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Photo of Al Shean

Al Shean

Actor, Writer, Additional Credits
Died August 12, 1949 (81 years)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Abraham Elieser Adolph Schönberg (12 May 1868 – 12 August 1949), known as Al Shean, was a comedian and vaudeville performer. Other sources give his birth name variously as Adolf Schönberg, Albert Schönberg, or Alfred Schönberg.[6] He is most remembered for being half of the vaudeville team Gallagher and Shean, and as the uncle of the Marx Brothers.

Shean was born in Dornum, Germany, on 12 May 1868, the son of Fanny and Levi or Louis Schoenberg. His father was a magician. His sister, Minnie, married Sam "Frenchie" Marx; their children would become the Marx Brothers.

After making a name for himself in vaudeville, Shean teamed up with Edward Gallagher to create the act Gallagher and Shean in the 1920s. While the act was successful, the men apparently did not like each other much. After their act's final Ziegfeld Follies pairing, Shean went on to perform solo in eight Broadway shows, even playing the title character in Father Malachy's Miracle.

Shean had some solo film roles: as the piano player, known as "The Professor" in San Francisco (1936), as a priest in Hitler's Madman (1943), as grandfather in The Blue Bird (1940), and in some three dozen other films. He and Gallagher also made an early sound film at the Theodore Case studio in Auburn, New York, in 1925.

He died on 12 August 1949.
Known For
  • Monkey Business
  • Music in the Air
  • The Great Waltz
  • Broadway Serenade
  • Sweet Music
  • At Sea Ashore
  • Symphony of Living
  • It Could Happen to You

Filmography

2004
1976
That's Entertainment, Part II · as (archive Footage)
1943
Crime Doctor · as Dave, A Convict
1943
Hitler's Madman · as Father Cemlanek
1942
Tish · as Rev. Ostermaier
1941
Ziegfeld Girl · as Al
1940
The Blue Bird · as Grandpa Tyl
1939
1939
Broadway Serenade · as Herman
1938
The Great Waltz · as Cellist
1938
Too Hot to Handle · as Gumpert
1937
Tim Tyler's Luck · as Professor Tyler
1937
Rosalie · as Herman Schmidt
1937
Live, Love and Learn · as Professor Fraum
1937
The Prisoner of Zenda · as Orchestra Leader
1937
It Could Happen to You · as Max 'pa' Barrett
1937
The Road Back · as Markheim
1936
San Francisco · as Professor
1936
The King Steps Out · as Ballet Master
1936
1936
At Sea Ashore · as Adolph Rumplemeyer
1935
It's in the Air · as Mr. Johnson
1935
Page Miss Glory · as Mr. Hamburgher
1935
Traveling Saleslady · as Schmidt
1935
Sweet Music · as Sigmund Selzer
1935
Symphony of Living · as Adolph Greig
1934
Music in the Air · as Dr. Walter Lessing

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