A former child soprano, Burgess Meredith became a leading figure in American theater of the 1930s. He made his film debut reprising his stage triumph in "Winterset" (1936), in a role written for him by Maxwell Anderson. Versatile and highly accomplished, compact in size and with a boyish yet eccentric quality, Meredith had a prolific but uneven screen career, partly because producers were often unsure of how to best utilize his talents. He nonetheless gave an outstanding performance as George in "Of Mice and Men" (1939) and brought a sweet quality to his romantic scenes with Ginger Rogers in "Tom, Dick and Harry" (1941). In the unjustly overlooked "Street of Chance" (1942), Meredith offered a strong turn as an amnesiac trying to reconstruct his past. He also shone as WWII correspondent Ernie Pyle in "The Story of G.I. Joe" (1945, although Robert Mitchum nearly stole the film) and as a psychiatrist treating a former prisoner of war in the disturbing British-made noir "Mine Own Executioner" (1947). Meredith also produced, wrote and co-starred with his third wife Paulette Goddard in Jean Renoir's uneven but fascinating "Diary of a Chambermaid" (1946).
Because of his widely publicized liberal views, Meredith found himself blacklisted in Hollywood for much of the 1950s. He returned to the Broadway stage acting in such seminal productions as "The Fourposter" (1952) and "The Teahouse of the August Moon" (1955) as the Okinawan interpreter Sakini. The actor donned 'yellowface' again for his return to features, portraying a Japanese supplier of goods to American soldiers in "Joe Butterfly" (1957). After scoring a stage triumph with "A Thurber Carnival" (1961), Meredith made "Advise and Consent" (1962), the first of six features with director Otto Preminger. Perhaps ironically, the actor played an informer who names Henry Fonda's Secretary of State designee as a member of the Communist Party. Other work for Preminger included playing a priest in the overblown "The Cardinal" (1963) and a judge in "Hurry Sundown" (1967).
Meredith earned back to back Oscar nominations in the mid-70s for his work as a former vaudeville star reduced to eking a living as a salesman in "The Day of the Locust" (1975) and as Sylvester Stallone's crusty trainer in "Rocky" (1976), a role he reprised in three of its four sequels. He remained active in small roles into the 90s, most notably as Jack Lemmon's randy father in "Grumpier Old Men" (1993) and its superior sequel "Grumpier Old Men" (1995).
TV buffs treasure his bookworm in the memorably ironic "Time Enough to Last" episode of "The Twilight Zone" from the early 60s. Baby boomers also fondly recall the actor as the monocled villain The Penguin in the campy 60s version of "Batman". Meredith's distinctive, sing-song rasp was also enlisted for countless commercial voice-overs and documentary narrations. Among his other more notable small screen roles was his Emmy-winning portrayal of attorney Joseph Welch in the above average biopic of Joseph McCarthy, "Tail Gunner Joe" (NBC, 1977).
In 1994, he published his autobiography, "So Far, So Good".
- Also Credited As:
Buzz Meredith, Oliver Burgess Meredith
- Born:
November 16, 1907 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA
- Died:
September 9, 1997.
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Job Titles:
Actor, Producer, Director, Businessman, Clerk, Dishwasher, Editor, Furnace cleaner, Merchant seaman, Reporter, Salesman
Family
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Daughter: Tala Beth Meredith. survived him
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Father: William George Meredith.
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Mother: Ida Beth Meredith.
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Son: Jonathan Sanford Meredith. survived him
Education
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Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts
Milestones
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1929 Stage debut with walk on role at Eva LeGallienne s Civic Repertory Theatre, NYC
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1930 Member of Civic Repertory Theater
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1932 Broadway debut in Alice in Wonderland
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1933 First lead role on stage in Little Ol Boy
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1934 Made radio debut on the long-running serial Red Davis
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1935 Breakthrough stage performance as Mio in Maxwell Anderson s verse play Winterset ; Anderson wrote the part expressly for Meredith
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1936 Film debut, recreating stage role of Mio in Winterset
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1937 Performed Hamlet on radio broadcast
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1939 Toured with Orson Welles in Five Kings , playing Prince Hal to Welles Falstaff
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1939 Won critical acclaim for performance as George in Of Mice and Men
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1940 Starred on Broadway in Lilliom opposite Ingrid Bergman
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1945 Had one of his best leading roles as Ernie Pyle in The Story of G.I. Joe
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1946 Produced and wrote Diary of a Chambermaid starring then-wife Paulette Goddard and directed by Jean Renoir; also acted
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1949 Feature directing debut The Man on the Eiffel Tower ; co-directed with Charles Laughton; also starred;
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1950 First TV appearance as host of first two episodes of Your Show of Shows (NBC) in February
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1950 Stage directing debut Happy as Larry
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1952 TV directorial debut The Christmas Tie episode of Omnibus (CBS)
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1956 Stage producing debut Speaking of Murder
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1957 Returned to features in the title role of Joe Butterfly
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1961 Appeared with the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra as narrator and host
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1962 Made first of six films with Otto Preminger, Advise and Consent
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1971 Last feature collabortation with Preminger, Such Good Friends
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1974 Recreated on Broadway his staging of the 1958 Off-Broadway play Ulysses in Nighttown , adapted from the James Joyce novel; earned Tony nomination
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1975 Earned first Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor for The Day of the Locust
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1976 Co-starred in Rocky as the boxing trainer Mickey; received second Oscar nomination; played role in three of the four sequels ( Rocky II 1979; Rocky III 1982: and Rocky V 1990)
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1983 Was featured as Sally Struthers boss on the short-lived CBS sitcom Gloria , a spin-off of All in the Family
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1987 Had title role in Jean-Luc Godard s King Lear
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1993 Co-starred in Grumpy Old Men as Jack Lemmon s father
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1994 Published memoir, So Far, So Good
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1995 Reprised role in Grumpier Old Men
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1996 Final TV appearance as host of the PBS special Preminger--Anatomy of a Filmmaker
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1996 Final film appearnace in Danny Huston s The Maddening
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Appeared as guest villain The Penguin on Batman (ABC)
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Blacklisted during the 1950s
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Held various jobs after leaving college
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Played Cameron on the NBC series Search
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Served in the Army Air Corps during WWII
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TV series debut as regular in role of principal Martin Woodridge on Mr Novack (NBC)