Edmund Gwenn | |
|---|---|
 Gwenn in 1953 | |
| Born | Edmund John Kellaway[1] (1877-09-26)26 September 1877[1] |
| Died | 6 September 1959(1959-09-06) (aged 81)[1] |
| Resting place | Hollywood Forever Cemetery |
| Education | St. Olave's School |
| Alma mater | King's College London |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1895–1959 |
| Spouse(s) | Minnie Terry (m. 1901–c. 1916) |
| Family |
|
| Awards | Academy Award, 2 Golden Globes |
Edmund Gwenn (bornEdmund John Kellaway; 26 September 1877 – 6 September 1959) was an English actor. On film, he is best remembered for his role asKris Kringle in theChristmas filmMiracle on 34th Street (1947), for which he won theAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actor and thecorresponding Golden Globe Award. He received a second Golden Globe and another Academy Award nomination for thecomedy filmMister 880 (1950). He is also remembered for his appearances in four films directed byAlfred Hitchcock.
As a stage actor in theWest End and onBroadway, he was associated with a wide range of works by modern playwrights, includingBernard Shaw,John Galsworthy andJ. B. Priestley. After theSecond World War, he lived in the United States, where he had a successful career in Hollywood and Broadway.
Gwenn was born inWandsworth, London to John and Catherine (née Oliver) Kellaway.[2] His brother was the actorArthur Chesney, and his cousin was the actorCecil Kellaway. Gwenn was educated atSt. Olave's School and later atKing's College London.[1] He began his acting career in the theatre in 1895, and learned his craft as a member ofWillie Edouin's company, playing brash comic roles.[1] In 1901 he marriedMinnie Terry, niece of DameEllen Terry. In the same year, he went toAustralia and acted there for three years with theJ. C. Williamson company.[1] His wife accompanied him, and when Gwenn was in a production ofBen Hur that was a disastrous failure, she restored the couple's fortunes by accepting an engagement from Williamson.[3] Later, the couple appeared on stage together in London in a farce calledWhat the Butler Saw in 1905[4] and, in 1911, whenIrene Vanbrugh made her debut in variety, she chose Terry and Gwenn to join her in a short play specially written byJ. M. Barrie.[5]
When he returned to London, Gwenn appeared not in low comedy but in whatThe Times called "a notably intellectual and even sophisticated setting" at theCourt Theatre under the management ofJ. E. Vedrenne andHarley Granville-Barker.[1] There, in 1905 to 1907, in the words ofThe Times, "he was invaluable in smaller parts [giving] every part he played its full worth", including Straker, the proletarian chauffeur to John Tanner inBernard Shaw'sMan and Superman, and Drinkwater, thecockney gangster inCaptain Brassbound's Conversion.[1] He also appeared in plays by Granville-Barker andJohn Galsworthy, inElizabeth Robins's suffragette dramaVotes for Women[6] and in works by other contemporaries. In Barrie'sWhat Every Woman Knows (1908) in the role of the over-enthusiastic James Wylie he impressed the producerCharles Frohman, who engaged him for his repertory company at theDuke of York's Theatre.[1] In 1912, Gwenn went into management in partnership withHilda Trevelyan.[1] His career was interrupted by his military service during theFirst World War, serving as an officer in theBritish Army.[1] During the war, Gwenn's marriage broke up and was dissolved. His ex-wife remarried but remained on affectionate terms with him.[7]
After peace returned, Gwenn's leading roles in theWest End during the 1920s included Old Bill inBruce Bairnsfather'sOld Bill, M.P. (1922); Christian Veit inLilac Time (1922–23); the title role inA. A. Milne'sThe Great Broxoff (1923); Leo Swinburne inGood Luck bySeymour Hicks andIan Hay (1923); and Hippolyte Gallipot inLehár'sFrasquita (1925).[8] Looking back at Gwenn's career,The Times considered, "Out of scores of other parts which he played in England and in America, the best remembered are probably Hornblower in Galsworthy'sThe Skin Game, the Viennese paterfamilias inLilac Time and Samuel Pepys inFagan'sAnd So to Bed in 1926."[1]
