fiction.wikisort.org - Actor

Frederick Hubbard Gwynne (July 10, 1926 – July 2, 1993) was an American actor, artist and author widely known for his roles in the 1960s television sitcoms Car 54, Where Are You? as Francis Muldoon and as Herman Munster in The Munsters, as well as his later film roles in The Cotton Club, Pet Sematary and My Cousin Vinny.

Fred Gwynne
Gwynne in Car 54, Where Are You?, 1961
Born	Frederick Hubbard Gwynne (1926-07-10)July 10, 1926 New York City, New York, U.S.
Died	July 2, 1993(1993-07-02) (aged 66) Taneytown, Maryland, U.S.
Resting place	Sandy Mount United Methodist Church Cemetery, Finksburg, Maryland
Alma mater	Harvard University
Occupation	Actor artist writer
Years active	1951–1993
Height	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Spouse(s)	Jean Reynard ​ ​ (m. 1952; div. 1980)​ Deborah Flater ​ (m. 1988)​
Children	5

Early life

Gwynne was born on July 10, 1926, in New York City, the son of Frederick Walker Gwynne (1884–1935),[1] a partner in the securities firm Gwynne Brothers, and his wife Dorothy Ficken Gwynne, who, before her marriage, was a successful artist known for her "Sunny Jim" comic character.[2] His paternal grandfather Walker Gwynne was an Anglican priest, born in Camus, County Tyrone, Ireland around 1846, who married American Helen Lea Bowers. His maternal grandfather H. Edwards Ficken was an emigrant from London, who married American Josephine or Josephina Preston Hubbard.[2][3][4]

He had at least two siblings, Dorothy Gwynne and Bowers Gwynne, who both died young. Although Gwynne grew up in Tuxedo Park, New York,[5] he spent most of his childhood in South Carolina, Florida, and Colorado because his father traveled extensively. He attended the Groton School.

During World War II, Gwynne served in the United States Navy as a radioman on a submarine chaser.[6] In the 1940s, Gwynne was a summertime swimming instructor at the Duxbury Yacht Club pool in Duxbury, Massachusetts.[7] He later studied art under the G.I. Bill before attending Harvard, where he was affiliated with Adams House, graduating in 1951. He was a member of the Fly Club, sang with the a cappella group the Harvard Krokodiloes,[8] was a cartoonist for the Harvard Lampoon (eventually becoming its president), and acted for the Hasty Pudding Theatricals.

Career

Gwynne joined the Brattle Theatre Repertory Company after his 1951 graduation,[9] then moved to New York City. To support himself, Gwynne worked as a copywriter for J. Walter Thompson, resigning in 1952 upon being cast in his first Broadway role, a gangster in a comedy called Mrs. McThing starring Helen Hayes.[9]

Another early role was a New York City Drama Company production at City Center of Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost in 1953, in the role of Dull, a constable.[10]

In 1954, he made his first cinematic appearance playing – in an uncredited role – the laconic character Slim in the Oscar-winning film On the Waterfront. Shortly afterwards, Phil Silvers sought him for his television show because he had been impressed by Gwynne's comedic work in Mrs. McThing. As a result, Gwynne made a memorable appearance on The Phil Silvers Show in the episode "The Eating Contest" as the character Corporal Ed Honnergar, whose depressive eating binges are exploited in an eating contest.

Gwynne's second appearance on The Phil Silvers Show (in the episode "It's for the Birds") and appearances on many other shows led writer-producer Nat Hiken to cast him in the sitcom Car 54, Where Are You? as Patrolman Francis Muldoon.

Gwynne was 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) tall, an attribute that contributed to his being cast as Herman Munster, a goofy parody of Frankenstein's monster, in the sitcom The Munsters. For his role, he had to wear 40 or 50 lbs of padding, makeup, and 4-inch asphalt-spreader boots. His face was painted a bright violet because it captured the most light on the black-and-white film.^{[citation needed]} Gwynne was known for his sense of humor and retained fond recollections of Herman,[6] saying in later life, "I might as well tell you the truth. I love old Herman Munster. Much as I try not to, I can't stop liking that fellow."[9]

After his iconic role in The Munsters, Gwynne found himself typecast, unable to gain new film roles for over two years.^{[citation needed]} In 1969, he was cast as Jonathan Brewster in a television production of Arsenic and Old Lace. (The Brewster character originally was played by Boris Karloff in the Broadway production of the play; Karloff famously played Frankenstein's monster on which Gwynne's Herman Munster character was based.) Gwynne then found success as a stage actor in regional state productions across the United States while maintaining a low Hollywood profile.

A talented vocalist, Gwynne sang in a Hallmark Hall of Fame television production The Littlest Angel (1969), and went on to perform in a variety of roles on stage and screen. In 1974, drawing upon his own Southern roots, he appeared in the role of Big Daddy Pollitt in the Broadway revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with Elizabeth Ashley, Keir Dullea and Kate Reid. In 1975, he played the Stage Manager in Our Town at the American Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford, Connecticut.[11]

From 1975 to 1982, Gwynne appeared in 82 episodes in different roles on the popular radio drama series, the CBS Radio Mystery Theater, produced and directed by Himan Brown. He returned to Broadway in 1976 as Colonel J.C. Kinkaid in two parts of A Texas Trilogy. In 1984, Gwynne auditioned for the part of Henry on the sitcom Punky Brewster, then withdrew in frustration when a director identified him as Herman Munster rather than by his real name.[11] The role of Henry went to George Gaynes. In 1987, Fred Gwynne starred in the short-lived TV series Jake's M.O., where he played an investigative reporter.

Fred Gwynne's performance as Jud Crandall in Pet Sematary was based on author Stephen King, who is only an inch shorter than the actor, and uses a similarly thick Maine dialect. The character's likeness and accent, as played by Gwynne, have been used in a number of episodes of the animated show South Park, beginning in 2001 and as recently as 2019.[12] Gwynne also had roles in the movies Simon, On the Waterfront, So Fine, Disorganized Crime, The Cotton Club, Captains Courageous, The Secret of My Success, Water, Ironweed, Fatal Attraction, and The Boy Who Could Fly. Despite his misgiving about having been typecast, he agreed to reprise the role of Herman Munster for the 1981 TV reunion movie The Munsters' Revenge. Gwynne played Judge Chamberlain Haller in his last film, the 1992 comedy My Cousin Vinny.[13]

As painter and illustrator

In addition to his acting career, Gwynne sang professionally, painted, and wrote and illustrated children's books, including Best in Show (later titled It's Easy to See Why), Daddy Has a Mole on His Nose, A Chocolate Moose for Dinner, The King Who Rained, Pondlarker, The Battle of the Frogs and Mice, and A Little Pigeon Toad. Many of these efforts were based on children's frequent misperceptions of things they hear from adults, such as the "chocolate moose for dinner", illustrated as a large brown antlered quadruped seated at the dinner table. The other books on this theme were The King Who Rained, A Little Pigeon Toad (in which a child's mother thus describes her father), and The Sixteen Hand Horse.[6]

Perhaps one of the reasons the books did not achieve wider popularity initially was the fact that their format was geared to a very young audience, but the concept was more appealing to older children and adults, achieving critical success and eventually becoming regular bestsellers for their publisher.[6] He also lent his voice talents to TV and radio commercials. Later in his career, he held a number of shows of his artwork, the first in 1989.

Personal life

In 1952, Gwynne married socialite Jean "Foxy" Reynard,[14] a granddaughter of New York City mayor William Jay Gaynor.[15] Before divorcing in 1980, the couple had five children: Kieron (son, b. 1953 / d. 1998); Gaynor (daughter, b. 1954); Evan (son, b. 1956); Dylan (son, 1962–1963, drowning).[16][17] and Madyn (daughter, b. 1965).

In 1988, Gwynne married his second wife Deborah Flater. They remained married until his death in 1993.[16]

Death

Gwynne died of complications from pancreatic cancer,[16] in the cigar room at his home in Taneytown, Maryland, on July 2, 1993, eight days short of his 67th birthday.[18] He is buried in an unmarked grave at Sandy Mount United Methodist Church Cemetery in Finksburg, Maryland.[19]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1954	On the Waterfront	Mladen "Slim" Sekulovich	Uncredited
1966	Munster, Go Home!	Herman Munster
1969	The Littlest Angel	The Understanding Angel	TV movie
1977	Captains Courageous	Jack "Long Jack"	TV movie
1979	La Luna	Douglas Winter
1980	Simon	Major General Korey
1981	So Fine	Chairman Lincoln
1982	The Mysterious Stranger	Balthasar Hoffman	TV movie
1984	The Cotton Club	George "Big Frenchy" DeMange
1985	Water	Spender
1986	Off Beat	Police Commissioner
1986	The Boy Who Could Fly	Uncle Hugo
1986	The Christmas Star	Waters
1987	The Secret of My Success	Donald Davenport
1987	Fatal Attraction	Arthur
1987	Ironweed	Oscar Reo
1987	Jake's M.O.	Jake Tekulve
1989	Disorganized Crime	Max Green
1989	Pet Sematary	Jud Crandall
1991	Shadows and Fog	Hacker's Follower
1992	My Cousin Vinny	Judge Chamberlain Haller	Final film role

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1952	The Repertory Theatre	Performer	Episode: "A Man's Game"
1953	You Are There	Davy Crockett	2 episodes
1955–1956	The Phil Silvers Show	Corporal Ed Honnegan	2 episodes
1956	Studio One in Hollywood	Little Dude	Episode: "The Landady's Daughter"
1957	The Kaiser Aluminum Hour	"Egghead"	Episode: "A Man's Game"
1957	Suspicion	Hughie	Episode: "Hand in Glove"
1957	Kraft Theatre	Performer	2 episodes
1958	The Steve Allen Show	Comedian	Episode: #3.23
1958	The Investigator	Performer	Episode: #1.07
1958	DuPont Show of the Month	E.J. Loffgrin	2 episodes
1961	The Play of the Week	Performer	Episode: "The Old Foolishness"
1961–1963	Car 54, Where Are You?	Officer Francis Muldoon	60 episodes
1962	The DuPont Show of the Week	William Magee	Episode: "Seven Keys to Baldgate"
1963	The United States Steel Hour	Willie Botsford	Episode: "Don't Shake the Family Tree"
1964	Brenner	Francis X. Fish	Episode: "Charlie Paradise: The Tragic Flute"
1964	My Son, the Witch Doctor	Performer	TV film
1964–1966	The Munsters	Herman Munster	Main role; 70 episodes
1965	The Red Skelton Show	Herman Munster	Episode: "Ta-Ra-Ra-Bum-Today"
1966	The Danny Kaye Show	Herman Munster	Episode: "Fred Gwynne"
1966	New York Television Theatre	The Professor	Episode: "The Lesson"
1967	NET Playhouse	Officer Avonzino	Episode: "Infancy and Childhood"
1968	Mad Mad Scientist	Warren Springer	TV film
1969	Arsenic and Old Lace	Jonathan Brewster	TV film
1969	Anderson and Company	Marshall Anderson	TV film
1969	The Littlest Angel	Guardian Angel	TV film
1971	Dames at Sea	Hennesey	TV film
1971	Great Performances	Pike	Episode: "Paradise Lost"
1971	The Police	Sergeant	TV film
1972	Harvey	Cab Driver	TV film
1972	Norman Corwin Presents	Performer	Episode: "Aunt Dorothy's Playroom"
1976	Bound for Freedom	Waldruss	TV film
1976	Captains and the Kings	Performer	Miniseries
1977	Captains Courageous	Jack "Long Jack"	TV film
1979	Sanctuary of Fear	Judge Potter	TV film
1980	A Day with Conrad Green	Conrad Green	TV film
1981	The Munsters' Revenge	Herman Munster	TV film
1982–1987	American Playhouse	Charles Dickens	2 episodes
1982	The Mysterious Stranger	Balthasar Hoffman	TV film
1985	Kane & Abel	Davis LeRoy	2 episodes
1986	Vanishing Act	Father Macklin	TV film
1987	Murder by the Book	Victor Greville	TV film
1990	Murder in Black and White	Brannigan	TV film
1990	Earthday Birthday	Fred The Moose	Voice, TV film
1992	Lincoln	Edwin Stanton	Voice, TV film

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1952–1953	Mrs. McThing	Stinker	[20]
1953	Love's Labour's Lost	Dull	[20]
1953	The Frogs of Spring	Luther Raubel	[20]
1960–1961	Irma De Douce	Polyte-Le-Mou	[20]
1963–1964	Here's Love	Marvin Shellhammer	[20]
1972	The Lincoln Mask	Abraham Lincoln	[20]
1974–1975	Cat on a Hot Tin Roof	Colonel J. C. Kinkaid	[20]
1976	A Texas Trilogy: The Last Meeting of the Knights of the White Magnolia	Colonel J. C. Kinkaid	[20]
1976	A Texas Trilogy: The Oldest Living Graduate	Colonel J. C. Kinkaid	[20]
1978	Angel	W. O. Gant	[20]
1978	Players	Jock Riley	[20]
1982–1983	Whodunnit	Inspector Bowden	[20]

References

External links

• Fred Gwynne at IMDb
• Fred Gwynne at the Internet Broadway Database
• Fred Gwynne at the Internet Off-Broadway Database

На других языках

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[de] Fred Gwynne

Fred Gwynne (eigentlich Frederick Hubbard Gwynne; * 10. Juli 1926 in New York City; † 2. Juli 1993 in Taneytown, Maryland) war ein US-amerikanischer Schauspieler und Kinderbuchautor.

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- [en] Fred Gwynne

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[es] Fred Gwynne

Frederick Hubbard Gwynne, más conocido como Fred Gwynne (Nueva York, 10 de julio de 1926-Taneytown, Maryland; 2 de julio de 1993). Fue un actor estadounidense. Fue mejor conocido por sus papeles en las comedias de situación de la década de 1960 Car 54, Where Are You? (En América Latina, Patrulla 54, conteste) y como Herman Munster en The Munsters, (La familia Munsters) así como sus papeles posteriores en The Cotton Club, Pet Sematary y My Cousin Vinny.

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