Howard Rollins, Jr.
Daniel Martin 
Exceptionally handsome actor with a gorgeous speaking voice, best known for his starring roles in the movies Ragtime and A Soldier's Story and the TV series In the Heat of the Night.
He died in 1996 at the young age of 46 due to AIDS-related lymphoma.
Any stories about him?
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 61 | May 30, 2023 6:24 AM |
I heard he was very difficult to work with On the Heat of the Night Tv series. Of course, he could've been sick at the time.
| by Anonymous | reply 1 | August 16, 2016 6:05 AM |
He seemed strange towards the end of his career. I remember odd interviews he'd give. Very sort of overly intellectual and affected. It may have been related to the disease though.
| by Anonymous | reply 2 | August 16, 2016 6:16 AM |
Oh no- i didnt know he dies of AIDS. I thought it was an overdose.
| by Anonymous | reply 3 | August 16, 2016 6:29 AM |
As a child I was flipping channels and stopped on an interview of Marsha Warfield (sp?), a comic actress on TV at the time. She was dressed bizarrely in an enormous African print caftan and a Nefertiti headdress. After a couple of minutes I realized it was Howard Rollins Jr.
He'd lost his mind.
| by Anonymous | reply 4 | August 16, 2016 6:54 AM |
Gorgeous man. Remember him in Ragtime as Coalhouse Walker Jr.
| by Anonymous | reply 5 | August 16, 2016 6:58 AM |
Wasn't he dressed in drag in one of his DUI mugshots? I remember seeing it in a tabloid when it happened, but it's nowhere to be found on the internet
| by Anonymous | reply 6 | August 16, 2016 7:08 AM |
Wow, OP, I was thinking of starting a thread on him as well. Thank you for starting one.
I've always found him very fascinating. Handsome, excellent actor, and then he kind of faded away and died young. But a lot about his life and his death are mysterious.
| by Anonymous | reply 7 | August 16, 2016 7:17 AM |
Another fascinating Black character actor who appeared with Rollins in A Soldier's Story, the late Adolph Caesar.
| by Anonymous | reply 8 | August 16, 2016 7:21 AM |
Ragtime is such a disappointing movie. It has no center, and the adaptation cut out most of the historical characters from the novel (Emma Goldman, Henry Ford, J.P. Morgan, Harry Houdini) that would have given it more life.
But Rollins is the best thing in the movie. Both he and Elizabeth McGovern were nominated for Academy awards, but only he deserved to be: McGovern plays Evelyn Nesbit as a complete ditz, which was an easy choice but is not at all how she is described in the EL Doctorow novel.
| by Anonymous | reply 9 | August 16, 2016 7:22 AM |
I read Doctorow's novel, then went to see the film. Rollins performance stood out, the rest of the film I vaguely remember.
| by Anonymous | reply 10 | August 16, 2016 7:24 AM |
[quote]I heard he was very difficult to work with On the Heat of the Night Tv series. Of course, he could've been sick at the time.
He had addiction issues and Carroll O'Connor tried to help him throughout the show's run. I felt bad for O'Connor his son Hugh was also on the show had addictions issues too and later committed suicide.
| by Anonymous | reply 11 | August 16, 2016 7:25 AM |
He was really handsome for about ten minutes as a young man, but unlike so many black men, he hit the wall hard in his forties.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 12 | August 16, 2016 7:25 AM |
Gorgeous as Coalhouse Walker Jr. in Ragtime
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 13 | August 16, 2016 7:28 AM |
Age unfortunately destroys beauty, regardless of race or ethnicity. Another actor who unfortunately hit the wall is Blair Underwood, stunningly beautiful through his 30s and early 40s. Now on the other side of 50, he's faded.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 14 | August 16, 2016 7:33 AM |
r9 How is Nesbitt potrayed in the book?
A weird footnote to Ragtime is the actually filmed a whole subplot with Emma Goldman but then cut it from the final film. It would have been interesting since Reds featured Maureen Stapleton as Goldman (Oscar winning performance).
