A former child soprano, Burgess Meredith became a leading figure in American theater of the 1930s. He made his film debut reprising his stage triumph in "Winterset" (1936), in a role written for him by Maxwell Anderson. Versatile and highly accomplished, compact in size and with a boyish yet eccentric quality, Meredith had a prolific but uneven screen career, partly because producers were often unsure of how to best utilize his talents. He nonetheless gave an outstanding performance as George in "Of Mice and Men" (1939) and brought a sweet quality to his romantic scenes with Ginger Rogers in "Tom, Dick and Harry" (1941). In the unjustly overlooked "Street of Chance" (1942), Meredith offered a strong turn as an amnesiac trying to reconstruct his past. He also shone as WWII correspondent Ernie Pyle in "The Story of G.I. Joe" (1945, although Robert Mitchum nearly stole the film) and as a psychiatrist treating a former prisoner of war in the disturbing British-made noir "Mine Own Executioner" (1947). Meredith also produced, wrote and co-starred with his third wife Paulette Goddard in Jean Renoir's uneven but fascinating "Diary of a Chambermaid" (1946).
Because of his widely publicized liberal views, Meredith found himself blacklisted in Hollywood for much of the 1950s. He returned to the Broadway stage acting in such seminal productions as "The Fourposter" (1952) and "The Teahouse of the August Moon" (1955) as the Okinawan interpreter Sakini. The actor donned 'yellowface' again for his return to features, portraying a Japanese supplier of goods to American soldiers in "Joe Butterfly" (1957). After scoring a stage triumph with "A Thurber Carnival" (1961), Meredith made "Advise and Consent" (1962), the first of six features with director Otto Preminger. Perhaps ironically, the actor played an informer who names Henry Fonda's Secretary of State designee as a member of the Communist Party. Other work for Preminger included playing a priest in the overblown "The Cardinal" (1963) and a judge in "Hurry Sundown" (1967).
Meredith earned back to back Oscar nominations in the mid-70s for his work as a former vaudeville star reduced to eking a living as a salesman in "The Day of the Locust" (1975) and as Sylvester Stallone's crusty trainer in "Rocky" (1976), a role he reprised in three of its four sequels. He remained active in small roles into the 90s, most notably as Jack Lemmon's randy father in "Grumpier Old Men" (1993) and its superior sequel "Grumpier Old Men" (1995).
TV buffs treasure his bookworm in the memorably ironic "Time Enough to Last" episode of "The Twilight Zone" from the early 60s. Baby boomers also fondly recall the actor as the monocled villain The Penguin in the campy 60s version of "Batman". Meredith's distinctive, sing-song rasp was also enlisted for countless commercial voice-overs and documentary narrations. Among his other more notable small screen roles was his Emmy-winning portrayal of attorney Joseph Welch in the above average biopic of Joseph McCarthy, "Tail Gunner Joe" (NBC, 1977).
In 1994, he published his autobiography, "So Far, So Good".
Family
FATHER: William George Meredith. Physician.
MOTHER: Ida Beth Meredith.
SON: Jonathan Sanford Meredith. Survived him.
DAUGHTER: Tala Beth Meredith. Survived him.
Companion
WIFE: Helen Berrian Derby. Married 1932; divorced 1935.
WIFE: Margaret H Frueauff. Married January 10, 1936; divorced July 19, 1938; sister of theatrical producer Antoinette Perry for whom the Tony Awards were named.
WIFE: Paulette Goddard. Actor. Third wife; married May 21, 1944; divorced June 6, 1949; acted together in Jean Renoir's "Diary of a Chambermaid" (1946) and also the musical comedy "Second Chorus" (1940).
WIFE: Kaja Sundsten. Ballet dancer. Survived him.
Milestone
Held various jobs after leaving college
1929: Stage debut with walk on role at Eva LeGallienne's Civic Repertory Theatre, NYC
1930 - 1933: Member of Civic Repertory Theater
1932: Broadway debut in "Alice in Wonderland"
1933: First lead role on stage in "Little Ol' Boy"
1934: Made radio debut on the long-running serial "Red Davis"
1935: Breakthrough stage performance as Mio in Maxwell Anderson's verse play "Winterset"; Anderson wrote the part expressly for Meredith
1936: Film debut, recreating stage role of Mio in "Winterset"
1937: Performed Hamlet on radio broadcast
1939: Toured with Orson Welles in "Five Kings", playing Prince Hal to Welles' Falstaff
1939: Won critical acclaim for performance as George in "Of Mice and Men"
1940: Starred on Broadway in "Lilliom" opposite Ingrid Bergman
Served in the Army Air Corps during WWII
1945: Had one of his best leading roles as Ernie Pyle in "The Story of G.I. Joe"
1946: Produced and wrote "Diary of a Chambermaid" starring then-wife Paulette Goddard and directed by Jean Renoir; also acted
1949: Feature directing debut "The Man on the Eiffel Tower"; co-directed with Charles Laughton; also starred;
Blacklisted during the 1950s
1950: Stage directing debut "Happy as Larry"
1950: First TV appearance as host of first two episodes of "Your Show of Shows" (NBC) in February
1952: TV directorial debut "The Christmas Tie" episode of "Omnibus" (CBS)
1956: Stage producing debut "Speaking of Murder"
1957: Returned to features in the title role of "Joe Butterfly"
1961: Appeared with the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra as narrator and host
1962: Made first of six films with Otto Preminger, "Advise and Consent"
TV series debut as regular in role of principal Martin Woodridge on "Mr Novack" (NBC)
Appeared as guest villain The Penguin on "Batman" (ABC)
1971: Last feature collabortation with Preminger, "Such Good Friends"
Played Cameron on the NBC series "Search"
1974: Recreated on Broadway his staging of the 1958 Off-Broadway play "Ulysses in Nighttown", adapted from the James Joyce novel; earned Tony nomination
1975: Earned first Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor for "The Day of the Locust"
1976: Co-starred in "Rocky" as the boxing trainer Mickey; received second Oscar nomination; played role in three of the four sequels ("Rocky II" 1979; "Rocky III" 1982: and "Rocky V" 1990)
1983: Was featured as Sally Struthers' boss on the short-lived CBS sitcom "Gloria", a spin-off of "All in the Family"
1987: Had title role in Jean-Luc Godard's "King Lear"
1993: Co-starred in "Grumpy Old Men" as Jack Lemmon's father
1994: Published memoir, "So Far, So Good"
1995: Reprised role in "Grumpier Old Men"
1996: Final film appearnace in Danny Huston's "The Maddening"
1996: Final TV appearance as host of the PBS special "Preminger--Anatomy of a Filmmaker"
Education
Cathedral Choir School - New York, New York
Hoosac Preparatory School
Amherst College - Amherst, Massachusetts - dropped out after flunking trigonometry
Tcm.com is part of the Turner Sports and Entertainment Digital Network.