Jonathan Hole

Career

His career began in vaudeville in the 1920s. 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 WBBN 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.

Hole further honed his acting skills during the years 1924–1934 in stage productions in New York. In 1930, one of the productions he appeared in was the comedy Cinderelative that had been written by Dorothy Heyward.

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. 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.

Personal life and death

Hole was born in Eldora, Iowa. He was married to actress Betty Hanna, who preceded him in death. Hole died in North Hollywood in 1998 at age 93, and is buried with his wife at Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles.

Stage work

Partial listing, New York stage productions only