Not sure if that is why Ragtime cut her out.
| by Anonymous | reply 15 | August 16, 2016 7:38 AM |
Any Rutanya Alda fans? She lived in the same building as Rollins. It was a small tenement building, I think she was the floor above him. Anyway, she was filled with stories. Mostly she felt bad for him. Said he was a very sweet man, openly gay to everyone who knew him, had a drug problem, and yes, was a cross-dresser.
| by Anonymous | reply 16 | August 16, 2016 7:44 AM |
When Jack Nicholson, who was to play Rhinelander Waldo, had to drop out of the film less than a month before filming began, the producers were left without a name star in the cast. It was then that director Milos Forman (Ragtime's director) recruited James Cagney, whom he had met at a private dinner in Connecticut the year before. He offered Cagney any part he wanted including (facetiously) the role of Evelyn Nesbitt.
| by Anonymous | reply 17 | August 16, 2016 7:44 AM |
He was a really good actor.
| by Anonymous | reply 18 | August 16, 2016 7:54 AM |
[quote]Any Rutanya Alda fans?
Many. But most just no her as Carol Ann to Miss Crawford.
| by Anonymous | reply 19 | August 16, 2016 8:04 AM |
[quote]He was a really good actor.
One of his performance on the Heat of the Night stood out to me to this very day. It was when he was talking to some man to stay put, but the man left the house and upon stepping foot outside was immediately shot.
The audience didn't see the shooting. They saw it in Howard's performance. Powerful.
I wonder if someone can find that clip.
| by Anonymous | reply 20 | August 16, 2016 9:54 AM |
R11) So true. Wasn't Carrol's son and Howard friends?
Didn't know Rollins died of AIDS. I thought he died of an overdose. I guess he was dealing w/a lot of demons.
| by Anonymous | reply 21 | August 16, 2016 9:57 AM |
Rollins was a complete mess in his final years. He actually left (or got kicked off ) the show near the end of it's run because he was so strung out. That's really all I remember -- his problems with the law (DUI's and drug arrests) were well publicised. I also think that it was well known that he had AIDS.
I remember seeing ragtime in theatre and he was great in it. Oddly enough I saw it again last year on DVD and it hasn't held up. All over the place and you can really see the '70's sensibilities in it.
[quote]When Jack Nicholson, who was to play Rhinelander Waldo, had to drop out of the film less than a month before filming began, the producers were left without a name star in the cast. It was then that director Milos Forman (Ragtime's director) recruited James Cagney, whom he had met at a private dinner in Connecticut the year before. He offered Cagney any part he wanted including (facetiously) the role of Evelyn Nesbitt.
This was Cagney's last film and he wasn't well while filming. I read at the time that in his scenes as the police chief they kept him seated while they had all the other actors in the scenes running around to make things look active because he couldn't move well.
| by Anonymous | reply 22 | August 16, 2016 10:09 AM |
[quote]and you can really see the '70's sensibilities in it.
could you explain that?
| by Anonymous | reply 23 | August 16, 2016 10:12 AM |
I was shocked by how incredibly nelly he came across in person after watching him on the big and the small screens for many years. He could have given Richard Simmons a run for his money. In all fairness, this was near the end of his life. He may have just decided to let it all hang out at that point.
| by Anonymous | reply 24 | August 16, 2016 10:28 AM |
r23 Sheesh. I don't know, just threw that out there. The lady taking in the little black baby and raising it as her own, fighting her husband in order to do so. That didn't seem realistic in hindsight. The black guys forming a gang and attacking firemen ... stuff like that just didn't happen in the early 20th Century which was a very repressive time for black people.
| by Anonymous | reply 25 | August 16, 2016 10:31 AM |
R4, I wish I could find that interview. I've heard about it for years. I do know I saw him in a 1996 interview in a red dashiki and Kufi cap, acting intellectual and kind of angry. It wasn't long after that I heard he died, which is why I remember the interview, because he didn't look that bad -- not as sick as he apparently was, at any rate.
| by Anonymous | reply 26 | August 16, 2016 12:02 PM |
From the Globe tabloid just after he died:
[quote]For yers he'd led a secret double life. Dressing in drag, he'd cruise his Manhattan neighborhood as a gal named Tooraloora Goldfarb.
