Burgess Meredith

Oliver Burgess Meredith (November 16, 1907 – September 9, 1997) was an American actor, director, producer, and writer. Active for more than six decades, Meredith has been called "a virtuosic actor" and "one of the most accomplished actors of the century". A lifetime member of the Actors Studio by invitation, he won several Emmys, was the first male actor to win the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor twice, and was nominated for two Academy Awards.

He established himself as a leading man in Hollywood with critically acclaimed performances as George Milton in Of Mice and Men (1939), Ernie Pyle in The Story of G.I. Joe (1945), and the narrator of A Walk in the Sun (1945).

Meredith was known later in his career for his appearances on The Twilight Zone and for portraying arch-villain The Penguin on the 1960s TV series Batman and boxing trainer Mickey Goldmill in the Rocky film series. For his performances in The Day of the Locust (1975) and Rocky (1976), he received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He later starred in the comedy Foul Play (1978) and the fantasy film Clash of the Titans (1981). He narrated numerous films and documentaries during his long career, including Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983).

"Although those performances renewed his popularity," observed Mel Gussow in The New York Times, "they represented only a small part of a richly varied career in which he played many of the more demanding roles in classical and contemporary theater—in plays by Shakespeare, O'Neill, Beckett and others."

Early life
Meredith was born in 1907 in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Ida Beth (née Burgess) and Dr. William George Meredith, a Canadian-born physician, of English descent.  His mother came from a long line of Methodist revivalists, a religion to which he adhered throughout his lifetime. He was a descendant of the house of Howard through Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of  Henry VIII.

Meredith graduated from Hoosac School in 1926 and then attended Amherst College (class of 1931).  He left Amherst, and became a reporter for the Stamford Advocate. In 1942, he enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II, reaching the rank of captain. After transferring to the Office of War Information, he made training and education films for America's armed forces. 
In 1943 he performed in the USAAF's recruiting short The Rear Gunner and the U.S. Army training film A Welcome to Britain for troops heading to the UK in preparation for the liberation of Europe.
He was released from duty in 1944 to work on the movie The Story of G.I. Joe, in which he played the war correspondent Ernie Pyle. He was discharged from the USAAF in 1945.

Acting career

Theatre

In 1929, he became a member of Eva Le Gallienne's Civic Repertory Theatre company in New York City. Although best known to the larger world audience for his film and television work, Meredith was an influential actor and director for the stage. He made his Broadway debut as Peter in Le Gallienne's production of Romeo and Juliet (1930) and became a star in Maxwell Anderson's Winterset (1935), which became his film debut the following year. His early life and theatre work were the subject of a New Yorker profile. In 1935 he starred along with Hugh Williams at the Martin Beck Theatre in John Van Druten's Flowers of the Forest

He garnered critical acclaim in the 1935 Broadway revival of The Barretts of Wimpole Street starring Katharine Cornell. She subsequently cast him in several of her later productions. Other Broadway roles included Van van Dorn in High Tor (1937), Liliom in Liliom (1940), Christy Mahon in The Playboy of the Western World (1946), and Adolphus Cusins in Major Barbara (1956). He created the role of Erie Smith in the English-language premiere of Eugene O'Neill's Hughie at the Theater Royal in Bath, England in 1963. He played Hamlet in avant garde theatrical and radio productions of the play.

A distinguished theatre director, he won a Tony Award nomination for his 1974 Broadway staging of Ulysses in Nighttown, a theatrical adaptation of the "Nighttown" section of James Joyce's Ulysses. Meredith also shared a Special Tony Award with James Thurber for their collaboration on A Thurber Carnival (1960). In the late seventies, he directed Fionnula Flanagan's one-woman multi-role play James Joyce's Women, which toured for several years.

Cinema

Early in his career, Meredith attracted favorable attention, especially for playing George in a 1939 adaptation of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men and as war correspondent Ernie Pyle in The Story of G.I. Joe (1945). He was featured in many 1940s films, including three—Second Chorus (1940), Diary of a Chambermaid (1946), and On Our Merry Way (1948) — co-starring his then-wife Paulette Goddard. As a result of the House Committee on Un-American Activities  investigation, Meredith was placed on the Hollywood blacklist, and was largely absent from film for the next decade, though he remained involved in stage plays and radio during this time.

