Ed Wynn

Known for ActingBorn 1886-11-09Died 1966-06-19Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Isaiah Edwin Leopold (November 9, 1886 – June 19, 1966), better known as Ed Wynn, was an American actor and comedian noted for his Perfect Fool comedy character, his pioneering radio show of the 1930s, and his later career as a dramatic actor. Ed Wynn first appeared on television on July 7, 1936 in a brief, ad-libbed spot with Graham McNamee during an NBC experimental television broadcast. In the 1949–50 season, Ed Wynn hosted one of the first network, comedy-variety television shows, on CBS, and won both a Peabody Award and an Emmy Award in 1949. Buster Keaton, Lucille Ball, and The Three Stooges all made guest appearances with Wynn. This was the first CBS variety television show to originate from Los Angeles, which was seen live on the west coast, but filmed via kinescope for distribution in the Midwest and East, as the national coaxial cable had yet to be completed. Wynn was also a rotating host of NBC's Four Star Revue from 1950 through 1952. After the end of Wynn's third television series, The Ed Wynn Show (a short-lived situation comedy on NBC's 1958–59 schedule), his son, actor Keenan Wynn, encouraged him to make a career change rather than retire. The comedian reluctantly began a career as a dramatic actor in television and movies. Father and son appeared in three productions, the first of which was the 1956 Playhouse 90 broadcast of Rod Serling's play Requiem for a Heavyweight. Ed was terrified of straight acting and kept goofing his lines in rehearsal. When the producers wanted to fire him, star Jack Palance said he would quit if they fired Ed. (However, unbeknownst to Wynn, supporting player Ned Glass was his secret understudy in case something did happen before air time.) On live broadcast night, Wynn surprised everyone with his pitch-perfect performance, and his quick ad libs to cover his mistakes. A dramatization of what happened during the production was later staged as an April 1960 Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse episode, "The Man in the Funny Suit", starring both senior and junior Wynns, with key figures involved in the original production also portraying themselves. Ed and his son also worked together in the Jose Ferrer film The Great Man, with Ed again proving his unexpected skills in drama. Requiem established Wynn as a serious dramatic actor who could easily hold his own with the best. His role in The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) won him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Also in 1959, Wynn appeared on Serling's TV series The Twilight Zone in "One for the Angels". Serling, a longtime admirer, had written that episode especially for him, and Wynn later in 1963 starred in the episode "Ninety Years Without Slumbering". For the rest of his life, Wynn skillfully moved between comic and dramatic roles. He appeared in feature films and anthology television, endearing himself to new generations of fans.Read more

Movies & web series

Hallmark Hall of Fame

The Twilight Zone

Hooray for Hollywood

Requiem for a Heavyweight

The Wonderful World of Disney

The Emmy Awards

The Ed Wynn Show

Playhouse 90

Mary Poppins

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

Bonanza

The Red Skelton Show

Miracle On 34th Street

Rawhide

Operation Wonderland

The Diary of Anne Frank

That's Entertainment, Part II

Alice in Wonderland

77 Sunset Strip

The New March of Dimes Presents: The Scene Stealers

Backstage Party

The Ed Wynn Show

What's My Line?

The Bob Hope Show

Boulevard! A Hollywood Story

The Colgate Comedy Hour

General Electric Theater

Startime

The Ed Sullivan Show

Rubber Heels

That Darn Cat!

Four Star Revue

Wagon Train

The Absent-Minded Professor

Dear Brigitte

The Greatest Story Ever Told

Those Calloways

This Is Your Life

The Dinah Shore Chevy Show

The Gnome-Mobile

Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse

Burke's Law

Marjorie Morningstar

The Patsy

Hollywood on Parade

December Bride

The Steve Allen Show

Stage Door Canteen