James Olson

Personal Info

Known For

Acting

Known Credits

79

Gender

Male

Birthday

1930-10-08

Deathday

2022-04-17 (91 years old)

Place of Birth

Evanston, Illinois, USA

James Olson

Biography

James Olson (October 8, 1930 – April 17, 2022) was an American actor.

From 1952 until 1954, he was a military policeman in the United States Army. He performed stage work in and around Chicago before his 1956 film debut in The Sharkfighters.

His Broadway credits include Of Love Remembered (1967), Slapstick Tragedy (1966), The Three Sisters (1964), The Chinese Prime Minister (1964), Romulus (1962), J.B. (1958), The Sin of Pat Muldoon (1957), and The Young and Beautiful (1955). He starred alongside Joanne Woodward in the Academy Award nominee for Best Picture Rachel, Rachel in 1968. He made numerous stage, feature film, and TV appearances from the mid-1950s until 1990, when he retired.

On television, Olson portrayed Mickey Mantle in The Life of Mickey Mantle. His other TV appearances included guest roles on scores of shows, including episodes of Kraft Television Theatre; Ironside; Murder, She Wrote; Little House on the Prairie; Hawaii Five-O; Battlestar Galactica; Lou Grant; The Bionic Woman; Wonder Woman; Mannix; Bonanza; Have Gun-Will Travel; Marcus Welby, M.D.; Police Woman; Barnaby Jones; The New Land; Columbo; Maude; The Virginian; The Streets of San Francisco; and Cannon. Description above from the Wikipedia article James Olson (actor), licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Known For

Commando
6.7%

Commando

Oct 3, 1985

Columbo
8.1%

Columbo

Sep 15, 1971

The Andromeda Strain
7.0%

The Andromeda Strain

Mar 12, 1971

Wonder Woman
7.0%

Wonder Woman

Nov 7, 1975

Bonanza
7.5%

Bonanza

Sep 12, 1959

Murder, She Wrote
7.5%

Murder, She Wrote

Sep 30, 1984

The Bionic Woman
7.0%

The Bionic Woman

Jan 14, 1976

Battlestar Galactica
7.1%

Battlestar Galactica

Sep 17, 1978

Kung Fu
7.6%

Kung Fu

Oct 14, 1972

Ragtime
7.0%

Ragtime

Nov 20, 1981

Hawaii Five-O
7.1%

Hawaii Five-O

Sep 20, 1968

    • View by:
    • Media type:
    • Department:

Acting

1990
The Family Man
1988
Rachel River as Jack Canon
1987
Jake and the Fatman
1986
One Police Plaza as Whitney Zangline
1985
North Beach and Rawhide as Bill Cassidy
1985
Commando as Major General Franklin Kirby
1984
Murder, She Wrote as Clarence La Rue
1984
The Parade as Andy Janacek
1983
Cave-In! as Tom Arlen
1982
Matt Houston
1982
Amityville II: The Possession as Father Adamsky
1981
Ragtime as Father
1980
The Silent Lovers as Victor Seastrom
1979
Visions of Christmas Past
1978
Battlestar Galactica as Thane
1978
The Runaways
1978
No Prince for My Cinderella as Burt Williams
1978
The Mafu Cage as David
1978
Project U.F.O.
1977
The Court-Martial of George Armstrong Custer as Gen. George Armstrong Custer
1977
The Spell as Glenn
1976
Law and Order as Insp. Ed Shea
1976
The Bionic Woman
1975
Wonder Woman as Wotan
1975
Strange New World as Surgeon
1975
Man on the Outside as Gerald Griffin
1975
Someone I Touched as Sam Hyatt
1975
The Family Nobody Wanted as Carl Doss
1974
The Sex Symbol as Calvin Bernard
1974
The New Land
1974
Police Woman
1974
Harry O
1974
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn as McShane
1974
Manhunter as Walt Hovis
1973
Legend in Granite as Mas McGee
1973
Police Story
1973
Barnaby Jones as Randall Stone
1973
Incident on a Dark Street as Joe Dubbs
1972
Kung Fu
1972
The Streets of San Francisco
1972
The Streets of San Francisco as Dr. Jonas Rabb
1972
Maude
1972
The Rookies
1972
The Groundstar Conspiracy as Senator Stanton
1971
Paper Man as Art Fletcher
1971
McMillan & Wife as W.T. Knox
1971
Columbo as Paul Rifkin
1971
Cannon
1971
Wild Rovers as Joe Billings
1971
The Andromeda Strain as Dr. Mark Hall
1970
Crescendo as Georges Ryman / Jacques Ryman
1970
McCloud
1969
Moon Zero Two as Capt. William H. Kemp
1969
Medical Center as Dave Toland
1968
The Stalking Moon as Cavalry Officer (uncredited)
1968
Lancer
1968
Hawaii Five-O as Mariss
1968
Hawaii Five-O as Stoner
1968
Hawaii Five-O as Bernie Brown
1968
Hawaii Five-O as Travis Marshall
1968
Hawaii Five-O as Dr. Kenneth Ames
1968
Rachel, Rachel as Nick Kazlik
1967
Mannix
1967
Mannix as Donald Jordan
1967
Ironside
1967
Ironside as Marvin Bosner
1966
An Enemy of the People
1966
The Three Sisters as Baron Tuzenbach
1965
The F.B.I. as Sheriff Bill Temple
1965
The F.B.I. as George Breen
1965
The F.B.I. as Carl Slovich
1960
Route 66
1959
Bonanza as Vance
1957
Have Gun, Will Travel
1957
The Strange One as Roger Gatt
1956
The Sharkfighters as Ens. Harold Duncan
1955
Gunsmoke as Bede Stalcup
1951
Hallmark Hall of Fame as General George A. Custer
1950
Robert Montgomery Presents as Capt. Dicer
Movies
TV Shows
People
Search
James Olson