Reference articles on history, science, culture and more
Surprise meSurprise meSubscribe
Encyclopedia

Jonathan Hole

American actor (1904-1998)

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
8 min read
Source updated March 20, 2026
Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

Jonathan Foreman Hole (August 13, 1904 , February 11, 1998) was an American actor whose entertainment career covered five genres over 65 years. From his early days on the vaudeville stage and in legitimate theater, through radio, television and feature-length films that took his career up to the 1990s, Hole created a variety of characters in hundreds of roles.

01Early years

Hole was born in Eldora, Iowa, the son of Mr. and Mrs. H. E. Hole. He graduated from North High School in Des Moines and attended Drake University.

02Career

Hole's career began in vaudeville in the 1920s. He further honed his acting skills during 1924-1934 in stage productions in New York. In 1926, he joined the Morgan Wallace players as stage manager at the Princess Theater in Des Moines, Iowa. By the end of 1929, he had also performed with stock theater companies in Brooklyn, New York; Dayton, Ohio; Lynn, Massachusetts; and Portland, Maine. In 1930, one of the productions he appeared in was the comedy Cinderelative that had been written by Dorothy Heyward.

Hole was also a radio performer active in his native Iowa as well as New York City, Detroit, Chicago, and Los Angeles, California. While working as an announcer on WBBM in Chicago, his last name was temporarily changed to Cole by the station. In 1942 in Chicago, Hole was a co-chair of the Red Cross entertainment committee on war relief. He portrayed Paul Henderson on the radio soap opera Ma Perkins.

In 1951, he began acting in movies with a part in the Marie Windsor, Steve Brodie vehicle 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 CBS's Perry Mason. Hole appeared twice on ABC's The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, with Hugh O'Brian. He appeared in episodes 5 and 48 of Batman. Twice he played the part of Elmer Clark on Walter Brennan's The Real McCoys. Hole also 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. Although he played a variety of parts, he was perhaps most frequently seen in comic roles, often as a fussy and somewhat self-important clerk, manager, or minor bureaucrat. His final television appearance was in Silhouette, a 1990 murder mystery starring Faye Dunaway.

During his early years in Hollywood his day job was at the California Employment Development Department.

03Personal life and death

On April 7, 1931 in Manhattan Hole married actress Elizabeth Jane "Betty Hanna" Hanawalt (1903-1976), whom he met when they acted together in Dayton, Ohio. He died in North Hollywood in 1998 at age 93, and is buried with his wife at Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles.

04Stage work

Partial listing, New York stage productions only

Theatre
Opening date Closing date Title Role Setting Genre Playwright Theatre
August 13, 1924Aug 1924Dr. David's DadEricThe BronxComedyArmin Friedmann, Louis Nerz
Book adapted by Carrington North and Joseph J. Garren		Vanderbilt Theatre
January 26, 1928Feb 192857 BoweryTerryNew York CityComedyEdward LockeWallack's Theatre
September 18, 1930Sept 1930CinderelativeHorace J. HillParis, New YorkComedyDorothy Heyward, Dorothy De JagersArtef Theatre
Nov 9, 1931Nov 1931Peter Flies HighPeter TurnerRosedale, New JerseyComedyMyron Coureval FaganGaiety Theatre
August 1, 1932August 8, 1932Chamberlain Brown's Scrap BookStation Announcer, Francis Camerona vaudeville theatreVaudeville music revueAmbassador Theatre
December 26, 1932Jan 1933The Little Black BookH. D. PorterWashington, D.C.Comedy, dramaHarold ShermanSelwyn Theatre
December 25, 1933Jan 1934The Locked RoomJohn Burgess Jr.New York CityMelodramaHerbert Ashton Jr.Ambassador Theatre
October 15, 1934Dec1934Lost HorizonsDavid PrescottCanada, United StatesFantasyHarry Segall, script revision by John HaydenSt. James Theatre

05Television

06Films

Watch videos about Jonathan HoleExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Jonathan Hole”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

Images, from Wikimedia Commons:

Fathomly is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation. Spotted a problem? Tell us.