As the beloved grandfatherly neighbor he always seemed to solve the Taylor family's problems. It was never really known what Wilson looked like, because there always was some clever way of hiding part of his face from view but sometimes one could almost see his whole face. In fact, in one episode, he comments on Tim's beard, saying, "I can't understand why a man would want to hide his face", a clear in-joke to his character.

Some reports indicate that while Wilson's face being obscured behind the fence was an early schtick, Hindman was responsible for continuing it in any scenario, ensuring that Wilson's entire face was never seen all at once. A fan favorite was a Halloween episode, in which Wilson dressed up as The Phantom of the Opera, with a mask hiding the upper portion of his face and revealing the lower part, the reverse of a usual episode. His full face was only seen briefly in the final episode, when the entire cast came out to take their bows for the television (as well as studio) audience.

Hindman also played detective Bob Reid for many years on the daytime soap opera Ryan's Hope.

Earl did voiceover work for Home Depot in its TV ads.