Actor Howard Rollins, 46, succumbs in New York

Jet, Dec 23, 1996

Actor Howard E. Rollins Jr., who was a regular cast member on the TV series In The Heat of the Night", recently died in New York. He was 46. The cause of death and circumstances were not disclosed at Jet press time.

On the 1987 television drama "In The Heat of the Night", Rollins portrayed Virgil Tibbs, a detective from Philadelphia working in a racially volatile Southern town.

He was written out of the show in 1988 because of his cocaine and alcohol addiction.

Rollins later delivered a performance in 1988 when he played William Shakespeare's character Othello, in the acclaimed tragedy Othello, at the Stratford (Ontario) Shakespeare Festival.

Rollins, who studied acting for two years at Towson State University in Maryland before dropping out to pursue acting full time, had appeared in the TV movies King and Roots: The Next Generation.

In 1981, Rollins received an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor for his performance as Coalhouse Walker Jr., a piano player-turned-urban guerrilla, in the movie Ragtime.

Three years later, Rollins won more acclaim when he portrayed Capt. Richard Davenport, an Army lawyer, in the movie A Soldier's Story.

The talented actor portrayed the slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers in the 1983 PBS American Playhouse television drama For Us, The Living.

After run-ins with the law for reckless driving, driving under the influence and a one-month jail stint, he made a special guest appearance in 1993 on "In The Heat of the Night", after entering drug rehab.

However, Rollins, life took an unfortunate turn once again as he was arrested for driving under the influence of cocaine and driving with a suspended license in the '90s.

Survivors were unknown at Jet press time.