Edward Everett Horton

Birthday: 1886-03-17
Deathday: 1970-09-29
Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
Gender: Male
Owned By: Unowned

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.

Credits

Year Title Character
The Right Bed Bobby Kent
Try and Get It Glenn Collins
1971-02-19 Cold Turkey Hiram C. Grayson
1969-03-11 2000 Years Later Evermore
1967-08-02 The Perils of Pauline Caspar Coleman
1964-12-25 Sex and the Single Girl The Chief
1963-11-07 It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World Mr. Dinckler
1961-12-18 Pocketful of Miracles Hudgins
1960-01-01 The Wonderful World of Trains Professor Hotbox
1957-11-08 The Story of Mankind Sir Walter Raleigh
1956-10-27 Saturday Spectacular: Manhattan Tower Noah
1947-11-12 Her Husband's Affairs J.B. Cruikshank
1947-08-21 Down to Earth Messenger 7013
1947-08-08 The Ghost Goes Wild Eric
1946-08-22 Earl Carroll Sketchbook Dr. Milo Edwards
1946-08-21 Faithful in My Fashion Hiram Dilworthy
1946-03-09 Cinderella Jones Keating
1945-08-03 Lady on a Train Mr. Haskell
1945-07-09 Steppin' in Society Judge Avery Webster
1944-12-15 The Town Went Wild Everett Conway
1944-11-30 Brazil Everett St. John Everett
1944-09-29 San Diego I Love You Philip McCooley
1944-09-01 Arsenic and Old Lace Mr. Witherspoon
1944-07-14 Summer Storm Count "Piggy" Volsky
1944-05-29 Her Primitive Man Orrin
1943-12-24 The Gang's All Here Peyton Potter
1943-09-25 Thank Your Lucky Stars Farnsworth
1943-01-21 Forever and a Day Anthony Trimble-Pomfret
1942-11-06 Springtime in the Rockies McTavish
1942-07-09 I Married an Angel Peter
1942-07-01 The Magnificent Dope Horace Hunter
1941-12-12 Weekend for Three Fred Stonebraker
1941-11-22 The Body Disappears Professor Shotesbury
1941-08-07 Here Comes Mr. Jordan Messenger 7013
1941-06-04 Bachelor Daddy Joseph Smith
1941-05-30 Sunny Henry Bates
1941-04-25 Ziegfeld Girl Noble Sage
1941-02-19 You're the One
1939-11-24 That's Right – You're Wrong Tom Village
1939-03-04 The Gang's All Here Treadwell
1939-01-27 Paris Honeymoon Ernest Figg
1938-11-01 Little Tough Guys in Society Oliver
1938-05-26 Holiday Nick Potter
1938-04-29 College Swing Hubert Dash
1938-03-25 Bluebeard's Eighth Wife Marquis De Loiselle
1937-12-24 Hitting a New High Lucius B. Blynn
1937-10-30 The Great Garrick Tubby
1937-10-29 Angel Graham
1937-10-23 The Perfect Specimen Mr. Grattan
1937-09-30 Danger – Love at Work Howard Rogers
1937-07-09 Wild Money P.E. Dodd
1937-05-07 Shall We Dance Jeffrey Baird
1937-03-31 Oh, Doctor Edward J. Billop
1937-03-27 The King and the Chorus Girl Count Humbert Evel Bruger
1937-03-03 Lost Horizon Alexander P. " Lovey " Lovett
1936-10-15 The Man in the Mirror Jeremy Dilke
1936-09-01 Let's Make a Million Harrison Gentry
1936-06-20 Hearts Divided John
1936-06-01 Nobody's Fool Will Wright
1936-04-10 The Singing Kid Davenport Rogers
1936-01-17 Her Master's Voice Ned Farrar
1935-12-13 Your Uncle Dudley Dudley Dixon
1935-10-01 His Night Out Homer B. Bitts
1935-09-07 Little Big Shot Mortimer Thompson
1935-08-29 Top Hat Horace Hardwick
1935-08-26 The Private Secretary Rev. Robert Spalding
1935-07-06 Going Highbrow Augie Winterspoon
1935-05-25 In Caliente Harold Brandon
1935-05-04 $10 Raise Hubert T. Wilkins
1935-05-03 The Devil Is a Woman Gov. Don Paquito 'Paquitito'
1935-02-22 All the King's Horses Count Josef 'Peppi' von Schlapstaat
1935-01-11 The Night Is Young Baron Szereny
1935-01-04 Biography of a Bachelor Girl Leander 'Bunny' Nolan
1934-11-02 The Merry Widow Ambassador Popoff
1934-10-12 The Gay Divorcee Egbert Fitzgerald
1934-08-10 Ladies Should Listen Paul Vernet
1934-07-13 Kiss and Make-Up Marcel Caron
1934-06-07 It's a Boy Dudley Leake
1934-05-19 Smarty Vernon
1934-04-20 Sing and Like it Adam Frink - Producer
1934-03-16 Success at Any Price Harry Fisher
1934-02-25 The Poor Rich Albert Stuyvesant Spottiswood
1934-01-13 Easy to Love Eric
1933-12-29 Design for Living Max Plunkett
1933-12-18 Alice in Wonderland Mad Hatter
1933-10-20 The Way to Love Professor Gaston Bibi
1933-04-22 A Bedtime Story Victor Dubois
1933-03-13 Soldiers of the King Sebastian Marvello
1932-10-30 Trouble in Paradise François Filiba
1932-07-08 Roar of the Dragon Busby
1932-04-09 But the Flesh Is Weak Sir George Kelvin
1931-10-26 The Great Junction Hotel The Groom
1931-10-17 The Age for Love Horace Keats
1931-09-12 Smart Woman Billy Ross
1931-05-10 Six Cylinder Love Monty Winston
1931-04-04 The Front Page Bensinger
1931-02-15 Lonely Wives Richard 'Dickie' Smith / Felix, the Great Zero
1931-01-07 Kiss Me Again Rene
1930-12-29 Reaching for the Moon Roger, the Valet
1930-09-01 Once a Gentleman Oliver
1930-07-03 Holiday Nick Potter
1930-02-01 Wide Open Simon Haldane
1930-01-15 Take the Heir Smithers
1929-12-14 The Aviator Robert Street
1929-11-09 The Sap The Sap, Bill Small
1929-08-10 The Hottentot Sam Harrington
1929-04-18 Sonny Boy Crandall Thorpe
1929-02-16 Ask Dad Dad
1928-09-15 Vacation Waves Eddie Davis
1928-09-06 The Terror Ferdinand Fane
1928-05-19 Horse Shy Eddie Hamilton
1928-03-03 Behind the Counter Eddie Baxter
1928-01-07 Dad's Choice Eddie
1928-01-01 Scrambled Weddings Eddie Howe
1928-01-01 Call Again Eddie
1927-11-05 Find the King Edward Fairchild
1927-08-01 No Publicity Eddie Howard
1927-04-24 Taxi! Taxi!
1926-12-26 The Whole Town's Talking Chester Binney
1926-09-05 Poker Faces Jimmy Whitmore
1926-03-13 La Bohème Benoit - Janitor
1925-06-05 Beggar on Horseback Neil McRae
1924-10-11 Helen's Babies Uncle Harry
1924-10-06 To the Ladies Leonard Beebe
1924-09-15 The Man Who Fights Alone Bob Alten
1924-02-23 Flapper Wives Vincent Platt
1923-10-07 Ruggles of Red Gap Ruggles