Olin Howland

Olin Ross Howland was born on February 10, 1886, in Denver, Colorado, to Joby A. Howland, who had been among the youngest enlisted soldiers in the Civil War, and Mary C. Bunting. His sister, Jobyna Howland, was also a stage actress. Howland died on September 20, 1959, in Hollywood, California, at the age of 73, having never married or had children.

Howland's stage career spanned Broadway from 1909 to 1927, during which he appeared in a number of musicals, including Leave It to Jane (1917), Two Little Girls in Blue (1921), Wildflower (1923), Our Nell, Just Because, and Golden Dawn. Alongside his theatre work, he was also a dancer, a dancing teacher, and a vaudeville headliner who toured Europe giving dancing exhibitions. He made occasional appearances in silent films during this period as well, including Janice Meredith (1924) with Marion Davies.

When sound films arrived, Howland's theatrical training became a professional advantage, and he shifted his focus primarily to Hollywood. Between 1918 and 1958 he appeared in nearly two hundred films, frequently cast in eccentric and rural character parts, most of which were small or uncredited and none of which were leading roles. He became a personal favorite of producer David O. Selznick, who cast him in several productions: as a peculiar luggage man in Nothing Sacred (1937), as the schoolteacher Mr. Dobbins in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938), as a farmer in Made for Each Other (1939), and as a carpetbagger businessman in Gone with the Wind (1939). He also appeared in multiple westerns from Republic Pictures, including two John Wayne films, In Old California (1942) and Angel and the Badman (1947).

As a young man, Howland had learned to fly at the Wright Flying School and soloed on a Wright Model B. That background gave particular resonance to his work alongside James Stewart, himself a real-life pilot, in The Spirit of St. Louis (1957). Among his final film appearances were Them! (1954), in which he played a drunken old man, and The Blob (1958), in which he appeared as the first victim.

During the 1950s Howland also worked in television. He appeared in the January 17, 1955, episode of I Love Lucy titled "First Stop," playing a motel and café proprietor who offers questionable accommodations to the Ricardos and Mertzes during their cross-country drive. In 1958 and 1959 he was cast as Charley Perkins in five episodes of the ABC sitcom The Real McCoys, starring Walter Brennan. Howland continued working until his death in Hollywood.