With info from the Associated Press…
Actor Earl Hindman, best known for playing a neighbor whose face was forever obscured by a fence on the television show “Home Improvement,” died of lung cancer Monday in Stamford, Connecticut. He was 61.
As Wilson, the neighbor of Tim Allen’s character on the long-running sitcom, Hindman dispensed folksy advice from behind a white picket fence, with only his eyes and forehead visible to audiences. Before appearing on the show, he played Detective Lt. Bob Reid for 16 years on the daytime drama “Ryan’s Hope.”
He made his name in New York theater, appearing in “Dark of the Moon” off-Broadway in 1970 and in “The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel” at the Public Theater in 1971. He also acted in two short-lived Broadway plays and in several movies, including “The Ballad of the Sad Cafe” (1991) and “Final” (2001).
His incredibly warm, deep voice was also the voice of Home Depot on radio and television commercials for several years after the Home Improvement television series ended.
He was born in Bisbee, Arizona, and studied acting at the University of Arizona in Tucson.
I’m gonna miss you big guy. I wondered why Home Depot had switched to John Schneider. The world just isn’t going to be the same without having you as the obscured neighbour on the other side of the fence.
I think I may make a donation to the Cancer Society today. We lost this one way too young.
Hi….I don’t know if you’ll ever see this, but my mom works at the Home Depot. If you call and are put on hold, you’ll still hear Earl telling the customer on the phone that all associates are busy and they’ll be with them as soon as they can. I just thought you might like to know. His legacy continues everyday in the Home Depot
Richard Karn did stuff for Lowe’s I think which is where I work, LOL
Suzanne Sherrod
February 19th, 2005