Dennis Holmes
| Dennis Holmes | |
|---|---|
| Born |
October 3, 1950 Encino, California, USA |
| Occupation | Child actor: Laramie |
| Years active | 1950-1964 |
Dennis Holmes (born October 3, 1950, in Encino, California) is a former child actor whose longest-running role was from 1961 to 1963 as the orphaned Mike Williams in more than fifty episodes of the NBC western television series Laramie, starring with John Smith, Robert Fuller, Spring Byington, and Stuart Randall.
On September 23, 1961, Holmes joined the Laramie cast in the episode "Dragon at the Door," which focuses on Japanese entertainers headed east. Their wagon breaks down near the Sherman Ranch, and they bring along with them the injured and unconscious Mike Williams, whom they had found on the trail. Holmes' role as Mike Williams supersedes that from the first two seasons of Andy Sherman, played by Robert L. Crawford, Jr. Mike is allowed by a judge to live at the Sherman Ranch and Relay Station, pending the location of any next of kin, which never happens. Mike becomes like a much younger brother to series characters Slim Sherman (John Smith) and Jess Harper (Robert Fuller). Spring Byington, as the ranch housekeeper Daisy Cooper, joins the cast in "Ladies' Day", the second episode of the third season, and fills the role of surrogate grandmother for young Mike. Holmes's last appearance was in the episode "Trapped", which aired on May 14, 1963.
In 1950 Holmes made his first but uncredited movie appearance at 6 weeks old as the infant Butch, one of the children John Wayne rescues in the submarine under his command in the war movie Operation Pacific. Holmes' grandfather, Soldier Graham, was the gaffer on that film. In 1954, Holmes made his television debut as young Jimmy Evans on The Jack Benny Program, a role that he repeated seven years later in 1961. His next television appearances were in 1957 on Wire Service, The Walter Winchell File, and General Electric Theater, the latter as Tiny Tim in the episode "The Road to Christmas," with the host Ronald W. Reagan.
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