscure Two Into Three Won't Go (1969). Hindman's subsequent film appearances were sporadic.

Hindman was a cast member on the daytime soap opera Ryan's Hope for several years before gaining prominence on Home Improvement. Four years after the hit sitcom left the airwaves, Hindman succumbed to lung cancer at the age of 61. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Family
Name: Relation: Notes:
Mollie Hindman wife
Milestones
Company member at the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival
Played Wilson, the unseen neighbor, on the ABC hit sitcom "Home Improvement"
Raised in the Southwest
Stage debut, at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego
TV series debut on the ABC soap "Ryan's Hope", as the regular character Bob Reid
1967 Was a member of the Syracuse Repertory Theatre
1969 - 1970 Appeared in the national tour of "The Great White Hope"
1970 Off-Broadway debut in "Dark of the Moon" with Rue McClanahan and Harvey Keitel
1971 Cast in the original production of David Rabe's "The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel" at New Yorks Public Theatre
1971 Feature debut, "Who Killed Mary Whats'ername"
1973 TV-movie debut in the "ABC Theatre" docudrama "Pueblo"
1974 Appeared in the PBS "Great Performances" production of Arthur Miller's "A Memory of Two Mondays"
1988 Cast in the ABC miniseries "War and Remembrance"
1988 Provided character voices for callers in Oliver Stone's "Talk Radio"

Notes

Last name is pronounced with a long 'i' as in 'high'.

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Quick Facts

Born

October, 20 1942 in Bisbee, Arizona

Education

  • Phoenix Junior College, Phoenix, Arizona
  • University of Arizona at Tucson, Tucson, Arizona dropped out to pursue acting career

Professions

actor

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