Ed Wynn Overview:

Character actor, Ed Wynn, was born Isaiah Edwin Leopold on Nov 9, 1886 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Wynn died at the age of 79 on Jun 19, 1966 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles and was laid to rest in Forest Lawn (Glendale) Cemetery in Glendale, CA.

Ed Wynn was a dark-haired, inimitably Jewish (although he married a Catholic), bespectacled American comedian, known in his wildly successful, baggy-panted vaudeville days as "The Perfect Fool". His early film sound comedies were not successful, but he returned to Hollywood in his seventies with his gurgling voice intact and found himself in demand playing eccentric old gentlemen, especially in Walt Disney productions. He was the father of actor Keenan Wynn. He died from cancer.

(Source: available at Amazon Quinlan's Illustrated Dictionary of Film Character Actors).

HONORS and AWARDS:

.

Although Wynn was nominated for one Oscar, he never won a competitive Academy Award.

Academy Awards

YearAwardFilm nameRoleResult
1959Best Supporting ActorThe Diary of Anne Frank (1959)Mr. DussellNominated
.

He was honored with three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the categories of Motion Pictures, Radio and Television.

BlogHub Articles:

TV Tuesday: Hattie McDaniel on The Show

By KC on Feb 9, 2010 From Classic Movies

Here's Hattie McDaniel in a 1949 appearance on The Show as Beulah, her character from her popular radio (and eventually television) show. My favorite part of this sketch is when McDaniel breaks into a rendition of Some of These Days (though she didn't sing much on the big screen, ... Read full article


See all articles

Ed Wynn Quotes:

Mad Hatter: Clean cup, clean cup. Move down.


Mary Poppins: [watching Bert, Albert, Jane, and Michael laugh together on the ceiling] Why, it's the most disgraceful sight I've ever seen, or my name isn't Mary Poppins.
Bert: Speakin' o' names, I know a man with a wooden leg named Smith.
Uncle Albert: What's the name of his other leg?
[he, Bert, Jane, and Michael laugh]


Mad Hatter: [after "fixing" the White Rabbit's watch] Two days slow, that's what it is.


read more quotes from Ed Wynn...



Share this page:
Visit the Classic Movie Hub Blog CMH
Also a Scorpio






See All Scorpios >>
Best Supporting Actor Oscar 1959






See more Best Supporting Actor awards>>
Ed Wynn on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame





See All Walk of Fame Stars >>
Ed Wynn Facts
Organized an actors' strike in 1919, and was boycotted by the Shuberts as a result. He got around the boycott by writing and producing his own musical shows, which were both critical and popular successes.

Hanna-Barbera's Wally Gator's voice is probably the nearest to an exact impersonation of Wynn's "Perfect Fool" character.

Attended Central High in Philadelphia before running away from home to join the Thurber-Nasher Repertoire Company.

See All Related Facts >>