James Olson, r.i.p.

I've been laid up the past few days and while surfing for something to watch came across The Andromeda Strain, a slightly ironic film given my condition. I loved the book with its pastiche of science fact and fiction (akin to my favorite sci-fi author Isaac Asimov). The movie does some justice to the techno-babble, but is really held together by the solid performances of Arthur Hill, veteran of dozens of films, the inimitable David Wayne, Kate Reid, great/classic stage actress, and James Olsen as the hero of the movie. An interesting performance standing out in the cast, making me wonder, whatever became of him?

Nowadays it's no great surprise to switch from channel to channel and find multiple Kevin Costner/Tom Cruise/etc movies on at the same time. In this case, after the movie was over I flipped down a few channels and landed on Ragtime, a great adaptation by Milos Forman of the E.L. Doctorow novel. And right there, playing the role of 'Father', was James Olson.

He had a great career, though not one that hit big-budget stardom often. Plenty of stage work justly recognized and a hundred or so TV roles, series and movies. Just the kind of movie connection I find fascinating.

His IMDB bio notes that he died just over a month ago, April 17, 2022.  R.I.P.