James R. Olson, who starred opposite Joanne Woodward in Rachel, Rachel and in the 1971 Michael Crichton plague thriller The Andromeda Strain, has died. He was 91 years old.
Olson died on April 17 at his home in Malibu, the Malibu Times reported on April 28. Born on Oct. 8, 1930 in Evanston, Illinois to parents Leroy and Florence Olson, Olson was a child actor in Chicago before graduating from Northwestern University and serving in the U.S. military.
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He eventually moved to New York City where he studied with Lee Strasberg and got his acting start in live theater. Olson’s first Broadway role was playing Captain Dicer in The Young and the Beautiful, co-written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, in 1955. Other Broadway roles included Of Love Remembered, Tennessee Williams’ one acts The Mutilated, The Three Sisters revival and The Chinese Prime Minister.
Courtesy Everett Collection
Over a three decade career, Olson became a mainstay of American TV series, with appearances in Have Gun Will Travel, Kung Fu, Lancer, The Virginian, McCloud, Gunsmoke, Ironside, Mannix, Maude and The Bionic Woman, among other shows.
His movie credits included roles as Nick Kazlik in Paul Newman’s Rachel, Rachel in 1968, blood chemistry specialist Dr. Mark Hall in Robert Wise’s The Andromeda Strain and in Blake Edwards’ western Wild Rovers, The Groundstar Conspiracy and Ragtime in 1981.
Olson retired from acting in 1990.
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