Earl Holliman was born on September 11, 1928, in Delhi in Richland Parish, located within northeastern Louisiana. Holliman’s biological father, William A. Frost (1870-1928), a farmer, died seven months prior to his birth, and his biological mother, Mary Frost Smith (1898-1973), living in poverty with several other children, gave him up for adoption at birth. Earl was the seventh of ten children overall, all of whom, like himself, were sent to various orphanages, and in later years he was able to reconnect and establish relationships with them. He was adopted a week after his birth by Henry Holliman (1897-1941), an oil-field worker, and his wife, Velma (1898-1985), a waitress, who then gave him the name Henry Earl Holliman. Although the Holliman’s living conditions and family history have strong ties to Louisiana during Earl’s teenaged years, his family and he lived in Kerrville, Texas, for a time as well as some parts of Arkansas (a fact, in which he was once noted later on as being a “red-blooded Ark-La-Texan”).

For several years, various sources erroneously reported that Earl Holliman’s original name was Anthony Earl Numkena. In fact, Numkena was a child actor, born in 1942, who appeared with Holliman in the films Pony Soldier (1952) and Destination Gobi (1954).

Holliman returned home, worked in the oil fields in his spare time, was a dishwasher at various restaurants, and after some attendance at Louisiana Avenue, Fair Park, and Byrd High School in Shreveport, completed his public education at Oil City High School in Oil City, Louisiana, graduating with high honors in 1946; while a student there, he also played right tackle on the school football team and served as senior-class president. After rejecting a scholarship to Louisiana State University, he re-enlisted in the Navy and was stationed in Norfolk, Virginia. Interested in acting, he was cast as the lead in several Norfolk Navy Theatre productions. When he left the Navy for good, Holliman studied acting at the Pasadena Playhouse. He also graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles. During the time he studied acting at both the Playhouse and UCLA, Holliman supplemented his income working as a file clerk for Blue Cross (later known as Blue Cross Blue Shield Association) and with North American Aviation constructing airplanes.

Holliman first appeared, uncredited, in the 1952 Western Pony Soldier. After he gained popularity in his image following a change in haircutting, he then followed with five films released in 1953. His credits include: The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954), The Big Combo (1955), I Died a Thousand Times (1955), Forbidden Planet (1956), Giant (1956), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), Last Train from Gun Hill (1959), Visit to a Small Planet (1960), The Sons of Katie Elder (1965), Anzio (1968), and Sharky’s Machine (1981).

Holliman, although a Democrat, supported the re-election of Dwight Eisenhower in the 1956 presidential election.

From 1958 to 1963, Holliman found a brief, yet successful, career as a singer, and had a record deal with such notable recording studios as Capitol Records, Prep, and HiFi. His songs included: “A Teenager Sings the Blues”, “Nobody Knows How I Feel”, “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore”, “Sittin’ and a Gabbin'”, “If I Could See the World Through the Eyes of a Child”, “La La La Lovable”, “Wanna Kiss You To-Night”, “I’m in the Mood for Love”, “We Found Love”, “Willingly”, “There’ll Be No Teardrops Tonight”, and “Road to Nowhere”. In May 1976, he guest-starred on The John Davidson Show singing a vaudeville-style version of “(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song” with Davidson, as well as performing his own solo version of The Carpenters track, “Rainy Days and Mondays”.

Holliman became known to television audiences through his portrayal as Sundance in CBS’s Hotel de Paree, with costar Jeanette Nolan, from 1959 to 1960, and in the title role of Mitch Guthrie with Andrew Prine in NBC’s Wide Country, a drama about modern rodeo performers that aired for 28 episodes between 1962 and 1963. He also had the distinction of appearing in the debut episode of CBS’s The Twilight Zone, titled “Where Is Everybody?”, which aired on October 2, 1959, the same night as the premiere of Hotel de Paree.

