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Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
November 9, 1886
Died
June 19, 1966
Place of Birth
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Also Known As
- Isaiah Edwin «Ed» Wynn
- Isaiah Edwin Wynn
- Isaiah Edwin Leopold
- Isaiah Edwin "Ed" Wynn
Ed Wynn
1.1 Popularity
Biography
Isaiah Edwin Leopold (November 9, 1886 – June 19, 1966), better known as Ed Wynn, was an American actor and comedian noted for his Perfect Fool comedy character, his pioneering radio show of the 1930s, and his later career as a dramatic actor. Ed Wynn first appeared on television on July 7, 1936 in a brief, ad-libbed spot with Graham McNamee during an NBC experimental television broadcast. In the 1949–50 season, Ed Wynn hosted one of the first network, comedy-variety television shows, on CBS, and won both a Peabody Award and an Emmy Award in 1949. Buster Keaton, Lucille Ball, and The Three Stooges all made guest appearances with Wynn. This was the first CBS variety television show to originate from Los Angeles, which was seen live on the west coast, but filmed via kinescope for distribution in the Midwest and East, as the national coaxial cable had yet to be completed. Wynn was also a rotating host of NBC's Four Star Revue from 1950 through 1952. After the end of Wynn's third television series, The Ed Wynn Show (a short-lived situation comedy on NBC's 1958–59 schedule), his son, actor Keenan Wynn, encouraged him to make a career change rather than retire. The comedian reluctantly began a career as a dramatic actor in television and movies. Father and son appeared in three productions, the first of which was the 1956 Playhouse 90 broadcast of Rod Serling's play Requiem for a Heavyweight. Ed was terrified of straight acting and kept goofing his lines in rehearsal. When the producers wanted to fire him, star Jack Palance said he would quit if they fired Ed. (However, unbeknownst to Wynn, supporting player Ned Glass was his secret understudy in case something did happen before air time.) On live broadcast night, Wynn surprised everyone with his pitch-perfect performance, and his quick ad libs to cover his mistakes. A dramatization of what happened during the production was later staged as an April 1960 Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse episode, "The Man in the Funny Suit", starring both senior and junior Wynns, with key figures involved in the original production also portraying themselves. Ed and his son also worked together in the Jose Ferrer film The Great Man, with Ed again proving his unexpected skills in drama. Requiem established Wynn as a serious dramatic actor who could easily hold his own with the best. His role in The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) won him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Also in 1959, Wynn appeared on Serling's TV series The Twilight Zone in "One for the Angels". Serling, a longtime admirer, had written that episode especially for him, and Wynn later in 1963 starred in the episode "Ninety Years Without Slumbering". For the rest of his life, Wynn skillfully moved between comic and dramatic roles. He appeared in feature films and anthology television, endearing himself to new generations of fans.
Known For
6.2
Self (archive footage)
Boulevard! A Hollywood Story
2021
0.0
Self (archive footage)
Shemp Cocktail: A Toast to the Original Stooge
2008
6.9
(archive footage)
That's Entertainment, Part II
1976
0.0
Self (archive footage)
Hooray for Hollywood
1976
6.2
Rufus
The Gnome-Mobile
1967
4.6
The Emperor (voice)
The Daydreamer
1966
6.6
Mr. Hofstedder
That Darn Cat!
1965
6.4
Old Aram
The Greatest Story Ever Told
1965
6.4
The Captain
Dear Brigitte
1965
7.6
Uncle Albert
Mary Poppins
1964
Credits
Boulevard! A Hollywood Story
as Self (archive footage)
2021
6.2
Shemp Cocktail: A Toast to the Original Stooge
as Self (archive footage)
2008
0.0
That's Entertainment, Part II
as (archive footage)
1976
6.9
Hooray for Hollywood
as Self (archive footage)
1976
0.0
The Gnome-Mobile
as Rufus
1967
6.2
The Daydreamer
as The Emperor (voice)
1966
4.6
That Darn Cat!
