Holling Vincoeur

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Holling Vincoeur is a fictional character in the television show Northern Exposure, played by John Cullum.

Holling is a native of the Yukon, and a naturalized citizen of the United States. He owns and manages "The Brick", a restaurant which is a center of social life in the (fictional) town of Cicely, Alaska, and is arguably the most rational of the town's quirky denizens.

Aged 62 years as the series opens, Holling is romantically involved with Shelly Tambo, a woman young enough to be his granddaughter. Shelly was brought to Cicely by Maurice Minnifield, until then Holling's best friend, who hoped to marry her; but she soon fell in love with Holling.

Holling is, or was, an expert hunter. A few years before meeting Shelly, he was nearly killed by a bear known as Jesse. In a dream, Jesse confronted Holling with all the animals he had shot, and he swore off hunting because of the uneven nature of the confrontation.

Notable for his calm and forthright manner, kind Holling holds the office of mayor during most of the series, though in a town so small his duties are so light that it is rarely mentioned. He later lost the position in a tight election with a former acquaintance turned enemy.

Holling is descended from Louis XIV of France, and despises his ancestors as "aristocratic scum of the worst kind"; he left Canada to escape the shame of their memory and shortened his surname from de Vincœur.