Jonathan Hole

Jonathan Hole (August 13, 1904 – February 11, 1998) was an American actor whose entertainment career covered five genres over 65 years. From his early days on the vaudeville stage and in legitimate theater, through radio, television and feature-length films that took his career up to the 1990s, Hole created a variety of characters in hundreds of roles.

Hole was born in Eldora, Iowa, the son of Mr. and Mrs. H. E. Hole. He graduated from North High School in Des Moines and attended Drake University.

Hole's career began in vaudeville in the 1920s. He further honed his acting skills during 1924–1934 in stage productions in New York. In 1926, he joined the Morgan Wallace players as stage manager at the Princess Theater in Des Moines, Iowa. By the end of 1929, he had also performed with stock theater companies in Brooklyn, New York; Dayton, Ohio; Lynn, Massachusetts; and Portland, Maine. In 1930, one of the productions he appeared in was the comedy Cinderelative that had been written by Dorothy Heyward.

Hole was also a radio performer active in his native Iowa as well as New York City, Detroit, Chicago, and Los Angeles, California. While working as an announcer on WBBM in Chicago, his last name was temporarily changed to Cole by the station. In 1942 in Chicago, Hole was a co-chair of the Red Cross entertainment committee on war relief. He portrayed Paul Henderson on the radio soap opera Ma Perkins.

In 1951, he began acting in movies with a part in the Marie Windsor, Steve Brodie vehicle Two-Dollar Bettor. Although his appearances were usually uncredited, he appeared in thirty-six feature-length films. Among those were A Man Called Peter in 1955, Beloved Infidel in 1959, 4 for Texas in 1963 and The Graduate in 1967.

Hole carved out a long career in television, beginning in 1951 with an appearance on Hollywood Theatre Time, in the episode Mr. Young's Sprouts, which starred Gale Storm and Don DeFore. He often made repeat appearances on television shows, appearing in multiple episodes playing different roles. He appeared seven times each in Dragnet, Burke's Law, and Green Acres. He appeared in five Maverick episodes, and five times on CBS's Perry Mason. Hole appeared twice on ABC's The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, with Hugh O'Brian. He appeared in episodes 5 and 48 of Batman. Twice he played the part of Elmer Clark on Walter Brennan's The Real McCoys. Hole also guest starred on The Andy Griffith Show as Orville Monroe, the undertaker. He made 200 appearances in 121 television shows and made-for-television movies. Although he played a variety of parts, he was perhaps most frequently seen in comic roles, often as a fussy and somewhat self-important clerk, manager, or minor bureaucrat. His final television appearance was in Silhouette, a 1990 murder mystery starring Faye Dunaway.

During his early years in Hollywood his day job was at the California Employment Development Department.[citation needed ]

Hole married actress Betty Hanna, whom he met when they acted together in Dayton, Ohio. She preceded him in death. He died in North Hollywood in 1998 at age 93, and is buried with his wife at Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles.[10]

Partial listing, New York stage productions only[11]