Art Carney | |
|---|---|
 Carney in 1959 | |
| Born | Arthur William Matthew Carney (1918-11-04)November 4, 1918 Mount Vernon, New York, U.S. |
| Died | November 9, 2003(2003-11-09) (aged 85) Chester, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Resting place | Riverside Cemetery, Old Saybrook, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1939–1993 |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 3 |
| Family | Reeve Carney (grand-nephew) |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch |  United States Army |
| Years of service | 1943–1945[1] |
| Rank |  Private |
| Unit | 28th Infantry Division[1] |
| Battles / wars | World War II |
| Awards |  Purple Heart American Campaign Medal European–African–Middle Eastern Campaign Medal World War II Victory Medal |
Arthur William Matthew Carney (November 4, 1918 – November 9, 2003) was an American actor and comedian. A recipient of anAcademy Award, aGolden Globe Award, and sixPrimetime Emmy Awards, he was best known for his role as Ed Norton on the sitcomThe Honeymooners (1955–1956).
His film roles includeHarry and Tonto (1974),The Late Show (1977),House Calls (1978),Going in Style (1979),Firestarter,The Muppets Take Manhattan (both 1984),Last Action Hero (1993), and theStar Wars Holiday Special.
Carney, the youngest of six sons (his brothers were Jack, Ned, Robert, Fred, and Phil), was born in Mount Vernon, New York, the son of Helen (née Farrell) and Edward Michael Carney, a newspaperman and publicist.[citation needed] His family was Irish American and Catholic.[2] He attendedA.B. Davis High School.[3]
Carney was drafted into theUnited States Army in 1943[1] as an infantryman and machine gun crewman duringWorld War II. During theBattle of Normandy serving in the28th Infantry Division,[1] he was wounded in the leg byshrapnel and walked with a limp for the rest of his life. As a result of the injury, his right leg was ¾-inch (2 cm) shorter than his left.[4] Carney was awarded aPurple Heart, theAmerican Campaign Medal, theEuropean–African–Middle Eastern Campaign Medal and theWorld War II Victory Medal, and was discharged as aprivate in 1945.[1]
Carney was a comic singer with theHorace Heidt orchestra, which was heard often on radio during the 1930s, notably on the hugely successfulPot o' Gold, the first big-money giveaway show in 1939–1941. Carney's film career began with an uncredited role inPot o' Gold (1941), the radio program's spin-off feature film, playing a member of Heidt's band. Carney, a gifted mimic, worked steadily in radio during the 1940s, playing character roles and impersonating celebrities such as PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt andWinston Churchill. He can be seen impersonating Roosevelt in a 1937 promotional film for Stewart-Warner refrigerators that is preserved by theLibrary of Congress.[5] as well as during a 1966 appearance as a Mystery Guest onWhat's My Line.[6] In 1941, he was the house comic on thebig band remote seriesMatinee at Meadowbrook.
One of his radio roles during the 1940s was the first Red Lantern onLand of the Lost. In 1943 he played Billy Oldham onJoe and Ethel Turp, based onDamon Runyon stories. He appeared onThe Henry Morgan Show in 1946–47. He impersonated Roosevelt onThe March of Time andDwight D. Eisenhower onLiving 1948. In 1950–51 he played Montague's father onThe Magnificent Montague. He was a supporting player onCasey, Crime Photographer andGang Busters.
On both the radio and television versions ofThe Morey Amsterdam Show (1948–50), Carney's character Charlie the doorman became known for his catchphrase, "Ya know what I mean?".
In 1950,Jackie Gleason was starring in the New York–based comedy-variety seriesCavalcade of Stars and played many different characters. Gleason's regular characters included Charlie Bratten, a lunchroom loudmouth who insisted on spoiling a neighboring patron's meal. Carney, established in New York as a reliable actor, played Bratten's mild-mannered victim, Clem Finch. Gleason and Carney developed a good working chemistry, and Gleason recruited Carney to appear in other sketches, including the domestic-comedy skits featuringThe Honeymooners. Carney gained lifelong fame for his portrayal of sewer worker Ed Norton, oppositeJackie Gleason's bus driver, Ralph Kramden. The success of these skits resulted in the famous situation comedyThe Honeymooners and theHoneymooners revivals that followed. He was nominated for sevenEmmy Awards and won six.
Between his stints with Gleason, Carney worked steadily as a character actor and occasionally in musical-variety. He guest-starred onNBC'sHenry Morgan's Great Talent Hunt (1951),The Dinah Shore Chevy Show, and many others, including as a mystery guest four times onWhat's My Line?, dressed as Ed Norton for his first appearance. Carney also had his own NBC television variety show from 1959 to 1960.
In 1958, he starred in an ABC children's television specialArt Carney Meets Peter and the Wolf, which featured theBil Baird Marionettes. It combined an original story with a marionette presentation ofSerge Prokofiev'sPeter and the Wolf. Some of Prokofiev's other music was given lyrics written byOgden Nash. The special was a success and was repeated twice.
Carney starred in a Christmas episode ofThe Twilight Zone, "The Night of the Meek", playing a dramatic turn as an alcoholic department store Santa Claus who later becomes the real thing. In 1964, he guest-starred in the episode "Smelling Like a Rose" along withHal March andTina Louise in the CBS dramaMr. Broadway, starringCraig Stevens. In the season two opening episodes 35 and 36 of theBatman television series, titled "Shoot a Crooked Arrow" and "Walk the Straight and Narrow" (1966), Carney performed as the newly introduced villain "The Archer". In 1967, he was originally cast as Geppetto for the Hallmark adaption ofPinocchio, but illness prevented him from appearing when taping time arrived. He was later replaced byBurl Ives.
