Lean and gaunt with blue eyes and silver hair, Hoyt was a former history teacher and stand-up comedian who entered films after considerable stage work with Orson Welles's Mercury Theater in the late 1930s and early 40s. A prolific character actor in over 75 movies, Hoyt often played scientists, aristocrats and assorted authority figures, as well as turning in his fair share of mad professors.
- Also Credited As:
John Hoysradt
- Born:
October 5, 1904 in Bronxville, New York
- Died:
September 15, 1991.
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Job Titles:
Actor, Comic, Impressionist, Singer, Pianist, Teacher
Family
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Son: David Hoyt.
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Step-son: Kurt L Haveman.
Significant Others
Education
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Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, BA
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Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, MA
Milestones
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1931 Made Broadway debut in William Boliho's "Overture"
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1932 Worked as "ghost" pianist, playing offstage for Katharine Cornell who was portraying a concert artist in Sidney Howard's "Alien Corn"
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1937 Became a member of Orson Welles's Mercury Theater; appeared in "Julius Caesar", "Heartbreak House" and "'Tis a Pity She's a Whore"
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1945 Adopted stage name, John Hoyt
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1945 Left Mercury Theater to move to Hollywood
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1946 Film acting debut, "O.S.S."
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Appeared with several regional theater groups
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Moved to Santa Cruz CA and signed a contract with NBC to play Grandpa Kanisky on "Gimme a Break"
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Performed in the Ziegfeld Follies, sang and did impressions in NY nightclubs
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Played Dr. Krevoy on the TV comedy, "Tom, Dick and Mary"
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Taught history at Groton School in Massachusetts for two years
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Worked as a standup comedian at such clubs as the Rainbow Room, often after theater performances