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Earl John Hindman (October 20, 1942–December 29, 2003) was an American actor best known for his portrayal of the character Wilson W. Wilson Jr. on the hit television sitcom Home Improvement (1991–1999).

Personal life

Hindman was born in Bisbee, Arizona, USA, to Burl and Eula Hindman. The family also included sister, Anna Dean (Shields), and a brother, Ray.

Earl studied acting at the University of Arizona at Tucson. On May 21, 1976, he married Molly McGreevey, with whom he later acted on Ryan's Hope (she played Polly Longworth from 1977–1980). McGreevey later became an Episcopalian priest.

Hindman reportedly stood 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m).

On December 29, 2003, Hindman died of lung cancer in Stamford, Connecticut, USA. He was 61 years old.

Career

In Home Improvement

As the beloved grandfatherly neighbor, Wilson always seemed to solve the Taylor family's problems. It was never really known what Wilson looked like, because there always was some clever way of hiding part of his face from view but sometimes his whole face was nearly visible. A number of in-jokes have been made about this; in one episode, he comments on Tim's beard, saying, "I can't understand why a man would want to hide his face" and in another, Wilson makes reference to distant relatives he has never met, saying that some of them "have never even seen [his] face".

Some reports indicate that while Wilson's face being obscured behind the fence was an early schtick, Hindman was responsible for continuing it in any scenario, ensuring that Wilson's entire face was never seen all at once. A fan favorite was a Halloween episode, in which Wilson dressed up as The Phantom of the Opera, with a mask hiding the upper portion of his face and revealing the lower part, the reverse of a usual episode. His face is briefly revealed at the end of the final episode when the entire casts comes out to take their bows for the show's final curtain call.

Other roles

Hindman played Detective Bob Reid for many years on the daytime soap opera Ryan's Hope. In the movie The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, he had a small role as Mr. Brown, one of the hijackers. Hindman also performed voiceovers for Home Depot television commercials.

External links

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