Earle Hyman appeared on The Cosby Show as Cliff's father, Russell Huxtable.
13 Facts About Earle Hyman
1.
2.
Hyman was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, as George Earle Plummer according to the North Carolina Birth Index.
3.
Earle Hyman knew at age 4 that he wanted to become an actor after performing a poem at a church play and was determined to become one after seeing a production of Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts.
4.
Earle Hyman studied acting at HB Studio in New York City.
5.
Earle Hyman made his Broadway stage debut as a teenager in 1943 in Run, Little Chillun, and later joined the American Negro Theater.
6.
Earle Hyman was a member of the American Shakespeare Theatre beginning with its first season in 1955, and played the role of Othello in the 1957 season.
7.
Earle Hyman played two roles on television's The Edge of Night.
8.
Earle Hyman played the father of lead character Cliff Huxtable, played by actor Bill Cosby, despite only being 11 years older than Cosby.
9.
Earle Hyman died at age 91 on November 17,2017, at the Lillian Booth Actors Home in Englewood, New Jersey.
10.
In personal correspondences Earle Hyman wrote that he and Rolf Sirnes, a Norwegian seaman, had lived together for fifty years.
11.
Earle Hyman described their relationship as a passionate friendship and wrote that Sirnes was his partner.
12.
In Norway, Earle Hyman was seen as a friend of the country and had a cabin in Skanevik.
13.
Earle Hyman learned to speak Norwegian through Sirnes, who was originally from Haugesund.