James Olson Dies: ‘Rachel, Rachel’, ‘The Andromeda Strain’ Actor Was 91

deadline.com:

James Olson, who starred opposite Joanne Woodward in 1968’s Rachel, Rachel, played a surgeon investigating a deadly alien organism in the 1971 sci-fi classic The Andromeda Strain and survived the notorious Broadway flop Breakfast at Tiffany’s starring Mary Tyler Moore that closed before it opened in 1966, died April 17 at his home in Malibu, California.

He was 91.His death was reported by the Malibu Times.Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2022: Photo GalleryA familiar character on television and in film for four decades before retiring in 1990, Olson received his first national exposure in the title role of Kraft Theatre‘s 1956 TV installment The Life of Mickey Mantle, following up that high-profile performance with guest appearances throughout the decade and into the 1960s among them Robert Montgomery Presents, Have Gun – Will Travel, Playhouse 90, Route 66, The Defenders, and The Magical World of Disney.His breakthrough film role came in 1968 with Rachel, Rachel, an Oscar-nominated drama produced and directed by Paul Newman starring Newman’s wife Joanne Woodward as a sexually repressed 35-year-old school teacher.

Olson played the cad who woos and then rejects Woodward’s character.Following Rachel, Rachel, Olson became a busy and recognizable presence on episodic television throughout the 1990s, guest starring in, among others, The Virginian, Medical Center, Columbo, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, The Rookies, The F.B.I., Marcus Welby, M.D., Mannix, Kung Fu, Cannon, The Streets of San Francisco, Wonder Woman, The Bionic Woman, Battlestar Galactica, Little House on the Prairie, Hawai Five-0 and, his final credit in 1990, Murder, She Wrote.