Army as a Military Police officer from 1952 to 1954 CE, he began his career with his debut in the 1956 film The Sharkfighters.

During his childhood, he recorded radio jingles in Chicago and made his first stage debut (at age 12) in the Evanston Children's Theater production Hans Brinkler and the Silver Skates, later transitioning in theater fully during his undergraduate period at Northwestern.įollowing his service in the U.S.

Biographical Notes īorn in Evanston, Illinois, U.S.A., Olson graduated from Evanston Township High School and Northwestern University. Olson is better known to most audiences for his role in 1971 CE's genre film The Andromeda Strain and his various guest appearances in television, ranging from Playhouse 90 1960) to Mannix (1969 & 1974) to Bionic Woman (1977), up to his final on-screen role in 1990's Murder, She Wrote. rugged stature and deep gravel-toned voice, bringing both his physical and vocal talents to radio, stage and screen throughout the decades. Olson was known for both his 6 ft., 3 in. Olson (OctoCE―ApCE) was an American actor who portrayed Thane in the Original Series' ' The Gun on Ice Planet Zero' two-parter, originally slated to be a movie-of-the-week before the Original Series was converted to a weekly-series.