Hickey was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Edward and Nora Hickey, both of Irish descent.[1] He had an older sister, Dorothy Finn. Hickey began acting on the radio in 1938.[2]
Hickey had a long, distinguished career in film, television, and on stage. He began his career as a child actor on the variety stage and made his Broadway debut as a walk-on in the 1951 production of George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan, starring Uta Hagen. He performed often during the golden age of television, including appearances on Studio One and the Philco Playhouse. His most important contribution to the arts, however, remains his teaching career at the HB Studio[4] in Greenwich Village, founded by Herbert Berghof. George Segal, Jeanie Columbo, Sandy Dennis, Barbra Streisand, Cyprienne Gabel, and Sandra McClain all studied under him. He kept a flask behind the sink in the basement studio of HB where he taught. He stated it helped him cope with bad acting. He was a staple of Ben Bagley's New York musical revues; he can be heard on several of the recordings, notably Decline and Fall of the Entire World as Seen Through the Eyes of Cole Porter.
Hickey enjoyed a career in film, television, and theater. In addition to his work as an actor, he was a respected teacher of the craft. Notable for his unique, gravelly voice and somewhat offbeat appearance, Hickey, in his later years, was often cast in "cantankerous-but-clever old man" roles. His characters, who sometimes exuded an underlying air of the macabre, usually had the last laugh over their more sprightly co-stars. His early roles was that of a suspect in the 1968 film The Boston Strangler, as well as a historian in Little Big Man (1970) and a gangster in Mikey & Nicky (1976).
Hickey died from emphysema and bronchitis in 1997. He was interred in the Cemetery of the Evergreens in Brooklyn. He died during the filming of Uzo's Better Than Ever, and his role was played by the producer in a pick-up shot depicting his character in the hospital. His final movie, Knocking on Death's Door (1999, in which he plays the town sheriff), was released nearly two years after his death. The movie Mouse Hunt (1997, in which he also appeared) is dedicated to his memory.[5]
