Earle Hyman

Earle Hyman was an American character actor who appeared on film, TV, and stage, but was perhaps best known for lending his voice talents to the beloved 80s cartoon "ThunderCats" (The WB, 1985-1989), as well as his Emmy nominated portrayal of Cliff Huxtable's father on "The Cosby Show" (NBC, 1984-1992). Born George Earle Plummer in Rocky Mount, NC, Hyman and his family moved to Brooklyn in the late 1920s. For his 13th birthday, Hyman's parents took him to see a production of Henrik Ibsen's play "Ghosts," which gave the young man the acting bug. Four years later, in 1943, Hyman made his Broadway debut in the show "Run, Little Chillun," and joined the American Negro Theater. He got his first big stage role the next year when he began a two-year run on Broadway, playing Ruben in "Anna Lucasta," an adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's "Anna Christie" rewritten by the American Negro Theater. During this time, Hyman made his film debut with an uncredited role in Billy Wilder's Best Picture-winning classic "The Lost Weekend" (1945). In 1955, Hyman joined the American Shakespeare Theatre just in time for their first season, and went on to play the titular role in their 1957 production of "Othello." The following year, Hyman went to London for the first time to play the leading role in a Royal Court production in "Moon on a Rainbow Shawl." He would return to the other side of the pond a year later for the first London production of August Wilson's classic "A Raisin in the Sun." Over the next few years, Hyman would build up his Shakespeare bona fides, appearing in a TV version of "Macbeth" (PBS, 1968), and film adaptations of "Julius Caesar" (1979) and "Coriolanus" (1979). Hyman got his first big break in 1985 when he was cast as the voice of Panthro and various other characters on the ubiquitous 80s Saturday morning cartoon "ThunderCats" (The WB, 1985-1989), but it would be the part of Russell Huxtable, the father of Bill Cosby's successful doctor and hapless family man Cliff Huxtable on the beloved, groundbreaking sitcom "The Cosby Show" (NBC, 1984-1992), that made Hyman a household name. He even earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Performer in a Comedy Series by the third season of the show. Hyman retired from acting following a guest role on the supernatural drama series "Twice in a Lifetime" (CTV/PAX, 1999-2001). On November 17, 2017, Earle Hyman died at the Lillian Booth Actors Home in Englewood, NJ. He was 91 years old.