Lester Rawlins

Lester Rawlins (September 24, 1924 – March 22, 1988) was an American actor whose career spanned stage, film, and television across more than three decades. Born in Sharon, Pennsylvania, he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Carnegie Mellon College of Drama in 1950.

Rawlins built a substantial stage career that encompassed both Broadway and off-Broadway work. His Broadway appearances, which ran from 1956 to 1978, included productions such as A Man for All Seasons, Da, Herzl, The Golden Age, and Romeo + Juliet. Off-Broadway, he performed in a range of classical and contemporary works, among them Hamlet, Macbeth, Richard III, Winterset, In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel, and Nightride. He also appeared in the 1964 off-Broadway production of The Old Glory, a play written by the poet Robert Lowell.

His stage work brought him significant recognition. Rawlins won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play in 1978 for his role in Da, and received a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play for the same production. He had previously won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance in 1972 for his work in Nightride. Additionally, he received Obie Awards for his performances in The Old Glory and in off-Broadway productions of Brendan Behan's The Quare Fellow and Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler.

Beyond the stage, Rawlins appeared in the feature films Diary of a Mad Housewife and They Might Be Giants. His television work included recurring roles on The Defenders, Kojak, The Secret Storm, and Ryan's Hope, as well as a multi-year regular role on the CBS soap opera The Edge of Night, where he portrayed the wealthy character Orin Hillyer. His final screen appearance came in a 1985 episode of The Equalizer titled "Reign of Terror," in which he played a retiring physician named Doctor Timms. Rawlins was also active in commercial voice work, most notably as the voice behind the Dunkin' Donuts advertising campaign produced by the New York agency Ally & Gargano.

Rawlins died of cardiac arrest in New York City on March 22, 1988.