Meredith was a favorite of director Otto Preminger, who cast him in Advise and Consent (1962), The Cardinal (1963), In Harm's Way (1965), Hurry Sundown (1967), Skidoo (1968), and Such Good Friends (1971). He was in Madame X (with Lana Turner, 1966) and Stay Away Joe (1968), appearing as the father of Elvis Presley's character. He was acclaimed by critics for his performance as Harry Greene in The Day of the Locust (1975) and received nominations for the BAFTA, Golden Globe, and Academy Award for best supporting actor. Meredith then played Rocky Balboa's trainer Mickey Goldmill in the first three Rocky films (1976, 1979, and 1982). Though his character died in the third Rocky film, he returned briefly in a flashback in the fifth film, Rocky V (1990). His portrayal in the first film earned him his second consecutive nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Meredith played an old Korean War veteran Captain J. G. Williams in The Last Chase (1981) with Lee Majors. He appeared in Ray Harryhausen's last stop-motion feature Clash of the Titans (also 1981) in a supporting role. Meredith appeared in Santa Claus: The Movie (1985) and was a voice actor in G.I. Joe: The Movie (1989). In his last years, he played Jack Lemmon's character's sex-crazed 95-year-old father in Grumpy Old Men (1993) and its sequel, Grumpier Old Men (1995).

Meredith directed the movie The Man on the Eiffel Tower (1949) starring Charles Laughton, which was produced by Irving Allen. Meredith also was billed in a supporting role in this film. In 1970, he directed (as well as co-wrote and played a supporting role in) The Yin and the Yang of Mr. Go, an espionage caper starring James Mason and Jeff Bridges.

Television

Meredith appeared in four different starring roles in the anthology TV series The Twilight Zone, tying him with Jack Klugman for the most appearances on the show in a starring role.

In his first appearance in 1959, "Time Enough at Last", he portrayed a henpecked bookworm who finds himself the sole survivor of an unspecified apocalypse which leads him to contemplate suicide until he discovers the ruins of the library. In 1961's "Mr. Dingle, the Strong", Meredith played the title character, a timid weakling who receives superhuman strength from an extraterrestrial experiment in human nature. Also that year in "The Obsolete Man", Meredith portrayed a librarian sentenced to death in a dystopic totalitarian society. Lastly, in 1963's "Printer's Devil", Meredith portrayed the Devil himself. He later played two additional roles in Rod Serling's other anthology series, Night Gallery. Meredith was the narrator for Twilight Zone: The Movie in 1983.

The actor appeared in various other television programs, including the role of Christopher Norbert III, in the 1962 episode "Hooray, Hooray, the Circus Is Coming to Town" of the NBC medical drama about psychiatry, The Eleventh Hour starring Wendell Corey and Jack Ging. He also guest starred in the ABC drama about psychiatry, Breaking Point in the 1963 episode titled "Heart of Marble, Body of Stone".

Meredith appeared in various western series, such as Rawhide (four times), The Virginian (twice), Wagon Train, Branded, The Wild Wild West, The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, Laredo, Bonanza, and Daniel Boone. In 1963, he appeared as Vincent Marion in a five-part episode of the last season of the Warner Bros. ABC detective series 77 Sunset Strip. He appeared three times in Burke's Law (1963–1964), starring Gene Barry.

Meredith also played the Penguin in the television series Batman from 1966 to 1968 and in the 1966 film based on the TV series. His role as the Penguin was so well-received that the show's writers always had a script featuring the Penguin ready whenever Meredith was available.  He and Cesar Romero (the Joker) are tied for number of appearances on the show.  He also made a brief cameo appearance as the Penguin in the 1968 episode of The Monkees titled "Monkees Blow Their Minds".

From 1972 to 1973, Meredith played V. C. R. Cameron, director of Probe Control, in the television movie/pilot Probe and then in Search, the subsequent TV series (the name was changed to avoid conflict with a program on PBS).

Meredith won an Emmy Award as Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy or Drama Special for the 1977 television film Tail Gunner Joe, a fictitious study of U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy, the anticommunist politician active in the 1950s. He was cast as crusading lawyer Joseph Welch.

In 1992, Meredith narrated The Chaplin Puzzle, a television documentary that provides a rare insight into Charles Chaplin's work, circa 1914, at Keystone Studios and Essanay, where Chaplin developed his Tramp character. Coincidentally, Meredith married actress Paulette Goddard in 1943 following her divorce from Chaplin.

Other work
Meredith also performed voice-over work. He provided the narration for the war film A Walk in the Sun (1945). As a nod to his longtime association with original Twilight Zone series, he served as narrator for the 1983 film based on the series. He was a TV commercial voice for such clients as Bulova, Honda, Pioneer, Stokely-Van Camp, United Airlines, and Freakies breakfast cereal. He also provided the narration for the short film Works Of Calder, a 1949-50 film by Herbert Matter which featured a musical soundtrack by the composer John Cage.

He supplied the narration for the 1974–75 ABC Saturday morning series Korg: 70,000 B.C. and was the voice of Puff in the series of animated adaptations of the Peter, Paul, and Mary song Puff, the Magic Dragon. In the mid-1950s, he was one of four narrators of the NBC and syndicated public affairs program, The Big Story (1949–58), which focused on courageous journalists. In 1991, he narrated a track on The Chieftains' album of traditional Christmas music and carols, The Bells of Dublin.

He acted in the Kenny G music video of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", which was released in 1994. He played the main character, a projectionist at a movie theater.

His last role before his death was the portrayal of both Hamilton Wofford and Covington Wofford characters in the 1996 video game Ripper by Take-Two Interactive. Meredith was considered to play the Penguin's father in the 1992 Tim Burton film Batman Returns, but illness prevented him from appearing and the role was taken by Paul Reubens.

Personal life and death

Meredith was married four times. His first wife, Helen Derby Merrien Burgess, was the daughter of Harry L. Derby, president of the American Cyanamid and Chemical Corporation; she took her life after their divorce. His next two wives were actresses, Margaret Perry and Paulette Goddard. Goddard had a miscarriage in 1944.  His last marriage, to Kaja Sundsten, lasted 46 years and produced two children—Jonathon (a musician) and Tala (a painter).

Meredith was a lifelong Democrat who often donated $200 and more to the party during his lifetime. His autobiography, So Far, So Good, was published in 1994. In the book he wrote that he suffered from violent mood swings caused by cyclothymia, a form of bipolar disorder.

Meredith died from complications of Alzheimer's disease and melanoma on September 9, 1997, aged 89, at his Malibu home. Friend Adam West spoke briefly at his memorial service. His remains were cremated.

Awards and honors
Meredith was twice nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, in 1976 for Rocky, and in 1975 for The Day of the Locust, for which he also received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture. That performance brought him a BAFTA Award nomination.

Meredith won a Primetime Emmy Award for Supporting Actor in 1977 for Tail Gunner Joe, and was nominated for the same award the next year for The Last Hurrah, a remake of the film starring Spencer Tracy.  He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films three times, in 1978, 1979, and 1982, and won the last two times, for Magic and Clash of the Titans.

In 1962, Meredith won a Best Supporting Actor award from the National Board of Review, for Advise & Consent, and in 1985 he was nominated for a CableAce Award for his performance in Answers.

For his contributions to the motion picture industry, Meredith has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. For his onstage contributions, he was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.

Meredith has a 21-acre park named for him in Pomona, New York. He provided the funding to incorporate the village.

On May 14, 1977 - Meredith received his honorary doctorate degree from Upper Iowa University in Fayette, Iowa.