In 1962, Claude Akins and he guest-starred as a pair of feuding brothers in “The Stubborn Stumbos” episode of Marilyn Maxwell’s ABC drama series Bus Stop. In 1965, he guest-starred on 12 O’Clock High as Lt. Steiger, a pilot who learns to appreciate life after being assigned a dangerous mission and winning the lottery. In 1967, Holliman guest-starred on Wayne Maunder’s short-lived ABC military–Western series Custer. In 1970, Holliman starred in the TV movie Tribes as the antagonist Master Sergeant Frank DePayster, co-starring with Darren McGavin and Jan-Michael Vincent. In 1970 and 1971, Holliman made two appearances in the Western comedy series Alias Smith and Jones starring Pete Duel (né Deuel) and Ben Murphy.

After Wide Country ended its run in April 1963, Holliman spent the next two months traveling the country in the acclaimed musical Oklahoma! appearing in the lead role of Curly McLain. Later that same year, he appeared in the role of Mike Mitchell in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, summer tour of Sunday in New York and at the Avondale Playhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, in The Country Girl in the role of Bernie Dodd opposite Lee Bowman and Julie Wilson. Between September 4 and September 9, 1963, he starred in a production of The Tender Trap, opposite Anthony George, in the role of Charlie Y. Reader at the Westchester County Playhouse in Dobbs Ferry, New York. In 1968, he starred in the Los Angeles Mark Taper Forum production of Tennessee Williams’ Camino Real in the role of Kilroy; his performance was well received by critics and Williams himself not only came to see Earl’s performance about 11 times, but he also sent him a correspondence praising his work in both Real and Streetcar as being “the best” interpretations of the characters “Kilroy” and “Mitch” he had even seen.

From 1974 to 1978, he portrayed Sergeant Bill Crowley opposite Angie Dickinson in the Police Woman series. He co-starred in all 91 episodes of the hit series (which he later remarked changed his life), playing the police department superior of undercover officer Pepper Anderson. He later took part in The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast comedy roast of co-star Dickinson on August 2, 1977.

During the late 1970s, he served as the national honorary chairman for the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation. In 1976, he was the grand marshal of the Annual Fourth of July Parade in Huntington Beach, California.

From September 15 to October 14, 1981, he starred in a stage production of Mister Roberts at the Fiesta Dinner Playhouse in San Antonio, Texas, of which he was owner. He occasionally performed at his theater when he was not working in Hollywood; other productions in which he appeared there include Arsenic and Old Lace as Mortimer Brewster from April 1 to May 4, 1980, and Same Time, Next Year with Julie Sommars in 1983. The facility closed after 1987. He also appeared in stage productions of the 1973 revival of A Streetcar Named Desire as Mitch and the 1977 Santa Monica Civic production of A Chorus Line as Zach the Choreographer.

Holliman continued to appear in television guest roles throughout the 1970s to 1990s. He shared a starring role in the CBS movie Country Gold (a made for television remake of All About Eve), filmed on location in Nashville, Tennessee, which also featured Loni Anderson, Linda Hamilton, and Cooper Huckabee. He was also a regular celebrity panelist on The Hollywood Squares, where he was recognized for his ability to trick the contestants with believable bluff answers. His most notable role during this period was in the hit miniseries The Thorn Birds with Richard Chamberlain and Rachel Ward. He also took part in the Gunsmoke reunion movie Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge in 1987 as Jake Flagg, having guest-starred on the Gunsmoke TV series with James Arness three times between 1969 and 1973.

He was an occasional celebrity on the $25,000 and $100,000 Pyramid game shows between 1983 and 1991. In 1991 and 1994, Holliman had two guest-star roles on Murder, She Wrote, in the season-seven episode “Who Killed JB Fletcher?” and the season-10 episode, “Roadkill”. From September 15, 1991, to January 4, 1992, he appeared in the lead role of Detective Matthew Durning on the CBS sitcom P.S. I Luv U (a role which he got due to his prominence in Police Woman two decades prior) and after the series ended, he was then featured as a special guest in the season-six episode of In the Heat of the Night entitled “Last Rights” portraying Dr. Lambert, a man who had been a prime suspect in a string of mercy killings. In 1996, he was the guest voice of the character Milton in the season-six Captain Planet and the Planeteers episode, “Never the Twain Shall Meet”. Later in his career, Holliman had a recurring role as Fred Duffy, the father of the title character Caroline Duffy, on Caroline in the City, appearing in three episodes, and he additionally starred in the 1997–99 television series Night Man as Frank Dominus, a disgraced former police officer and father of the main character.