Ed Wynn
Ed Wynn
(November 9, 1886 – June 19, 1966) was a popular American comedian and actor noted for his Perfect Fool comedy character, his pioneering radio show of the 1930s, and his later career as a dramatic actor.
Ed Wynn
Ed began his career in vaudeville in 1903 and was a star of the Ziegfeld Follies starting in 1914. During The Follies of 1915, W. C. Fields allegedly caught Wynn mugging for the audience under the table during his “Pool Room” routine and knocked him unconscious with his cue. Wynn wrote, directed, and produced many Broadway shows in the subsequent decades, and was known for his silly costumes and props as well as for the giggly, wavering voice he developed for the 1921 musical review, The Perfect Fool.
Wynn provided the voice of the Mad Hatter in Walt Disney’s film, Alice in Wonderland. He had previously been caricatured in 1933 in the Merrie Melodies cartoon short Shuffle Off to Buffalo, and as a pot of jam in the 1934 Betty Boop short Betty in Blunderland.
He appeared as the Fairy Godfather in Jerry Lewis’ Cinderfella. His performance as Paul Beaseley in the 1958 film The Great Man earned him nominations for a “Best Supporting Actor” Golden Globe Award and a “Best Foreign Actor” BAFTA Award. The following year saw him receive his first (and only) nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Mr. Dussell in The Diary of Anne Frank (1959). In That Darn Cat! (1965) he played Mr. Hofstedder, the watch jeweler. He also appeared in the 1965 movie The Greatest Story Ever Told.
Possibly his best-remembered film appearance, though, was as Uncle Albert in Mary Poppins (1964); his segment, involving the mysterious British nanny’s eccentric uncle floating around just beneath the ceiling in uncontrollable mirth, singing “I Love to Laugh,” was one of the film’s highlights. In addition to Disney films, Wynn was a popular character in the Disneyland production The Golden Horseshoe Review. His last movie, released after his death, was The Gnome-Mobile (1967) in which he played the character Rufus.
Wynn died June 19, 1966 in Beverly Hills, California of throat cancer, aged 79. He was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, and his gravestone reads “Dear God, Thanks… Ed Wynn”.
After the end of Wynn’s third television series, The Ed Wynn Show (a short-lived situation comedy on NBC’s 1958-59 schedule), his son, actor Keenan Wynn, encouraged him to make the career change rather than retire. The comedian reluctantly began a career as a dramatic actor in television and movies. Father and son appeared in three productions, the first of which was the 1956 Playhouse 90 broadcast of Rod Serling’s play Requiem for a Heavyweight. Ed was terrified of straight acting and kept goofing his lines in rehearsal. When the producers wanted to fire him, star Jack Palance said he would quit if they fired Ed. However, unbeknownst to Wynn, supporting player Ned Glass was his secret understudy in case something did happen before air time. On live broadcast night, Wynn surprised everyone with his pitch-perfect performance, and his quick ad libs to cover his mistakes. A dramatization of what happened during the production was later staged as an April 1960 Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse episode, “The Man In the Funny Suit”, starring both senior and junior Wynns, with key figures involved in the original production also portraying themselves. Ed and his son also worked together in the Jose Ferrer film The Great Man, with Ed again proving his unexpected skills in drama.
Ed Wynn
Requiem established Wynn as serious dramatic actor who could easily hold his own with the best. His role in The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) won him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Also in 1959, Wynn appeared on Serling’s TV series The Twilight Zone in “One for the Angels”. Serling, a longtime admirer, had written that episode especially for him, and Wynn later starred in the episode “Ninety Years Without Slumbering”. For the rest of his life, Ed skillfully moved between comic and dramatic roles. Ed Wynn appeared in feature films and anthology television, endearing himself to new generations of fans.