Jonathan Hole (1904 - 1998)

Character actor Jonathan Hole had a long and successful career in television playing guest role on many of the top TV shows of all time.

He was born in Eldora, Iowa, on August 13, 1904. His career began in vaudeville in the 1920s. He was also a radio performer active in his native Iowa as well as New York City, Chicago, Detroit, and Los Angeles. 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. In 1951, he began acting in movies with a part in 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 Perry Mason. Hole appeared twice on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, with Hugh O’Brian. Twice he played the part of Elmer Clark on The Real McCoys and he 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.

Jonathan Hole supplemented his income as an Employment Claims Assistant for the California Employment Development Department. During the 1950s he worked in the Hollywood office, paying Unemployment checks to Hollywood's out-of-work rank-in-file. He was married to actress Betty Hanna until her death in 1976. He died at the age of 93 on February 11, 1998, in North Hollywood, California, and is buried at Westwood Memorial Park, Westwood, California.