He might not have won the heart of any girl as Dobie Gillis, but he won the hearts of his fans with his iconic character!
Actor and network TV executive, Dwayne Hickman, has died at the age of 87. Despite his uncountable achievements, the baby boomer generation would remember him for his character as Dobie Gillis.
On Sunday, according to a statement released from a source close to the deceased, B. Harlan Boll, Dwayne Hickman died due to Parkinson’s at his home in LA. The actor took his last breath in the arms of his family, the statement says.
Although he pulled off several characters in movies and other TV shows and pursued a successful publicist career, he would never escape his fans’ connection to Dobie.
Other than showbiz, the actor was a successful businessman as he reportedly owned a casino in Vegas.
During the time when Bill Clinton was administering Arkansas, the two met “Oh, my gosh — it’s Dobie Gillis! I grew up with you!” said Clinton on meeting the actor.
“Now it’s nice,” replied the old friend, Hickman, who also pursued a career in painting.
“It’s very sweet to see how much Dobie Gillis meant to a lot of baby boomers, who are always nice when I meet them” told the actor during his work exhibition in St. Louis in 2003.
Hickman and wife Joan Roberts Hickman co-wrote his autobiography which was titled as “Forever Dobie” and was published in 1995.
Before 1950, Hickman made small appearances in several TV shows but had said goodbye to acting after 1950 to focus on his studies at Cathedral High School, LA. Later he went to Loyola University for further studies.
“I was in the art program and was heading toward architecture when I got a call from my old agent toward the end of my freshman year,” recalled the actor during his interview in 2003. “He said he had a role for me in ‘The Bob Cummings Show.’”
While pursuing a degree in economics, Hickman went on to play the nephew role, Chuck MacDonald, to Cummings’ Bob Collins, who worked with fashion models as a photographer. The teenager Chuck was always seeking an opportunity to get a piece of his uncle’s actions. The sitcom, “The Bob Cummings Show” was on broadcast from 1955 to 1959. At the end of the show, Hickman made a pilot in his iconic show, ‘The Many Loves Of Dobie Gillis’.
