Wally Cox | |
|---|---|
 Cox in 1962 | |
| Born | Wallace Maynard Cox (1924-12-06)December 6, 1924 Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
| Died | February 15, 1973(1973-02-15) (aged 48) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1948–1973 |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2 |
Wallace Maynard Cox (better known asWally Cox; December 6, 1924 – February 15, 1973) was an American actor. He began his career as a standup comedian and played the title character of the popular early American television seriesMister Peepers from 1952 to 1955. He also appeared as a character actor in over 20 films and dozens of television episodes.[1] Cox was the voice of the animated canine superheroUnderdog in theUnderdog TV series.
Cox was born on December 6, 1924, inDetroit, Michigan.[1] At age 10, he moved with his divorced mother, mystery author Eleanor Blake, and his younger sister toEvanston, Illinois, where he became close friends with a neighbor,Marlon Brando.[2] His family relocated several times, including a period in New York City, before returning to Detroit, where Cox graduated fromDenby High School.
During World War II, Cox and his family returned to New York City, where he attended theCity College of New York.[1] He spent four months in theUnited States Army. According to a fellow soldier, Cox displayed unusual behaviors during basic training atCamp Wolters, Texas such as donning his uniform and full pack to pick flowers on Sundays in an apparent effort to secure a discharge.[3] After leaving the Army, he enrolled atNew York University[4] and supported his ailing mother and sister by making and selling jewelry in a small shop, while also performing comedy monologues at parties. These performances eventually led to regular nightclub appearances, including at theVillage Vanguard, beginning in December 1948.[citation needed]
He became Brando's roommate, and his friend encouraged to study acting withStella Adler.[2]
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In 1949, Cox appeared on theCBS network radio showArthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, to the great amusement of host Godfrey. The first half of his act was a monologue in a slangy, almost-mumbled punk-kid characterization, telling listeners about his friend Dufo: "What a crazy guy". The gullible oaf Dufo would take any dares and fall for his gang's pranks time after time, and Cox would recount the awful consequences: "Sixteen stitches. What a crazy guy." Just as the studio audience had reached a peak of laughter, Cox suddenly switched gears, changed characters, and sang a high-pitched version of "The Drunkard Song" ("There is a Tavern in the Town"), punctuated by eccentricyodels. "Wallace Cox" earned a big hand that night, but lost by a narrow margin toThe Chordettes; yet he made enough of a hit to record his radio routine for anRCA Victor single. The "Dufo" routine ("What a Crazy Guy") was paired with "Tavern in the Town".[5]
He appeared in Broadway musical reviews, night clubs, and early television comedy-variety programs between 1949 and 1951, including the short-lived (January–April 1949)DuMont seriesThe School House andCBS Television'sFaye Emerson's Wonderful Town. He appeared on theGoodyear Television Playhouse in 1951, starring in the comedy episode "The Copper" as the titular policeman. Series producerFred Coe approached Cox about a starring role in a proposed live television sitcomMister Peepers, which he accepted. The show ran onNBC television for three years. During this time, he guest-starred on NBC'sTheMartha Raye Show.
Billboard magazine chronicled Cox's spectacular rise in booking fees: in the late 1940s, it was $75 per week at New York'sVillage Vanguard, $125 per week atthe Blue Angel; $250 per week inBroadway's "Dance Me a Song" revue in 1950, and the Persian Room for $500 per week. The eight-year pact that he signed with NBC in late 1952 paid him $100,000 for 1953.[6]
In 1953, Cox's comedy sketches were featured inThe Ford 50th Anniversary Show, a program that was broadcast live on bothNBC andCBS. Cox's four sketches consist of a man trying to improve his physique, an expert on relaxation methods, a man practicing techniques that allow him to change from a wallflower to a social hit, and a man learning to dance. The program attracted an audience of 60 million viewers. Forty years after the broadcast, television criticTom Shales recalled it as both "a landmark in television" and "a milestone in the cultural life of the '50s".[7]
In 1959, Cox was featured in the guest-starring title role in "The Vincent Eaglewood Story" on NBC'sWestern seriesWagon Train. He played a prominent supporting role as Preacher Goodman inSpencer's Mountain (1963), a Navysonar operator inThe Bedford Incident (1964), and a drug-addicted doctor opposite Marlon Brando in the World War II suspense filmMorituri (1965).
