James Olson (actor)


James Olson is a retired American actor.

Life and career

Olson was born in Evanston, Illinois, and graduated from Northwestern University. From 1952 until 1954, he was a military policeman in the Army.
He performed stage work in and around Chicago before his 1956 film debut in The Sharkfighters. His Broadway credits include Of Love Remembered, Slapstick Tragedy, The Three Sisters, The Chinese Prime Minister, Romulus, J.B., The Sin of Pat Muldoon, and The Young and Beautiful.
He starred alongside Joanne Woodward in the Academy Award-nominated best picture Rachel, Rachel in 1968. He made numerous stage, feature film and TV appearances from the mid-1950s until the early 1990s.
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; and The Streets of San Francisco.

Selected filmography