Jesse Boyce Holleman (February 26, 1924 – November 21, 2003) was an American

war veteran A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military. A military veteran that has ...

, attorney,

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

, and

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

. Boyce Holleman was born in Fruitland Park, MS, to a family that made their living in timber and construction. As a Naval Aviator in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, he was shot down while making a bomb run during the invasion of Saipan and spent 14 months recovering from severe injuries. He achieved the rank of

Lieutenant Commander Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding ran ...

and was awarded the

Purple Heart The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, ...

. Holleman attended Perkinston Junior College, now

Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College (MGCCC) is a public community college with its main campus in Perkinston, Mississippi. It was founded as Harrison County Agricultural High School in 1912. MGCCC has three campuses and six centers: The ma ...

, at Perkinston, MS and the

University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi ( byname Ole Miss) is a public research university that is located adjacent to Oxford, Mississippi, and has a medical center in Jackson. It is Mississippi's oldest public university and its largest by enrollment ...

Oxford, MS Oxford is a city and college town in the U.S. state of Mississippi. Oxford lies 75 miles (121 km) south-southeast of Memphis, Tennessee, and is the county seat of Lafayette County. Founded in 1837, it was named after the British city of Oxf ...

. After graduating from the

University of Mississippi School of Law The University of Mississippi School of Law, also known as Ole Miss Law, is an ABA-accredited law school located on the campus of the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi. The School of Law offers the only dedicated aerospace law curr ...

in 1950, Holleman established his legal practice in Wiggins and moved his family to Gulfport, MS in 1967. Holleman was elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives in 1947, at the age of 23, and served until 1953 when he was appointed to the position of District Attorney for the

Mississippi Gulf Coast The Mississippi Gulf Coast, also known as Mississippi Coast, Mississippi Gulf Coast region, Coastal Mississippi, and The Coast, is the area of Mississippi along the Mississippi Sound at the northern extreme of the Gulf of Mexico. Geography At th ...

. As District Attorney, Holleman survived an assassination attempt by the

Dixie Mafia The Dixie Mafia or Dixie Mob is an American criminal organization composed mainly of white Southerners and based in Biloxi, Mississippi, operating primarily throughout the Southern United States since at least the late 1960s. The group's activitie ...

. During his tenure as District Attorney, Holleman fought to overturn a crooked election, taking this battle all the way to the

State Supreme Court In the United States, a state supreme court (known by other names in some states) is the highest court in the state judiciary of a U.S. state. On matters of state law, the judgment of a state supreme court is considered final and binding in b ...

. He was re-elected five times as District Attorney, retiring in 1972, to return to the private practice of law. When reflecting on his life, Holleman said that he wanted to be remembered, first and foremost, as a lawyer. Holleman served as Attorney for the Harrison County Board of Supervisors and

School District A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public primary and secondary schools in various nations. North America United States In the U.S, most K–12 public schools function as units of local school districts, wh ...

for 18 and 15 years, respectively. In 1969 and 1970, he was elected President of the

State bar association A state bar association is a bar association that represents or seeks to represent the attorneys practicing law in a particular U.S. state. Their functions differ from state to state, but often include administration of the state bar examination fo ...

in Mississippi. In 1995, he received the Outstanding Achievement in Law Award from the Mississippi State Bar Association. An autobiographical video, titled ''Trailblazers of the Mississippi Legal Frontier'', was produced to document his legal career. In 1975, Holleman began an acting career, which led him to perform on stage, in movies, and in television series. Holleman had a starring role in '' The Ponder Heart'', a movie based on a book by

Eudora Welty Eudora Alice Welty (April 13, 1909 – July 23, 2001) was an American short story writer, novelist and photographer who wrote about the American South. Her novel '' The Optimist's Daughter'' won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973. Welty received numerou ...

and was an active member of the

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...

. In 1976, Holleman was interviewed about his distinguished legal career as part of the Mississippi Oral History Program. Following his death from cancer, Holleman was buried in ''Floral Hills Memorial Gardens'', Gulfport, Mississippi.

Partial filmography

*''

The Beast Within ''The Beast Within'' is a 1982 American horror film directed by Philippe Mora and starring Ronny Cox, Bibi Besch, Paul Clemens, L. Q. Jones, Don Gordon, R. G. Armstrong, Logan Ramsey, Katherine Moffat, and Meshach Taylor. ''The Beast With ...

'' (1982) - Doc Odom *'' Stone Cold'' (1991) - County Judge *''

A Simple Twist of Fate ''A Simple Twist of Fate'' is a 1994 American comedy-drama film directed by Gillies MacKinnon. The screenplay by Steve Martin is loosely based on the 1861 novel '' Silas Marner'' by George Eliot. Martin stars, along with Gabriel Byrne, Lau ...

'' (1994) - Politician #1 *''Cries of Silence'' (1996) - Judge Ladner

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holleman, Jesse Boyce 1924 births 2003 deaths Burials in Mississippi Members of the Mississippi House of Representatives People from Forrest County, Mississippi Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College alumni University of Mississippi School of Law alumni 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American male actors Male actors from Mississippi American male stage actors American male film actors American male television actors