Burgess Meredith

Active for more than six decades, Meredith has been called "a virtuosic actor" and "one of the most accomplished actors of the century".^[3][4][1] A lifetime member of the Actors Studio,^[5][6] he won several Emmys,^[7] was the first male actor to win the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor twice, and was nominated for two Academy Awards.^[7]


Meredith established himself as a leading man in Hollywood with critically acclaimed performances as Mio Romagna in Winterset (1936), George Milton in Of Mice and Men (1939), and Ernie Pyle in The Story of G.I. Joe (1945).


Meredith was known later in his career for his appearances on The Twilight Zone and for portraying The Penguin in the 1960s TV series Batman and boxing trainer Mickey Goldmill in the Rocky film series. For his performances in The Day of the Locust (1975) and Rocky (1976), he received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He later appeared in the comedy Foul Play (1978) and the fantasy film Clash of the Titans (1981). He narrated numerous films and documentaries during his long career.^[8]


"Although those performances renewed his popularity," observed Mel Gussow in The New York Times (referring to the Penguin and Mickey Goldmill roles), "they represented only a small part of a richly varied career in which he played many of the more demanding roles in classical and contemporary theater—in plays by Shakespeare, O'Neill, Beckett and others."^[1]

Early life[edit]

Meredith was born in 1907 in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Ida Beth (née Burgess; 1861–1933) and Dr. William George Meredith (1861–1938), a Canadian-born physician of English descent.^[1][9][10] His mother came from a long line of Methodist revivalists,^[1] a religion to which he adhered throughout his lifetime. He graduated from Hoosac School in 1926 and then attended Amherst College (class of 1931). He left Amherst and became a reporter for the Stamford Advocate.^[11]

Other work[edit]

Meredith also performed voice-over work. He provided the narration for the war film A Walk in the Sun (1945).^[42] As a nod to his longtime association with the original Twilight Zone series, he served as narrator for the 1983 film based on the series.^[36] He was a TV commercial voice for such clients as Bulova, Honda, Pioneer, Stokely-Van Camp, United Airlines, and Freakies breakfast cereal. He also produced and narrated Works Of Calder, a 1950 film directed by Herbert Matter with a soundtrack by the composer John Cage.^[43]


He supplied the narration for the 1974–75 ABC Saturday morning series Korg: 70,000 B.C.^[44] and was the voice of Puff in the series of animated adaptations of the Peter, Paul, and Mary song Puff, the Magic Dragon.^[45] In the mid-1950s, he was one of four narrators of the NBC and syndicated public affairs program, The Big Story (1949–58), which focused on courageous journalists. In 1991, he narrated a track on The Chieftains' album of traditional Christmas music and carols, The Bells of Dublin.^[46]


He acted in the Kenny G music video of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", which was released in 1994. He played the main character, a projectionist at a movie theater.^[47]


His last role before his death was the portrayal of both the Hamilton Wofford and Covington Wofford characters in the 1996 video game Ripper by Take-Two Interactive.^[48] Meredith was considered to play the Penguin's father in the 1992 Tim Burton film Batman Returns, but illness prevented him from appearing^[19] and the role was taken by Paul Reubens.^[49]

Personal life[edit]

Meredith was married four times. His first wife, Helen Derby Berrien Meredith—the daughter of American Cyanamid president Harry L. Derby—committed suicide in 1940, nearly five years after their divorce.^[50] His next two wives, Margaret Perry and Paulette Goddard, were actresses; Goddard suffered a miscarriage in 1944. Meredith's last marriage, to Kaja Sundsten, lasted 46 years and produced two children, Jonathan (a musician) and Tala (a painter).^[1]


Meredith was a lifelong Democrat and frequent donor to the party.^[51] He wrote in his 1994 autobiography So Far, So Good that he had violent mood swings caused by cyclothymia, a form of bipolar disorder.^[9]


On September 9, 1997, Meredith died at age 89 from complications of Alzheimer's disease and melanoma, and his remains were cremated.^[2]

Awards and honors[edit]

Meredith was twice nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, in 1976 for Rocky, and in 1975 for The Day of the Locust, for which he also received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture and a BAFTA Award nomination.^[19]


Meredith won a Primetime Emmy Award for Supporting Actor in 1977 for Tail Gunner Joe,^[52] and was nominated for the same award the next year for The Last Hurrah, a remake of the film starring Spencer Tracy.^[53] He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films three times, in 1978, 1979, and 1982, and won the last two times, for Magic and Clash of the Titans.


In 1962, Meredith won a Best Supporting Actor award from the National Board of Review, for Advise & Consent,^[54] and in 1985 he was nominated for a CableAce Award for his performance in Answers.


Meredith received a Special Tony Award in 1960 for directing A Thurber Carnival.^[55]


For his contributions to the motion picture industry, Meredith has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.^[56] For his onstage contributions, he was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.^[57]


A 21-acre (8.5 ha) park was named after him in Pomona, New York, and he provided the funding to incorporate the village.^[58]


In 1977, he received an honorary doctorate degree from Upper Iowa University in Fayette, Iowa.^[59][60][61]