Howard Rollins
Acting
Biography
Howard Rollins (October 17, 1950 – December 8, 1996) was an American television, film, and stage actor. He is perhaps best known for his portrayal of Coalhouse Walker Jr. in Ragtime and Virgil Tibbs on In the Heat of the Night.
Born: October 17, 1950
Place of Birth: Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Known For
Remember WENN
The personal and professional lives of the staff of fictional Pittsburgh radio station WENN in the early 1940s, before and during World War II.
In the Heat of the Night
In the Heat of the Night is an American television series based on the motion picture and novel of the same name starring Carroll O'Connor as the white police chief William Gillespie, and Howard Rollins as the African-American police detective Virgil Tibbs. It was broadcast on NBC from 1988 until 1992, and then on CBS until 1995. Its executive producers were Fred Silverman, Juanita Bartlett and Carroll O'Connor. TGG Direct released the first season of the series to DVD on August 28, 2012.
Roots: The Next Generations
Roots: The Next Generations is a television miniseries, introduced in 1979, continuing, from 1882 to the 1960s, the fictionalized story of the family of Alex Haley and their life in Henning, Lauderdale County, Tennessee, USA. This sequel to the 1977 miniseries is based on the last seven chapters of Haley's novel entitled Roots: The Saga of an American Family plus additional material by Haley. Roots: The Next Generations was produced with a budget of $16.6 million, nearly three times as large as that of the original.
New York Undercover
New York Undercover is an American police drama The series stars Detective J.C. Williams and Detective Eddie Torres, two undercover detectives in New York City's Fourth Precinct who were assigned to investigate various crimes and gang-related cases.
Ragtime
A young black pianist becomes embroiled in the lives of an upper-class white family set among the racial tensions, infidelity, violence, and other nostalgic events in early 1900s New York City.
A Soldier's Story
In a rural town in Louisiana, a black Master Sergeant is found shot to death just outside the local Army Base. Military lawyer, Captain Davenport—also a black man—is sent from Washington to conduct an investigation. Facing an uncooperative chain of command and fearful black troops, Davenport must battle with deceit and prejudice in order to find out exactly who really did kill the Master Sergeant.
King
The story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., stretching from his days as a Southern Baptist minister in the South of the 1950s until his assassination in Memphis in 1968.
The Neighborhood
A neighborhood in Brooklyn reacts to the first black families moving into the community.
The Children of Times Square
An alienated teenage boy runs away from home and ventures to New York City where he falls in with a gang of juvenile delinquents working as drug dealers and pickpockets for a shady crime boss.
Thornwell
The story of James Thornwell, whose accusation that the U.S. Army used mind control drugs on him to force him to confess to stealing secret documents while stationed in Orleans, France, in 1961, led Congress to award him $625,000 in damages nearly 20 years later.
Filmography
as Coalhouse Walker Jr. (archive footage)
as Joseph
as Chimbuko
as George Smith
as Reverend Hundley
as Self (Population Institute, 1993) (archive footage)
as Samuel Carver
as Clay Beasley
as Virgil Tibbs
as T.C. Russell
as Otis Travis
as Rev. Martin Luther King Sr.
as Raoul
as Captain Davenport
as Walter Small
as Dr. Zack Williams
as Chuck Johnston
as Medgar Evers
as Honey Brown
as Allen Campbell
as Coalhouse Walker Jr.
as Carson
as Self
as Doctor
as George Haley
as James Smith
as Andrew Young