More than 40 years after he made his Broadway stage debut (as a teenager, in 1943) and his film debut (in an uncredited part in The Lost Weekend, 1945), EARLE HYMAN (1926-2017) scored an Emmy nomination for playing the father of Bill Cosby's character on The Cosby Show.
He was a member of the American Shakespeare Theatre from its first season (he played Othello in the 1957 season), and a life member of The Actors Studio. In addition to stage appearances in New York and London, he performed throughout his career in Norway, having learned the language from his partner, a sailor named Rolf Sirnes (1926-2004). In 1988, he was awarded the St. Olav's Medal for his work in Norwegian theater.
Here, at 27, on March 10, 1953, in a photograph by Carl Van Vechten, he is in costume as the Prince of Morocco in The Merchant of Venice: