EH
Edward Everett Horton
Actor
Died September 29, 1970 (84 years)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Edward Everett Horton Jr. (March 18, 1886 – September 29, 1970) was an American character actor. He had a long career in film, theater, radio, television, and voice work for animated cartoons. Horton began his stage career in 1906, singing and dancing and playing small parts in vaudeville and in Broadway productions. In 1919, he moved to Los Angeles, California, where he began acting in Hollywood films. His first starring role was in the comedy Too Much Business (1922), but he portrayed the lead role of an idealistic young classical composer in the drama Beggar on Horseback (1925). In the late 1920s, he starred in two-reel silent comedies for Educational Pictures, and made the transition to talking pictures with Educational in 1929. As a stage-trained performer, he found more film work easily, and appeared in some of Warner Bros.' early talkies, including The Terror (1928) and Sonny Boy (1929).
Horton initially used his given name, Edward Horton, professionally. His father persuaded him to adopt his full name professionally, reasoning that other actors might be named Edward Horton, but only one named Edward Everett Horton. Horton soon cultivated his own special variation of the time-honored double take (an actor's reaction to something, followed by a delayed, more extreme reaction). In Horton's version, he would smile ingratiatingly and nod in agreement with what just happened; then, when realization set in, his facial features collapsed entirely into a sober, troubled mask.
Horton starred in many comedy features in the 1930s, usually playing a mousy fellow who put up with domestic or professional problems to a certain point, and then finally asserted himself for a happy ending. He is best known, however, for his work as a character actor in supporting roles. These include The Front Page (1931), Trouble in Paradise (1932), Alice in Wonderland (1933), The Gay Divorcee (1934, the first of several Astaire/Rogers films in which Horton appeared), Top Hat (1935), Danger - Love at Work (1937), Lost Horizon (1937), Holiday (1938), Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941), Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), Pocketful of Miracles (1961), It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), and Sex and the Single Girl (1964). His last role was in the comedy film Cold Turkey (1971), in which his character communicated only through facial expressions.
Filmography
| 1971 | Cold Turkey · as Hiram C. Grayson |
| 1970 | Nanny and the Professor (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1969 | 2000 Years Later · as Evermore |
| 1969 | Love, American Style (TV Series) · as Elmo (segment "Love and Las Vegas") |
| 1968 | The Name of the Game (TV Series) · as Philip Armistead |
| 1968 | It Takes a Thief (TV Series) · as Lord Pelham-Gifford |
| 1966 | Batman (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1965 | Camp Runamuck (TV Series) · as Henry Saunders |
| 1965 | F Troop (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1964 | Sex and the Single Girl · as The Chief |
| 1964 | The Emperor's Oblong Pancake · as Narrator |
| 1964 | Valentine's Day (TV Series) · as Charles Marks |
| 1963 | It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World · as Mr. Dinckler |
| 1961 | Pocketful of Miracles · as Hutchins |
| 1959 | The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show (TV Series) · as Fractured Fairy Tales Narrator |
| 1959 | Dennis the Menace (TV Series) · as Uncle Ned Matthews |
| 1959 | Fractured Fairy Tales (TV Series) · as Narrator |
| 1957 | The Story of Mankind · as Sir Walter Raleigh |
| 1957 | The Real McCoys (TV Series) · as Mr. Medwick |
| 1954 | Shower of Stars (TV Series) · as Ed Hoffman |
| 1953 | General Electric Theater (TV Series) · as Mr. Parkinson |
| 1951 | The Red Skelton Show (TV Series) · as Muggsy |
| 1951 | I Love Lucy (TV Series) · as Mr. Ritter |
| 1950 | The Colgate Comedy Hour (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1947 | Down to Earth · as Messenger 7013 |
| 1947 | Her Husband's Affairs · as J.B. Cruikshank |
| 1944 | Arsenic and Old Lace · as Mr. Witherspoon |
| 1944 | The Town Went Wild · as Everett Conway |
| 1943 | The Gang's All Here · as Peyton Potter |
| 1942 | I Married an Angel · as Peter |
| 1941 | Ziegfeld Girl · as Noble Sage |
| 1941 | Here Comes Mr. Jordan · as Messenger 7013 |
| 1941 | Sunny · as Henry Bates |
| 1938 | Holiday · as Professor Nick Potter |
| 1938 | Bluebeard's Eighth Wife · as Marquis De Loiselle |
| 1937 | Lost Horizon · as Alexander P. " Lovey " Lovett |
| 1937 | Shall We Dance · as Jeffrey Baird |
| 1937 | Hitting a New High · as Lucius B. Blynn |
| 1937 | Danger - Love at Work · as Howard Rogers |
| 1937 | Angel · as Graham |
| 1936 | The Man in the Mirror · as Jeremy Dilke |
| 1936 | Let's Make a Million · as Harrison Gentry |
| 1935 | The Devil Is a Woman · as Gov. Don Paquito 'Paquitito' |
| 1935 | The Private Secretary · as Rev. Robert Spalding |
| 1935 | Top Hat · as Horace Hardwick |
| 1934 | The Gay Divorcee · as Egbert 'Pinky' Fitzgerald |
| 1934 | The Merry Widow · as Ambassador Popoff |
| 1933 | Design for Living · as Max Plunkett |
| 1933 | Alice in Wonderland · as Mad Hatter |
| 1933 | The Woman in Command · as Sebastian Marvello |
| 1932 | Trouble in Paradise · as François Filiba |
| 1931 | The Front Page · as Bensinger |
| 1931 | Lonely Wives · as Richard 'Dickie' Smith / Felix, the Great Zero |
| 1931 | Kiss Me Again · as Rene |
| 1931 | The Great Junction Hotel · as The Groom |
| 1930 | Reaching for the Moon · as Roger, the Valet |
| 1930 | Holiday · as Nick Potter |
| 1929 | Sonny Boy · as Crandall Thorpe |
| 1926 | La Bohème · as Benoit - Janitor |
| 1926 | Poker Faces · as Jimmy Whitmore |
| 1925 | Beggar on Horseback · as Neil McRae |
| 1925 | Marry Me · as John Smith #2 |
| 1924 | The Man Who Fights Alone · as Bob Alten |
| 1923 | To the Ladies · as Leonard Beebe |