Here’s the original actor cast as Home Improvement’s Wilson, before Earl Hindman replaced him. Home Improvement made Tim Allen one of the biggest TV stars of the ’90s, with the sitcom becoming an instant success for ABC. The show’s success also helped break Allen into movies, where he scored hits with The Santa Clause and voicing Buzz Lightyear in the Toy Story series. Popular as Allen’s Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor was on Home Improvement, there’s an argument to be made that the most memorable character was his next-door neighbor Wilson.
Wilson was often found in his backyard, ready to dispense sage advice to Tim or other members of the family to help resolve a given drama. A key feature of Wilson – who may be in Witness Protection – is that his face was always obscured, either by the garden fence, a mask or some other comical contrivance. Constantly obscuring Wilson’s face on Home Improvement was Allen’s idea, as he had childhood memories of a neighbor whose face he never saw fully because their backyard fence hid it.
Home Improvement’s Wilson was played by character actor Earl Hindman, who brought real warmth and gentle humor to the part. Over the course of the sitcom, more details about Wilson’s life were revealed, including that is was a widower and had a Ph.D. in Forgotten Languages and Culture. Hindman had appeared in plenty of movies and shows prior to Home Improvement where he showed his face, including The Taking of Pelham One Two Three and the TV series Tales From The Darkside, but in a pre-internet age, many viewers genuinely didn’t know what he looked like. Having Wilson’s face – aside from Home Improvement’s finale – obscured was a major issue for the original actor cast in the role, John Bedford Lloyd.
Home Improvement’s First Wilson Didn’t Want His Face Hidden
Co-creator Matt Williams recalled the story of John Bedford Lloyd’s near casting in 2015 documentary The Story Behind: Home Improvement. At that time, Lloyd was known for movies like James Cameron’s The Abyss and cult horror C.H.U.D., and Williams recalls explaining to the actor once he emerged as the frontrunner for Wilson that his face would be obscured throughout. Williams states this was seemingly clear and understood, but once Lloyd received the script for the pilot, he and his agent were furious the character would only be seen this way and backed out.
Luckily, this left room for Earl Hindman to take over as Home Improvement’s Wilson. This probably worked in the sitcom’s favor, since Tim Allen – who turned down a LOT for Home Improvement season 9 – and John Bedford Lloyd are close in age, while Hindman was a decade older, and projected a calmer air. Lloyd has kept busy throughout his career, appearing in the likes of L.A. Law, Philadelphia, Suits and Ozark.
