ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 10, 1996 TAG: 9612100108
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
TYPE: NEWS OBIT
SOURCE: Associated Press
Howard Rollins, the Oscar-nominated actor who was bounced from the TV series ``In the Heat of the Night'' in 1993 because of his drug use, has died at 46.
Rollins died Sunday afternoon at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in New York. The hospital declined to release circumstances of the death, but a publicist for actor Carroll O'Connor, Frank Tobin, said it was caused by complications from lymphoma.
In ``The Heat of the Night,'' Rollins starred opposite O'Connor as a black detective from Philadelphia working in a racially volatile Southern town.
Rollins also had roles in the movies ``A Soldier's Story'' in 1984 and ``Ragtime'' in 1981. He was nominated for an Academy Award for ``Ragtime,'' in which he played Coalhouse Walker, a proud piano teacher who becomes a vengeful revolutionary.
It was the second death of a star associated with ``In the Heat of the Night.'' O'Connor's son, Hugh O'Connor, who played a law officer on the show, committed suicide in 1995 at age 33 - a death his father blamed on his son's 16-year battle with drugs.
In a statement Monday, O'Connor said he was ``deeply saddened by Howard's death. He was a friend who we loved dearly.''
Rollins' drug use repeatedly got him into legal trouble, and he was written out of the series after the 1992-93 season.
In 1993, Rollins spent a month in jail for driving under the influence and reckless driving.
He 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. In 1988, Rollins pleaded guilty to driving under the influence and cocaine possession in Louisiana.
LENGTH: Short : 44 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Rollinsby CNB