You might not recognize Earl Hindman's name or face, but you definitely know his voice.
The actor who made his career by playing Tim Allen's friendly and folksy but never seen neighbor on the long-running ABC sitcom Home Improvement died Monday at Stamford Hospital in Connecticut. He was 61.
Hindman succumbed to lung cancer, his wife of 27 years, the Reverend Molly McGreevy of Stamford's St. Francis Episcopal Church, told the Stamford Advocate.
Though he was hardly seen on the show, Hindman was a key component of its soul. His character Wilson was always giving Allen's Tim "The Toolman" Taylor sage advice about family and career, usually over the communal back yard fence that obscured Hindman's face.
"Earl had a very deep voice. It was rich, very warm and very recognizable," McGreevy told the Advocate. "He was the funniest human being I ever met. Even after 27 years of marriage, he could always crack me up."
Home Improvement ran for eight years on the Alphabet network, ending its run in 1999.
Throughout his tenure on the show, Hindman flew back and forth from Los Angeles to his home in Stamford, where the couple had resided since 1976, according to McGreevy.
Before being cast in Home Improvement, Hindman worked for many years in daytime soaps portraying Detective Lieutenant Bob Reid for 16 years on Ryan's Hope.
Born in Bisbee, Arizona, on October 20, 1942, Hindman caught the acting bug doing theater in high school and from there launched a career that spanned more than three decades.
He first caught the eye of casting directors in his late 20s after a series of off-Broadway plays in the early 1970s, including "Dark Moon," "The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel" and a production of Henry V at the New York Shakespeare Festival.
Hindman eventually segued into television and film work. In 1974, he landed roles in two notable features: Alan Pakula's conspiracy thriller The Parallax View, starring Warren Beatty, and the crime drama The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3, opposite Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw.
Other film credits include Grease Lightning (1977), Taps (1981), Silverado (1985), Three Men and a Baby (1987), Talk Radio (1988), The Ballad of the Sad Café (1991) and, most recently, 2001's Final, a sci-fi drama directed by Campbell Scott and starring Denis Leary.
Hindman's TV-movie credits include Murder in Coweta County (1983), a police drama starring Johnny Cash and Andy Griffith; Kojak: The Price of Justice (1987); and the epic World War II miniseries War and Remembrance (1988).
He also did guest shots on such shows as The Equalizer, Spenser for Hire, Tales from the Darkside, Law & Order and Law & Order: Criminal Intent.
Before his death, Hindman wrapped filming on Beautiful Summer, an indie feature in which he played an old fisherman fighting off hallucinations.
McGreevy described her husband as an easy-going, humble man whose hobbies included collecting stamps and coins and playing poker with friends.
Aside from his wife, Hindman is survived by his mother, a sister and a brother.