Life and career

Olson was born in Evanston, Illinois, and graduated from Northwestern University. He performed stage work in and around Chicago before his 1956 film debut in The Sharkfighters. He starred alongside Joanne Woodward in the Academy Award-nominated best picture Rachel, Rachel in 1968. Olson made numerous stage, feature film and TV appearances from the mid-1950s until the early 1990s.

Olson's television appearances included guest roles on scores of shows, including episodes of Kraft Television Theatre, Murder, She Wrote, Little House on the Prairie, Hawaii Five-O, Battlestar Galactica, Lou Grant, The Bionic Woman, Wonder Woman, Mannix, Bonanza, Have Gun-Will Travel, Marcus Welby, M.D., Police Woman, Barnaby Jones, The New Land,Columbo, and Maude.

Selected filmography

• The Sharkfighters (1956)
• The Strange One (1957)
• The Three Sisters (1966)
• Rachel, Rachel (1968)
• Moon Zero Two (1969)
• Crescendo (1970)
• The Andromeda Strain (1971)
• Wild Rovers (1971)
• Paper Man (1971)
• The Groundstar Conspiracy (1972)
• The Missiles of October (1974, TV movie)
• Ragtime (1981)
• Amityville II: The Possession (1982)
• Cave-In! (1983)
• Commando (1985)
• Rachel River (1987)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]