Edmund Gwenn
Edmund Gwenn | |
---|---|
St. Olave's School | |
Alma mater | King's College London |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1895–1959 |
Spouse(s) | Minnie Terry (m. 1901–c. 1916) |
Family |
|
Awards | Academy 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
As a stage actor in the
Life and career
Early years
Gwenn was born in
When he returned to London, Gwenn appeared not in low comedy but in what
Leading roles on stage and screen
After peace returned, Gwenn's leading roles in the
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
Gwenn died from
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
- The Real Thing at Last (1916) as Rupert K. Thunder / Macbeth
- Unmarried (1920) as Simm Vandeleur
- The Skin Game (1921) as Hornblower
- How He Lied to Her Husband (1931) as Teddy Bompas
- The Skin Game (1931) as Mr. Hornblower
- Hindle Wakes (1931) as Chris Hawthorne
- Frail Women (1932) as The Bookmaker - Jim Willis
- Money for Nothing (1932) as Sir Henry Blossom
- Condemned to Death (1932) as Banting
- Love on Wheels (1932) as Philpotts
- Tell Me Tonight (1932) as Mayor Pategg
- The Good Companions (1933) as Jess Oakroyd
- Cash (1933) as Edmund Gilbert
- I Was a Spy (1933) as Burgomaster
- Smithy (1933) as John Smith
- Channel Crossing (1933) as Trotter
- Marooned (1933) as Tom Roberts
- Friday the Thirteenth (1933) as Mr. Wakefield
- Early to Bed (1933) as Kruger
- Waltzes from Vienna (1934) as Johann Strauss, the Elder
- Warn London (1934) as Dr. Herman Krauss
- Passing Shadows (1934) as David Lawrence
- Java Head (1934) as Jeremy Ammidon
- The Admiral's Secret (1934) as Admiral Fitzporter
- Father and Son (1934) as John Bolton
- Spring in the Air (1934) as Franz
- The Bishop Misbehaves (1935) as Bishop
- Sylvia Scarlett (1935) as Henry Scarlett
- The Walking Dead (1936) as Dr. Beaumont
- Laburnum Grove (1936) as Mr. Radfern
- Anthony Adverse (1936) as John Bonnyfeather
- All American Chump (1936) as Jeffrey Crane
- Mad Holiday (1936) as Williams
- Parnell (1937) as Campbell
- South Riding (1938) as Alfred Huggins
- A Yank at Oxford (1938) as Dean of Cardinal
- Penny Paradise (1938) as Joe Higgins
- Cheer Boys Cheer (1939) as Edward Ironside
- The Earl of Chicago (1940) as Munsey, the Butler
- An Englishman's Home (1940) as Tom Brown
- The Doctor Takes a Wife (1940) as Dr. Lionel Sterling
- Pride and Prejudice (1940) as Mr. Bennet
- Foreign Correspondent (1940) as Rowley
- Cheers for Miss Bishop (1941) as President Corcoran
- Scotland Yard (1941) as Inspector Cork
- The Devil and Miss Jones (1941) as Hooper
- One Night in Lisbon (1941) as Lord Fitzleigh
- Charley's Aunt (1941) as Stephen Spettigue
- A Yank at Eton (1942) as Headmaster Justin
- Forever and a Day (1943) as Stubbs
- The Meanest Man in the World (1943) as Frederick P. Leggitt
- Lassie Come Home (1943) as Rowlie
- Between Two Worlds (1944) as Scrubby
- The Keys of the Kingdom (1944) as Father Hamish MacNabb
- Dangerous Partners (1945) as Albert Richard Kingby
- Bewitched (1945) as Dr. Bergson
- She Went to the Races (1945) as Dr. Homer Pecke
- Of Human Bondage (1946) as Athelny
- Undercurrent (1946) as Professor 'Dink' Hamilton
- Miracle on 34th Street (1947) as Kris Kringle
- Life with Father (1947) as Reverend Dr. Lloyd
- Thunder in the Valley (1947) as Adam MacAdam
- Green Dolphin Street (1947) as Octavius Patourel
- Apartment for Peggy (1948) as Professor Henry Barnes
- Hills of Home (1948) as Dr. William MacLure
- Challenge to Lassie (1949) as John Traill
- A Woman of Distinction (1950) as Mark 'J.M.' Middlecott
- Louisa (1950) as Henry Hammond
- Pretty Baby (1950) as Cyrus Baxter
- Mister 880 (1950) as William 'Skipper' Miller
- For Heaven's Sake (1950) as Arthur
- Peking Express (1951) as Father Joseph Murray
- Sally and Saint Anne (1952) as Grandpa Pat Ryan
- Les Misérables (1952) as Bishop Courbet
- Bonzo Goes to College (1952) as Ted 'Pop' Drew
- Something for the Birds (1952) as 'Admiral' Johnnie Adams
- Mister Scoutmaster (1953) as Dr. Stone
- The Bigamist (1953) as Mr. Jordan
- The Student Prince (1954) as Professor Juttner
- Them! (1954) as Dr. Harold Medford
- The Trouble with Harry (1955) as Captain Albert Wiles
- It's a Dog's Life (1955) as Jeremiah Edward Emmett Augustus Nolan
- Calabuch(1956, U.S. title The Rocket from Calabuch) as Professor Jorge Serra Hamilton
- Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1957) (Season 2 Episode 36: "Father and Son") as Joe Saunders
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
- ^ 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
- ^ "Miss Minnie Terry", Table Talk, 9 October 1902, p. 10
- ^ "Wyndham's Theatre", The Times, 3 August 1905, p. 8
- ^ "The Theatres", The Times, 30 October 1911, p. 11
- ISBN 0413583805.
- ^ The Daily Mail, 12 July 1956, p. 3
- ^ Parker, pp. xxxvi–cxxii
- ^ "Screen Legends", The Observer Review, 20 December 2009
- ^ Review, Time, details of issue and page number needed.
- ^ "Rodney Soher" Archived 3 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Sports Reference, retrieved 28 May 2014
- ^ "OPENING THE VAULT: The Story of Chapel of the Pines". YouTube.
- ^ "Those Were the Days". Nostalgia Digest. 38 (3): 32–39. Summer 2012.
- ^ "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
- Alistair, Rupert (2018). "Edmund Gwenn". The Name Below the Title : 65 Classic Movie Character Actors from Hollywood's Golden Age (softcover) (First ed.). Great Britain: Independently published. pp. 115–118. ISBN 978-1-7200-3837-5.
External links
- Edmund Gwenn at IMDb
- Edmund Gwenn at the Internet Broadway Database
- Edmund Gwenn in Screen Director's Playhouse: Miracle on 34th Street (1949) (Downloadable mp3 and streaming audio)
- Edmund Gwenn in Lux Radio Theater: Miracle on 34th Street (1948) (Downloadable mp3 and streaming audio)
- Regarding Edmund Gwenn (TCM Movie Morlocks)