as Mr. Hofstedder
1965
6.6
The Greatest Story Ever Told
as Old Aram
1965
6.4
Dear Brigitte
as The Captain
1965
6.4
Mary Poppins
as Uncle Albert
1964
7.6
Those Calloways
as Ed Parker
1964
6.3
The Patsy
as Ed Wynn
1964
6.2
For the Love of Willadean
as Alfred
1964
6.0
The Hollywood Palace
as Self - Host
1964
4.5
The Sound of Laughter
as College Professor
1963
2.0
Burke's Law
as Zachary Belden
1963
6.0
Son of Flubber
as A.J. Allen
1963
6.0
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
as Self
1962
7.5
The Golden Horseshoe Revue
as Self
1962
0.0
The New March of Dimes Presents: The Scene Stealers
as Self
1962
7.0
Backstage Party
as Self
1961
7.0
Babes in Toyland
as Toymaker
1961
5.8
The Absent-Minded Professor
as Fire Chief
1961
6.5
Cinderfella
as Fairy Godfather
1960
6.1
🎬
The Man in the Funny Suit
as Self
1960
0.0
Miracle On 34th Street
as Kris Kringle
1959
6.0
Startime
1959
6.0
The Twilight Zone
as Lou Bookman
1959
8.5
The Twilight Zone
as Sam Forstmann
1959
8.5
Bonanza
as Professor Phineas T. Klump
1959
7.5
Meet Me in St. Louis
as Grandpa
1959
5.0
The Diary of Anne Frank
as Albert Dussell
1959
7.2
Rawhide
as Bateman
1959
7.2
77 Sunset Strip
as Feigenstein
1958
6.7
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
as Self
1958
5.8
The Ed Wynn Show
as John Beamer
1958
0.0
Marjorie Morningstar
as Uncle Samson
1958
6.2
🎬
On Borrowed Time
as 'Gramps' Northrup
1957
0.0
Wagon Train
as Cappy Darrin
1957
6.6
The Great Man
as Paul Beaseley
1956
4.6
Requiem for a Heavyweight
as Army
1956
8.0
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
as Self
1956
6.0
Playhouse 90
as Army
1956
7.6
The Steve Allen Show
as Self
1956
5.6
The 20th Century Fox Hour
as John Hodges
1955
5.4
The Wonderful World of Disney
as A.J. Allen (archive footage)
1954
7.8
The Wonderful World of Disney
as The Mad Hatter (voice) (archive footage)
1954
7.8
The Wonderful World of Disney
as Self
1954
7.8
The Wonderful World of Disney
as Alfred
1954
7.8
December Bride
as Self
1954
5.5
General Electric Theater
as Professor Franz
1953
6.4
General Electric Theater
as Max Grossblatt
1953
6.4
This Is Your Life
as Self
1952
6.4
Hallmark Hall of Fame
as Gramps
1951
8.6
The Red Skelton Show
as Self
1951
7.4
The Red Skelton Show
as Self / Colonel Jungle-Rot Freeloader
1951
7.4
The Red Skelton Show
as Muggsy
1951
7.4
The Red Skelton Show
as Fairy Godfather
1951
7.4
The Red Skelton Show
as Guest Host
1951
7.4
Alice in Wonderland
as Mad Hatter (voice)
1951
7.2
Operation Wonderland
as Self
1951
7.3
🎬
Four Star Revue
as Host
1950
6.7
The Colgate Comedy Hour
as Self
1950
6.8
The Bob Hope Show
as Self
1950
7.0
What's My Line?
as Self
1950
6.9
🎬
The Ed Wynn Show
as Host
1949
7.0
The Emmy Awards
as Self
1949
7.9
The Ed Sullivan Show
as Self
1948
6.8
Stage Door Canteen
as Ed Wynn
1943
6.1
The Three Stooges: Live and Hilarious
1941
0.0
The Chief
as Henry Summers
1933
3.0
Turn Back the Clock
as Cigar Store Customer (uncredited)
1933
4.9
Hollywood on Parade
as Self
1932
3.0
Follow the Leader
as Cricket
1930
4.5
Rubber Heels
as Homer Thrush
1927
0.0
Reflections on Alice
as Mad Hatter (voice) / Self
N/A
0.0