Filmography

Film

 The Scoundrel (1935) as Flop House Bum (uncredited)
 Winterset (1936) as Mio Romagna
 There Goes the Groom (1937) as Dick Matthews
 Spring Madness (1938) as The Lippencott
 Idiot's Delight (1939) as Quillery
 Of Mice and Men (1939) as George Milton
 Castle on the Hudson (1940) as Steven Rockford
 Second Chorus (1940) as Hank Taylor
 The San Francisco Docks (1940) as Johnny Barnes
 That Uncertain Feeling (1941) as Alexander Sebastian
 Tom, Dick and Harry (1941) as Harry
 The Forgotten Village (1941) as Narrator
 Street of Chance (1942) as Frank Thompson / Danny Nearing
 A Welcome to Britain (1943) as Himself (uncredited)
 The Rear Gunner (1943) as Pvt. L.A. Pee Wee Williams
 Our Country (1944) as Himself
 Hymn of the Nations (1944) as Narrator (voice, uncredited)
 Salute to France (1944) as Joe – the American soldier 
 Tunisian Victory (1944) as American soldier (voice)
 Attack! Battle of New Britain (1944) as Narrator
 The Story of G.I. Joe (1945) as Ernie Pyle
 A Walk in the Sun (1945) as Narrator (voice, uncredited) 
 The Diary of a Chambermaid (1946) as Captain Mauger
 Magnificent Doll (1946) as James Madison
 Mine Own Executioner (1947) as Felix Milne
 On Our Merry Way (1948) as Oliver M Pease
 Jigsaw (1949) as Jack / Bartender (uncredited)
 A Yank Comes Back (1949)
 Golden Arrow (1949) as Dick
 The Man on the Eiffel Tower (1949) as Joseph Heurtin
 Works of Calder (1950) as Narrator
 Screen Snapshots: Hollywood's Invisible Man (1954) as Himself
 Joe Butterfly (1957) as Joe Butterfly
 Albert Schweitzer (1957) as Narrator (voice)
 The Kidnappers (1958) as Louis Halliburton
 Sorcerer's Village (1958) as Narrator (voice)
 America Pauses for Springtime (1959) as Himself
 America Pauses for the Merry Month of May (1959) as Himself
 Advise and Consent (1962) as Herbert Gelman
 The Cardinal (1963) as Father Ned Halley
 In Harm's Way (1965) as Commander Egan Powell
 Madame X (1966) as Dan Sullivan
 Batman (1966) as The Penguin
 The Crazy Quilt (1966) as Narrator (voice)
 A Big Hand for the Little Lady (1966) as Doc Scully (as Burgess Meridith)
 Torture Garden (1967) as Dr. Diablo
 Hurry Sundown (1967) as Judge Purcell (Framework Story)
 Stay Away, Joe (1968) as Charlie Lightcloud
 Skidoo (1968) as The Warden
 Dear Mr. Gable (1968) as Narrator
 Debrief: Apollo 8  (1968) as Narrator
 The Father (1969) as Captain Ned 
 Mackenna's Gold (1969) as The Store Keeper
 Hard Contract (1969) as Ramsey Williams
 The Reivers (1969) as Lucious / Narrator (voice)
 There Was a Crooked Man... (1970) as The Missouri Kid 
 The Yin and the Yang of Mr. Go (1970) as The Dolphin (also director)
 Clay Pigeon (1971) as Freedom Lovelace
 Such Good Friends (1971) as Kalman
 A Fan's Notes (1972) as Mr. Blue
 Beware! The Blob (1972) as Old Hobo (uncredited)
 Mineral King (1972) as Narrator
 The Man (1972) as Senator Watson
 Hay que matar a B. (1974) as Hector
 Garden Needles (1974) as Winters
 The Day of the Locust (1975) as Harry Greener
 92 in the Shade (1975) as Goldsboro
 The Master Gunfighter (1975) as Narrator (voice)
 The Hindenburg (1975) as Emilio Pajetta
 Circasia (1976) as Clown
 Burnt Offerings (1976) as Arnold Allardyce
 Rocky (1976) as Mickey Goldmill
 The Sentinel (1977) as Charles Chazen
 Golden Rendezvous (1977) as Van Heurden
 The Manitou (1978) as Dr. Snow
 Foul Play (1978) as Mr. Hennessey
 The Great Bank Hoax (1978) as Jack Stutz
 Magic (1978) as Ben Greene
 Rocky II (1979) as Mickey Goldmill
 When Time Ran Out (1980) as Rene Valdez
 Final Assignment (1980) as Zak
 The Last Chase (1981) as Captain J.G. Williams
 Clash of the Titans (1981) as Ammon
 True Confessions (1981) as Msgr. Seamus Fargo
 Rocky III (1982) as Mickey Goldmill
 Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) as Narrator (voice, uncredited)
 Wet Gold (1984, Made for TV) as Sampson
 Santa Claus: The Movie (1985) as Ancient Elf
 Rocky IV (1985) as Mickey Goldmill (archival footage) (uncredited)
 G.I. Joe: The Movie (1987) as Golobulus (voice)
 King Lear (1987) as Don Learo (uncredited)
 Hot to Trot (1988) as Don's Dad (voice, uncredited)
 Full Moon in Blue Water (1988) as The General
 Oddball Hall (1990) as Ingersol
 State of Grace (1990) as Finn 
 Rocky V (1990) as Mickey Goldmill (Flashback)
 Grumpy Old Men (1993) as Grandpa Gustafson 
 Camp Nowhere (1994) as Fein
 Tall Tale (1995) as Old Man (uncredited)
 Across the Moon (1995) as Barney
 Grumpier Old Men (1995) as Grandpa Gustafson
 Rocky Balboa (2006) as Mickey Goldmill (archival footage) (uncredited)

