Earl Hindman

A lean, lanky character actor, Earl Hindman has played Wilson, the eccentric next door neighbor whose face is always obstructed by the backyard fence yet who provides the voice of experience and wisdom on the hit series "Home Improvement" (ABC, 1991-99).

Born and raised in the Southwest, Hindman became interested in acting while still a high school student. When he was cast in his first professional role (in Shakespeare) at the Old Globe Theatre, he dropped out of college. Years of stage work followed, including parts in the national touring company of "The Great White Hope" (1969-70), an Off-Broadway production of "Dark of the Moon" with Rue McClanahan and Harvey Keitel, David Rabe's "The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel" and the Broadway play "The Love Suicide at Schofield Barracks." For close to a decade (1975-84), the veteran actor played the regular role of Bob Reid, intimate of the core family, on the ABC soap "Ryan's Hope." He later had supporting roles in such TV-movies and miniseries as "The Ordeal of Dr. Mudd" (CBS, 1980, as President Andrew Johnson), "One Police Plaza" (CBS, 1986) and its sequel "The Red Spider" (CBS, 1988) and "War and Remembrance" (ABC, 1988). In features, his credits include small roles in "The Taking of Pelham One, Two, Three" (1974), "Silverado" (1985), four character voices in "Talk Radio" (1988) and "The Ballad of Sad Cafe" (1991).