Lester Rawlins (September 24, 1924 – March 22, 1988) was an American stage, screen, and television actor. He graduated from the Carnegie Mellon College of Drama in 1950 with a BFA.[1]
Born in Sharon, Pennsylvania, Rawlins appeared in off-Broadway productions of Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Richard III, Winterset, In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel, and Nightride, for which he won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance.[2]
His Broadway credits included A Man for All Seasons and Da, for which he won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play and was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play. Rawlins also won Obie Awards for his performance in the 1964 off-Broadway production of the play The Old Glory by the poet Robert Lowell[3] and for his performances in off-Broadway productions of Brendan Behan's The Quare Fellow and Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler.[4][5]
On television, Rawlins had recurring roles on The Defenders, Kojak, The Secret Storm, and Ryan's Hope. His feature films included Diary of a Mad Housewife and They Might Be Giants. Rawlins was a regular on the CBS soap opera, The Edge of Night for several years, where he played the role of wealthy Orin Hillyer.[6]
He also could be heard on television and radio commercials, and was most notably the voice-over for the Dunkin' Donuts TV and radio advertising campaign created by the New York advertising agency Ally & Gargano.
Rawlins died of cardiac arrest in New York City in 1988.[citation needed]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Diary of a Mad Housewife | Dr. Linstrom | |
| 1971 | They Might Be Giants | Blevins | |
| 1975 | Starsky & Hutch | C.J. Woodfield | |
| 1976 | God Told Me To | Board Chairman | |
| 1977 | A Secret Space | Kevin King | |
| 1983 | Lovesick | Silent Patient |
