Baltimore Black Theatre
The esteemed Arena Players Theatre in West Baltimore; (c) Soul Of America
Baltimore Black Theatre tradition is much broader than the gritty neighborhoods and waterfront that made the city an attractive location for Roc, Homicide, and The Wire television programs.
These shows represented a wellspring of work for local actors, but it is more important to note accomplished actors like the powerful Claudia McNeil, beloved Charles Dutton, scholarly Anna Deveare Smith, and radiant Jada Pinkett-Smith. None, however, had more star appeal than the enigmatic and sexy Howard Rollins.
Rollins learned his craft at nearby Towson State College (now University) and honed it at Baltimore’s acclaimed Arena Players, a black theatre. He got a succession of big breaks. After playing the character Coalhouse Walker in the 1981 movie Ragtime, Rollins received an Oscar Nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
For his 1982 TV series role on Another World, Rollins garnered an Emmy Nomination for Best Actor. Rollins then secured the lead role in the critically lauded 1984 movie, A Soldier’s Story. Denzel Washington was a co-star. After that performance, Howard Rollins was the most likely person to become the next “Black Leading Man.”
Howard Rollins in the movie Ragtime
In 1985, Rollins won the co-lead role of Bannister Sparks in a well-budgeted ABC TV western series, Wildside. Then, Lady Luck walked out.
In the years before Cable TV became very popular, ABC executives placed Wildside in the executioner’s time slot against two of the biggest hits — The Cosby Show and Magnum PI. The poor TV ratings were predictable.
Inexplicably, ABC did not move Wildside to another timeslot, nor consider a spin-off series for Rollin’s exciting Bannister Sparks character, who the sisters adored and brothers admired. Wildside was dropped after only 6 episodes. Considering that ABC did not attempt to get a return on investment with a hot actor, their move reeked of incompetence.
Today, Rollin’s character would have been picked up by HBO, Netflix, Amazon, or Showtime, securing his star ascension and making him millions. Rollins was unable to find another lateral or step-up movie or TV project for years.
Meanwhile, the careers of Denzel Washington, Wesley Snipes, Alfre Woodard, Louis Gossett, Jr., Angela Bassett, and Morgan Freeman were ascending in co-starring movie and TV roles. Then in 1988, Rollins lent his considerable talent to the TV series, In the Heat of the Night.
After several successful years, he felt the TV program had become formulaic and artistically stunting. He was also tired of its Deep South location shoot.
Black Cinema Noveau, started by Spike Lee and helpful to most big-name Black actors today, was just leaving the station. A creatively stifled Howard Rollins could find no better career progress options.
Frustrated with his career, Rollins turned to cocaine. Erratic behavior and missed appointments soon followed, sending his career and life spiraling downward. He obtained only one other leading role in a B movie in 1991, On The Block.
By and large, Rollins paid the bills by guest starring in various TV series, plays, and small movies until died in 1996 due to complications from lymphoma. He was only 46.
With another break, Howard Rollins’ career trajectory could have mirrored Denzel Washington’s career.