Television

Texaco Star Theatre – episode – #2.18 – Himself (1950)
Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall – episode – #2.56 – Himself (1950)
Your Show of Shows – 2 episodes – Himself (1950)
Robert Montgomery Presents – episode – Ride the Pink Horse – Himself/Frank Hugo (1950)
The Name's the Same – episode – August 20, 1952 – Himself (1952)
Excursion – 2 episodes – Opportunities for Youth & The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Himself (1953)
What's My Line – episode – November 25, 1956 – Himself (1956)
The Big Story – 38 episodes – Narrator (1955–1958)
The Ben Hecht Show – episode – #1.56 – Himself – 1958 
The Jack Paar Tonight Show – episode – #2.244 – Himself (1959)
The Arthur Murray Party – episode – 9.14 – Himself (1959)
The Twilight Zone – episode 8 -Time Enough at Last - Henry Bemis (1959)
The Twilight Zone - episode 65 -The Obsolete Man -  Romney Wordsworth (June 2nd, 1962)
The Twilight Zone - Season 4, episode 9 - Printer's Devil -  Mr. Smith (November 28, 1963)
Wagon Train – episode – The Grover Allen Story – Grover Allen (1964) 
Wagon Train – episode – Incident at Deadhorse, Parts 1 and 2  – Hannibal  H. Plew (1964) 
Laredo – episode – Lazyfoot, Where Are You? – Grubby Sully (1965) 
The Wild Wild West – episode – The Night of the Human Trigger (1965)
Batman – 19 episodes – The Penguin – (1966–1968)
Bonanza – episode – Six Black Horses – Owney Duggan (1967) 
The Monkees – episode – Monkees Blow Their Minds – The Penguin (Cameo)  (uncredited) (1968) 
The Virginian – episode – The Orchard – Tim Bradbury (1968) 
Daniel Boone – episode – Three Score and Ten – Alex Hemming (1969) 
The Bill Cosby Special, or? – TV Movie – Himself (1971)
Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color – episodes – Strange Monster of Strawberry Cove: Parts 1 & 2 – Henry Meade (1971) 
The Virginian – episode – Flight from Memory – Muley (1971) 
Mannix – episode – The Crimson Halo – Noah Otway (1972) 
McCloud – episode – A Little Plot at Tranquil Valley – Marvin Sloan (1972) 
Korg: 70,000 B.C. – 16 episodes – Narrator (voice) (1974–1975)
Dinah! – Episode #2.111 – Himself (1976)
The 48th Annual Academy Awards – TV Special – Himself  (Nominee: Best Actor in a Supporting Role)  (1976) 
The 49th Annual Academy Awards – TV Special – Himself  (Best Actor in a Supporting Role)  (1977) 
Lincoln – TV Movie – Winfield Scott (voice) (1992)
In the Heat of the Night – episodes – Even Nice People, Lake Winahatchie, & Hatton's Turn: Part 2 – Judge Cully (1993)
The Great Battles of the Civil War – TV Mini-Series documentary – episode 6 – Gettysburg Star and Banner Columnist (voice) (1994)
Search as V. C. R. Cameron (1972–1973)
Those Amazing Animals (co-host with Jim Stafford and Priscilla Presley)
Faerie Tale Theatre: Thumbelina
The Twilight Zone (four episodes)
Tales of Tomorrow "The Great Silence" (1953)
Rawhide "The Little Fishes" (1961)
Naked City "Hold for Gloria Christmas" (as Duncan Kleist, 1962)
Twelve O'Clock High as (Radar Expert, 1966)
The Invaders – "Wall of Crystal" (1967)
Ironside "S2-E11 The Macabre Mr. Micawber" (as Carney, 1968)
Night Gallery (as Dr. Fall, 1970)
The Return of Captain Nemo (as Prof. Waldo Cunningham 1976)
Puff the Magic Dragon (voice of Puff, 1978–79, 1982)
Gloria (as Dr. Adams, Gloria Bunker Stivic's boss, 1982–1983)

Radio appearances

See also

References
Notes

External links

 
 
 
 
 Burgess Meredith as the Penguin
 Burgess Meredith Park
 Photos of Burgess Meredith in "Story of G.I. Joe", 1944 by Ned Scott

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