Howard Rollins, an Oscar-nominated actor with roles in such movies as "Ragtime" and "A Soldier's Story" and the TV series "In the Heat of the Night," died at age 46.
Rollins died Sunday afternoon at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital. The hospital declined to release the cause of death, but Frank Tobin, a publicist for actor Carroll O'Connor, said Rollins died from lymphoma.In a statement Monday, O'Connor said he was "deeply saddened by Howard's death. He was a friend who we loved dearly."
Rollins starred opposite O'Connor in "In the Heat of the Night," based on the 1967 movie about a white Mississippi police chief who teams up with a black detective from the North. The show aired from 1988 to 1994, first on NBC, then on CBS.
Rollins was written out of the series after the 1992-93 season after repeated trouble with drugs. He spent a month in jail in 1993 for driving under the influence and reckless driving.
Rollins pleaded guilty in 1992 to driving under the influence of a tranquilizer. He was sentenced to two days in jail and fined $1,000, and lost his driver's license.
Rollins played a proud Army lawyer in "A Soldier's Story" in 1984 and was nominated for an Academy Award for "Ragtime" (1981), in which he played Coalhouse Walker, a piano teacher who becomes a vengeful revolutionary.
He also starred in the 1980s Western series "Wildside," and several TV movies and plays.