Gwenn began his film career in 1916, playing Macbeth inThe Real Thing at Last, a satire of the American film industry written byPeter Pan playwrightJ. M. Barrie. A notable early role was a recreation of his stage character Hornblower in the 1921 Anglo-Dutch silent film ofThe Skin Game, which he reprised ten years later in Alfred Hitchcock's early sound version ofThe Skin Game. His debut in a talking picture was in an adaptation of Shaw'sHow He Lied to Her Husband, made atElstree in 1931.[1] Of Gwenn's many British film roles,The Times considered his best known to be Jess Oakroyd inThe Good Companions withJohn Gielgud andJessie Matthews (1933) and Radfern inCarol Reed'sLaburnum Grove withCedric Hardwicke (1936).[1] His final British film role, as a capitalist trying to take over a family brewery inCheer Boys Cheer (1939) is credited with being the first authenticEaling comedy.[9]
Gwenn appeared in more than eighty films, includingPride and Prejudice (1940),Cheers for Miss Bishop,Of Human Bondage andThe Keys of the Kingdom.George Cukor'sSylvia Scarlett (1935) was his first appearance in aHollywood film, asKatharine Hepburn's father. He settled in Hollywood in 1940 and became part of its British colony. He had a small role as a Cockney assassin in aHitchcock film,Foreign Correspondent in 1940.[1] For his Santa Claus role inMiracle on 34th Street he won anAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He received a second Oscar nomination for his role inMister 880 (1950). Near the end of his career, he played one of the main roles inThem! (1954) and in Hitchcock'sThe Trouble with Harry (1955).[1] His last film role was in the Spanish satireThe Rocket from Calabuch (1956), directed byLuis García Berlanga.[10]
OnBroadway Gwenn starred in the acclaimed 1942 production ofChekhov'sThree Sisters, starringKatharine Cornell (who was also the producer),Judith Anderson, andRuth Gordon.Time proclaimed it, "a dream production by anybody's reckoning – the most glittering cast the theatre has seen, commercially, in this generation."[11]
Gwenn remained a British subject all his life. When he first moved to Hollywood, he lived at theBeverly Wilshire Hotel inBeverly Hills. His home in London had been reduced to rubble during the bombings by the GermanLuftwaffe in theSecond World War. Only the fireplace survived. What Gwenn regretted most was the loss of the memorabilia he had collected of the actorHenry Irving. Eventually, Gwenn bought a house at 617 North Bedford Drive in Beverly Hills, which he later shared with the former Olympic athleteRodney Soher.[12] At the age of 78 he travelled from his home in California for a reunion with his ex-wife in London.[7] He told a reporter, "I never married again because I was very happy with my wife. I simply stayed faithful to the memory of that happiness."[7]
Gwenn died frompneumonia after suffering astroke, inWoodland Hills, California, twenty days before his 82nd birthday. He was cremated, and his ashes were placed in the private vaults at theChapel of the Pines Crematory inLos Angeles. Gwenn has a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame at 1751 Vine Street for his contribution to motion pictures.
On March 5, 2023, Gwenn's misplaced urn was located in Vault 5 of Chapel of the Pines Crematory by researcher Jessica Wahl and Hollywood GraveyardYouTube channel creator Arthur Dark. After aGoFundMe campaign was organized by Wahl and Dark with the permission of Gwenn's surviving family, Gwenn's urn was relocated to a publicly accessible niche in the Cathedral Mausoleum ofHollywood Forever Cemetery on December 3, 2023.[13]
| Year | Program | Episode/source |
|---|---|---|
| 1940 | Forecast* | The Lodger[14] |
| 1943 | Suspense | The Fountain Plays |
| 1944 | Creeps by Night | The Strange Burial of Alexander Jordan |
| 1949 | Suspense | Murder in Black and White |
| 1951 | Stars of Hollywood | A Christmas Carol |
| 1953 | Stars over Hollywood | A Christmas Carol[15] |