[quote]"He would purse his lips, put his hand on his hip and suddenly he'd be transformed into a woman," says a pal. "As a woman, he'd leave all his cares behind. He wasn't a druggie or an AIDS patient, he was a sassy, sexy temptress."
[quote]Says best pal Bright, 59, a married actor who was a neighbor for 18 years: "His favourite thing in the whole world was showing off a new outfit to a friend -- especially winter ensembles like a ladies coat over skirt and stockings.
[quote]"When he was feeling well, he loved to dress in a spectacular woman's outfit and go to transvestite clubs looking for male lovers."
[quote]Neighbor Art Franco told GLOBE: "He'd get high on drugs, dress as a woman and strut his stuff. When people called 'Hi Howard,' he'd say, 'Excuuuse me! I'm Tooraloora Goldfarb.'"
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 27 | August 16, 2016 12:03 PM |
Howard was excellent as a Fagin like character in "The Children of Times Square."
| by Anonymous | reply 28 | August 16, 2016 12:23 PM |
Nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe for Ragtime, he then went directly to a supporting role on TV soap Another World. One of the most bizarre career moves in Hollywood history.
| by Anonymous | reply 29 | August 16, 2016 12:44 PM |
I heard that he got it up the ass ALOT!
| by Anonymous | reply 30 | August 16, 2016 12:49 PM |
[quote]Any Rutanya Alda fans? She lived in the same building as Rollins. It was a small tenement building, I think she was the floor above him. Anyway, she was filled with stories. Mostly she felt bad for him. Said he was a very sweet man, openly gay to everyone who knew him, had a drug problem, and yes, was a cross-dresser. —Anonymous
I believe that's her husband, the late Richard Bright (misidentified in the article as "Howard Bright"), being quoted in the Globe article posted at r27.
| by Anonymous | reply 31 | August 16, 2016 10:43 PM |
Tooraloora Goldfarb?
DL'ers, I think we have a new icon on the block.
| by Anonymous | reply 32 | August 16, 2016 11:04 PM |
Dude, ...OP... Nigga' please...Rollins is plain as the day. Phillip-Michael Thomas, a contemporary of Rollins, is the truly beautiful Black man. While most others went ape shit crazy, lusting over Don Johnson, I was like, y'all can have him. Give me this fine Brotha' (Thomas) anyday.
| by Anonymous | reply 33 | August 16, 2016 11:32 PM |
Howard was more touted for his acting than looks, R33, but I agree Thomas was fine!
R29) Wow, I didn't know he was on Another World, and I watched that show. It just goes to show how scares work was and still is for black actors.
| by Anonymous | reply 34 | August 17, 2016 3:55 AM |
That's how I knew who he was, I'm sure. My grandmother watched Another World.
| by Anonymous | reply 35 | August 17, 2016 6:21 AM |
A Soldier's Story is on TCM right now. Howard was very handsome in this, as was Denzel Washington.
Interesting that both Howard Rollins Jr. and Larry Riley were in this film. Both died of AIDS in the '90s.
| by Anonymous | reply 36 | February 25, 2021 4:21 AM |
I never called him Mr. Tibbs.
| by Anonymous | reply 37 | February 25, 2021 4:24 AM |
He gave a wonderful performance in Ragtime. I don't know who won that year but I felt he gave the best performance and if he were nominated today, he'd win. Everything was so much harder for blacks and minorities then; to star in a tv soap opera after an Oscar nomination is a slap to the face.
| by Anonymous | reply 38 | February 25, 2021 4:41 AM |
He still managed a Daytime Emmy nomination during his time on Another World. So much talent and promise.
| by Anonymous | reply 39 | February 25, 2021 4:45 AM |
How long and when was he on Another World?
It looks like 1982 on imdb. Had he signed on before he knew Ragtime would bring him an Oscar nomination.
Larry Reilly had an odd death too. I remember him on TV addressing his extreme weight loss. He denied he had aids and instead said it was from an extreme watermelon diet he was on. (no racial slur intended that is what he said he ate.)
| by Anonymous | reply 41 | February 25, 2021 4:57 AM |
[quote] He denied he had aids and instead said it was from an extreme watermelon diet he was on.
