Nook NotesPick a film
Howard Rollins

Actor

Howard Rollins

Born October 17, 1950 in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.Died December 8, 199619 films

Howard Rollins (October 17, 1950 – December 8, 1996) was an American television, film, and stage actor.

Read more

He is perhaps best known for his portrayal of Coalhouse Walker Jr. in Ragtime and Virgil Tibbs on In the Heat of the Night.

Start here

The best way into Howard Rollins's work
Ragtime posterFirst watchRagtime19817.0as Coalhouse Walker Jr.A young black pianist becomes embroiled in the lives of an upper-class white family set among the racial tensions, infidelity, violence, and other nostalgic events in early 1900s New York…View film

Essential films

Ranked by acclaim and reach

Filmography

19 films as actor
  1. 1997DrunksJoseph
  2. 1996Harambee!Chimbuko
  3. 1992With Murder in MindSamuel Carver
  4. 1990On the BlockClay Beasley
  5. 1986Johnnie Mae Gibson: FBIT.C. Russell
  6. 1986The Children of Times SquareOtis Travis
  7. 1986The Boy KingRev. Martin Luther King Sr.
  8. 1984He's Fired, She's HiredRaoul
  9. 1984A Soldier's StoryCaptain Davenport
  10. 1984The House of Dies DrearWalter Small
  11. 1984A Doctor's StoryDr. Zack Williams
  12. 1984The House of GodChuck Johnston
  13. 1983For Us, the Living: The Story of Medgar EversMedgar Evers
  14. 1982The Member of the WeddingHoney Brown
  15. 1982The NeighborhoodAllen Campbell
  16. 1981RagtimeCoalhouse Walker Jr.
  17. 1981ThornwellCarson
  18. 1979My Old ManDoctor
  19. 1978The Trial of the MokeJames Smith