A child actor along with his older brother Darryl Hickman, the younger Hickman appeared as an extra in Grapes of Wrath and would later appear in movies such as The Boy With Green Hair with the recently departed Dean Stockwell and Mighty Joe Young as well as appearing on TV in The Lone Ranger.
Hickman would become a fixture on American TV in 1955 with his portrayal of Chuck MacDonald on The Bob Cummings Show. His popularity would eventually earn him a starring role in The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. While intended as a vehicle for Hickman, the breakout star of the show was Hickman's friend Bob Denver as the bearded beatnik Maynard G. Krebs. Denver, of course, would go on to global fame in Gilligan's Island.
Although less remembered now, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis was groundbreaking for having a teenaged protagonist in the lead role (although Hickman was in his 20's at the time), his character breaking the fourth wall and the first national exposure of the 1960's counterculture.
After Dobie Gillis ended in 1963, Hickman would be seen in Cat Ballou with Jane Fonda and would occasionally pop up on TV in shows like Perry Mason, The Flying Nun, Ironside and Kolchak: The Night Stalker. In the 1980's, Hickman directed TV shows like Designing Women, Head of the Class and Sister, Sister. By the 1990's, Hickman largely retired from show business and spent most of his time painting as seen in this 2012 interview. R.I.P.
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