In 1970, Carney appeared as Skeet in "The Men from Shiloh" (the rebranded name ofThe Virginian) in the episode titled "With Love, Bullets and Valentines." In the early 1970s, Carney sang and danced on several episodes ofThe Dean Martin Show, took part in theDean Martin Celebrity Roast of his old co-starJackie Gleason, and appeared as both Santa Claus and his wannabe kidnapper Cosmo Scam in the 1970Muppets TV specialThe Great Santa Claus Switch.[7][8] He was also a guest star onThe Carol Burnett Show in January 1971.
He starred as Police Chief Paul Lanigan in the 1976 television filmLanigan's Rabbi, and in the short-lived series of the same name that aired in 1977 as part of theNBC Sunday Mystery Movie lineup.[9]
In 1978, Carney appeared inStar Wars Holiday Special, a television film that was linked to theStar Wars film series. In it, he played Trader Saun Dann, a member of theRebel Alliance who helpedChewbacca and his family evade an Imperial blockade. The same year, he appeared as the father ofRingo Starr's alter ego "Ognir Rrats" in the made for television specialRingo, and on an episode ofAlice.
In 1980, he starred in the TV filmAlcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story. In 1984, he portrayedSanta Claus in the holiday television filmThe Night They Saved Christmas.
Among his final television roles were a series of commercials for Coca-Cola in which he played a man enjoying a day out with his grandson played by actorBrian Bonsall, including a famous Christmas commercial based around the famousRockefeller Center Christmas tree in New York.
Carney recorded prolifically in the 1950s forColumbia Records. Two of his hits were "The Song of the Sewer", sung in character as Norton, and "'Twas the Night Before Christmas", a spoken-word record in which Carney, accompanied only by a jazz drummer, recited the famous Yuletide poem in syncopation. Some of Carney's recordings were comedy-novelty songs, but most were silly songs intended especially for children.
He also narrated a version ofThe Wizard of Oz forGolden Records, withMitch Miller and his chorus performing four of the songs from the 1939 film version.
He called playing the piano "his first love" during an appearance on The Tonight Show.
Carney won theAcademy Award for Best Actor for his 1974 performance as Harry Coombes, an elderly man going on the road with his pet cat, inHarry and Tonto. Other nominees that year wereAlbert Finney,Dustin Hoffman,Jack Nicholson, andAl Pacino. It was presented to him at the47th Academy Awards on April 8, 1975, by actressGlenda Jackson, with whom Carney went on to co-star in the comedyHouse Calls in 1978. Carney also won aGolden Globe award for his performance inHarry and Tonto.
In demand in Hollywood after that, Carney then appeared inW.W. and the Dixie Dancekings (as a deranged preacher),The Late Show (as an aging detective),House Calls (as a senile chief surgeon),Movie Movie (in multiple roles), andGoing in Style (as a bored senior citizen who joins in on bank robberies). Later films includedThe Muppets Take Manhattan, the crime dramaThe Naked Face, and the sci-fi thrillerFirestarter.
In 1981, he portrayedHarry R. Truman, an 83-year-old lodge owner, in the semi-fictional account of events leading to theeruption of Mount St. Helens inSt. Helens.
In 1990, he co-starred in the filmWhere Pigeons Go to Die withMichael Landon. He played the role of a grandfather who taught his grandson life lessons that would follow him for the rest of his life.
His final film role was in the 1993 action comedy filmLast Action Hero.
Carney made hisBroadway debut in 1957 as the lead inThe Rope Dancers withSiobhán McKenna, a drama byMorton Wishengrad. His subsequent Broadway appearances included his portrayal in 1965–1967 of Felix Unger inThe Odd Couple (oppositeWalter Matthau and thenJack Klugman as Oscar). The character was played by Jack Lemmon in the 1968 film version. In 1969 he was nominated for a Tony Award for his performance inBrian Friel'sLovers. In 1961–1962, Carney played Frank Michaelson in an English comedy byPhoebe andHenry Ephron titledTake Her, She's Mine with Phyllis Thaxter as his co-star in the Biltmore Theatre in New York; the character was played byJames Stewart in the 1963 film version.
Carney was married three times to two women. In 1940, he married his high school sweetheart Jean Myers, with whom he had three children, Eileen, Brian and Paul, before divorcing in 1965. In 1966, Carney married production assistant Barbara Isaac; they divorced in 1977. After his divorce from Isaac, he reunited with Myers, and they remarried in 1980 and remained together until his death.[10][11] His grandson is Connecticut state representativeDevin Carney[12] and his great-nephew is musician and actorReeve Carney.[13]
According to Carney, he was an alcoholic by his late teens. His stage partner, comedianOllie O'Toole, "would order gin and grapefruit juice for us in the morning and, gee, it was great." Carney later used barbiturates, amphetamines, and alcohol substitutes. To battle his addiction, which he said ran in the family, he tried psychotherapy and joinedAlcoholics Anonymous. He finally found success withAntabuse and quit drinking during the filming ofHarry and Tonto.[4]
Carney died at anursing home inChester, Connecticut, on November 9, 2003, five days after his 85th birthday.[10][11] He is interred at Riverside Cemetery inOld Saybrook, Connecticut. Jean Carney died on October 31, 2012, at the age of 93.[14]