Other roles included the hero of the seriesThe Adventures of Hiram Holliday, based on a series of short stories byPaul Gallico and co-starringAinslie Pryor. He was a regular occupant of the upper left square on the television game showHollywood Squares, and voiced the animated cartoon characterUnderdog.[8][9] He also was a guest on the game showWhat's My Line? and on the pilot episodes ofMission: Impossible andIt Takes a Thief. Cox made several appearances onHere's Lucy, as well asThe Beverly Hillbillies,Lost in Space,I Spy and evening talk shows. He played a pickpocket in an episode ofCar 54, Where Are You?. He also appeared onThe Twilight Zone, season five, episode number 140, titled "From Agnes—With Love".
He played character roles in more than 20 motion pictures and worked frequently as a guest star in television drama, comedy and variety series in the 1960s and early 1970s. These included a supporting role in20th Century Fox's unfinished filmSomething's Got to Give (1962), which isMarilyn Monroe's last film. He was cast as a down-on-his-luck prospector seeking a better life for his family in an episode ofAlias Smith and Jones, a Western comedy; and inUp Your Teddy Bear (akaMother) (1970), he starred withJulie Newmar. His television and screen persona was that of a shy, timid but kind man who wore thick eyeglasses and spoke in a pedantic, high-pitched voice.
Cox wrote a number of books, includingMister Peepers: A Sort of Novel, co-written withWilliam Redfield,[10] which was created by adapting several scripts from the television series;My Life as a Small Boy, an idealized depiction of his childhood; a parody and update ofHoratio Alger inRalph Makes Good, which was probably originally a screen treatment for an unmade film intended to star Cox; and a children's book,The Tenth Life of Osiris Oakes.
In a 1950s article on Cox's seriesMister Peepers,Popular Science reported that Cox kept a small workshop in his dressing room. (Cox'sHollywood Squares colleaguePeter Marshall recalled in his memoirBackstage with the Original Hollywood Square that Cox installed and maintained all the wiring in his own home.)
While he maintained a meek onscreen persona, TV viewers did get a glimpse of Cox's physicality on an episode ofI've Got a Secret, aired on May 11, 1960, in which he and hostGarry Moore ran around the stage assembling furniture while the panel was blindfolded. On the May 15, 1974, installment ofThe Tonight Show, actorRobert Blake spoke of how much he missed his good friend Cox, who was described as being adventurous and athletic.
Cox married three times—to Marilyn Gennaro, Milagros Tirado, and Patricia Tiernan. He was survived by his third wife and his two children.[2]
Throughout his life, Cox remained close friends with Marlon Brando. Brando appeared unannounced at Cox's wake, and was reported to have kept Cox's ashes in his bedroom, conversing with them nightly.[2] Their close friendship was the subject of rumors, and Brando once told a journalist: "If Wally had been a woman, I would have married him and we would have lived happily ever after."[11] Writer-editorBeauregard Houston-Montgomery said that while under the influence of marijuana, Brando told him that Cox had been the love of his life.[12]
Cox was found dead on February 15, 1973, in his home in theBel Air section of Los Angeles; he was 48.[1][13] According to the autopsy, Cox died of a heart attack caused by acoronary occlusion.[13] Initial reports indicated that he wished to have no funeral and that his ashes be scattered at sea.[13] A subsequent report indicated that his ashes were put in with those of Brando and another close friend,Sam Gilman, and scattered inDeath Valley andTahiti.[2]
Wally Cox, the bespectacled low-key comic known to television viewers as the meek Mr. Peepers since 1953, was found dead this morning in the bedroom of his home in this Los Angeles suburb. He was 48 years old.
