Edmund Gwenn

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Edmund Gwenn
St. Olave's School
Alma materKing's College London
OccupationActor
Years active1895–1959
Spouse(s)Minnie Terry
(m. 1901–c. 1916)
Family (cousin)
AwardsAcademy Award, 2 Golden Globes

Edmund Gwenn (born Edmund John Kellaway; 26 September 1877 – 6 September 1959) was an English actor. On film, he is best remembered for his role as

corresponding Golden Globe Award. He received a second Golden Globe and another Academy Award nomination for the comedy film Mister 880 (1950). He is also remembered for his appearances in four films directed by Alfred Hitchcock
.

As a stage actor in the

Second World War
, he lived in the United States, where he had a successful career in Hollywood and Broadway.

Life and career

Early years

Gwenn was born in

St. Olave's School and later at King's College London.[1] He began his acting career in the theatre in 1895, and learned his craft as a member of Willie Edouin's company, playing brash comic roles.[1] In 1901 he married Minnie Terry, niece of Dame Ellen Terry. In the same year, he went to Australia and acted there for three years with the J. C. Williamson company.[1] His wife accompanied him, and when Gwenn was in a production of Ben Hur that was a disastrous failure, she restored the couple's fortunes by accepting an engagement from Williamson.[2] Later, the couple appeared on stage together in London in a farce called What the Butler Saw in 1905[3] and, in 1911, when Irene Vanbrugh made her debut in variety, she chose Terry and Gwenn to join her in a short play specially written by J. M. Barrie.[4]

When he returned to London, Gwenn appeared not in low comedy but in what

First World War, serving as an officer in the British Army.[1] During the war, Gwenn's marriage broke up and was dissolved. His ex-wife remarried but remained on affectionate terms with him.[6]

Leading roles on stage and screen

After peace returned, Gwenn's leading roles in the

Ian Hay (1923); and Hippolyte Gallipot in Lehár's Frasquita (1925).[7] Looking back at Gwenn's career, The Times considered, "Out of scores of other parts which he played in England and in America, the best remembered are probably Hornblower in Galsworthy's The Skin Game, the Viennese paterfamilias in Lilac Time and Samuel Pepys in Fagan's And So to Bed in 1926."[1]

Gwenn began his film career in 1916, playing Macbeth in

Gwenn appeared in more than eighty films, including Pride and Prejudice (1940), Cheers for Miss Bishop, Of Human Bondage and The Keys of the Kingdom. George Cukor's Sylvia Scarlett (1935) was his first appearance in a Hollywood film, as Katharine Hepburn's father. He settled in Hollywood in 1940 and became part of its British colony. He had a small role as a Cockney assassin in a Hitchcock film, Foreign Correspondent in 1940.[1] For his Santa Claus role in Miracle on 34th Street he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He received a second Oscar nomination for his role in Mister 880 (1950). Near the end of his career, he played one of the main roles in Them! (1954) and in Hitchcock's The Trouble with Harry (1955).[1]

On Broadway Gwenn starred in the acclaimed 1942 production of Chekhov's Three Sisters, starring Katharine Cornell (who was also the producer), Judith Anderson, and Ruth Gordon. Time proclaimed it, "a dream production by anybody's reckoning – the most glittering cast the theatre has seen, commercially, in this generation."[9]

Later years

Gwenn remained a British subject all his life. When he first moved to Hollywood, he lived at the

Second World War. Only the fireplace survived. What Gwenn regretted most was the loss of the memorabilia he had collected of the actor Henry Irving. Eventually, Gwenn bought a house at 617 North Bedford Drive in Beverly Hills, which he later shared with the former Olympic athlete Rodney Soher.[10] At the age of 78 he travelled from his home in California for a reunion with his ex-wife in London.[6] He told a reporter, "I never married again because I was very happy with my wife. I simply stayed faithful to the memory of that happiness."[6]

Gwenn died from

Woodland Hills, California, twenty days before his 82nd birthday. He was cremated, and his ashes were placed in the private vaults at the Chapel of the Pines Crematory in Los Angeles. Gwenn has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
at 1751 Vine Street for his contribution to motion pictures.

In March 2023 Gwenn's misplaced urn was located in Vault 5 of Chapel of the Pines Crematory by researcher Jessica Wahl and Hollywood Graveyard YouTube channel creator Arthur Dark. After a GoFundMe campaign organized by Wahl and Dark and with the permission of Gwenn's surviving family, Gwenn's urn was relocated to a publicly accessible niche in the Cathedral Mausoleum of Hollywood Forever Cemetery on December 3, 2023.[11]

Filmography

Radio appearances

Year Program Episode/source
1940 Forecast* The Lodger[12]
1943 Suspense The Fountain Plays
1944 Creeps by Night The Strange Burial of Alexander Jordan
1949 Suspense Murder in Black and White
1951 Stars of Hollywood A Christmas Carol
1953 Stars over Hollywood A Christmas Carol[13]
  • Audition program for the Suspense radio program.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q "Mr Edmund Gwenn – Versatile Character Actor", The Times, 8 September 1959, p. 13
  2. ^ "Miss Minnie Terry", Table Talk, 9 October 1902, p. 10
  3. ^ "Wyndham's Theatre", The Times, 3 August 1905, p. 8
  4. ^ "The Theatres", The Times, 30 October 1911, p. 11
  5. .
  6. ^
    The Daily Mail
    , 12 July 1956, p. 3
  7. ^ Parker, pp. xxxvi–cxxii
  8. ^ "Screen Legends", The Observer Review, 20 December 2009
  9. ^ Review, Time, details of issue and page number needed.
  10. ^ "Rodney Soher" Archived 3 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Sports Reference, retrieved 28 May 2014
  11. ^ "OPENING THE VAULT: The Story of Chapel of the Pines". YouTube.
  12. ^ "Those Were the Days". Nostalgia Digest. 38 (3): 32–39. Summer 2012.
  13. ^ "Those Were the Days". Nostalgia Digest. 41 (4): 38. Autumn 2016.

References

  • Parker, John (1925). Who's Who in the Theatre (fifth ed.). London: Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons.
    OCLC 10013159
    .

Further reading

External links