A common cause of death in those days.
| by Anonymous | reply 42 | February 25, 2021 4:59 AM |
Philip Michael Thomas was on Miami Vice- He had MAJOR RAGGEDY ANDY hair- TOTAL fashion victim. He was hot-NOT.
| by Anonymous | reply 43 | February 25, 2021 4:59 AM |
Yes, I remember when Riley was on Knots Landing. He looked so sickly. It was really sad. He died in 1992 so it was still a scary time to admit having HIV or AIDS. Magic Johnson had just disclosed to the world he was HIV positive a year earlier.
| by Anonymous | reply 44 | February 25, 2021 5:01 AM |
R12 - peopled tended to "hit the wall" in looks when they were dying of AIDS, you dimwit. Sheeesh.
| by Anonymous | reply 45 | February 25, 2021 5:05 AM |
Can someone answer the question of from above about how Evelyn Nesbitt is portrayed in the book? Not a ditz?
Milos Forman had a lot of drama casting his films. He was going to cast his girlfriend at the time Nastassia Kinski in Ragtime then decided her English wasn't good enough so he hired McGovern.
Then when it came to Amadeus there is a documentary where he clearly is rehearsing or doing a screen test with McGovern but he didn't hire her twice! (i think she'd have been quite good in it.)
Meg Tilly was cast and then per her youtube show was injured in a soccer game. Had she shot at least one day of film the insurance would have covered her healing time but she hadn't filmed anything yet.
Forman then flew three possible replacements Rebecca De Mornay, Diane Franklin and Elizabeth Berridge over. All odd choices since they were mostly known for horror films or Risky Business. You'd think he'd have called McGovern.
| by Anonymous | reply 46 | February 25, 2021 5:09 AM |
No, Nesbitt is not a ditz in the book, though that's how Mcgivern played her. She's a very complex character--she's an innocent up until the trial, and very much the pawn of selfish powerful men (Stanford White, Harry K. Thaw) who pretty much use her for their pleasure and fetishes. But then when her mother-in-law buys her out o ensure her silence at the trial, she becomes more cynical.
To be fair, the screenplay of Forman's film hardly allowed McGovern to do anything with the role because the part is so drastically reduced from what it is in the novel. Becoming a ditz at least meant her being two-dimensional and funny rather than disappearing entirely.
| by Anonymous | reply 47 | February 25, 2021 5:13 AM |
Blair Underwood has hardly 'hit the wall'. He looks great considering it's been 25-30 years since La-Law.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 49 | April 17, 2022 9:37 PM |
Rollins was not fired from Heat of the Night. He was unable to perform on the show because he was banned from the county, Newton, where the show filmed. I believe it was a one year ban. He returned for several guest roles in the show's final season. I believe Carroll O'Conner had a soft spot for him. Maybe because of Hugh.
| by Anonymous | reply 50 | April 18, 2022 1:57 AM |
Interesting clip of Rollins on Another World, where his character (ironically) discusses how one should DRESS properly...
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 51 | June 23, 2022 9:03 PM |
exceptionally handsome??!! what??
| by Anonymous | reply 52 | June 23, 2022 9:27 PM |
Seems a little distracted here...
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 53 | June 24, 2022 2:33 AM |
The closet kills. Phenomenal talent killed by the closet.
| by Anonymous | reply 54 | May 29, 2023 10:27 PM |
He was gloriously handsome and talented. I could watch him all day long.
| by Anonymous | reply 55 | May 30, 2023 4:00 AM |
He was very handsome and i think he was an exceptional Actor. I was really sorry when he died and I'm sorry he had so much pain.
| by Anonymous | reply 56 | May 30, 2023 4:20 AM |
He was a drug addict and Carroll O' Connor worked really hard to help him He was in and out of rehab. Sad because he was a very gifted actor.
| by Anonymous | reply 57 | May 30, 2023 4:21 AM |
He was a Christmas queen: Ho! Ho! Ho!
| by Anonymous | reply 58 | May 30, 2023 5:24 AM |
Not so handsome and not so masculine here.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 59 | May 30, 2023 5:39 AM |
R59 😂 😆 what a cunt you are.
| by Anonymous | reply 60 | May 30, 2023 5:47 AM |
