Wally Cox
Wallace Maynard Cox (December 6, 1924 – February 15, 1973) was an American actor. He began his career as a standup comedian and then played the title character of the popular early U.S. television series Mister 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 superhero Underdog in the Underdog TV series.
Wally Cox
December 6, 1924
February 15, 1973 (aged 48)
- Actor
- comedian
1948–1973
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Marilyn Gennaro(m. 1954; div. 1961)
-
Milagros Tirado(m. 1963; div. 1966)
-
Patricia Tiernan(m. 1969)
2
Early life, education, and career beginnings[edit]
Cox was born on December 6, 1924, in Detroit, Michigan.[1] When he was 10, he moved with his divorced mother, mystery author Eleanor Blake, and a younger sister to Evanston, Illinois, where he became close friends with another child in the neighborhood, Marlon Brando.[2] His family moved several times, including a move to New York City, and Cox graduated from Denby High School after they returned to Detroit.
During World War II, Cox and his family returned to New York City, where he attended City College of New York.[1] He next spent four months in the United States Army, and on his discharge attended New York University.[3] He supported his invalid mother and sister by making and selling jewelry in a small shop, and entertaining at parties doing comedy monologues. These led to regular performances at nightclubs, such as the Village Vanguard, beginning in December 1948.
He became the roommate of Brando, who encouraged him to study acting with Stella Adler.[2]
Personal life[edit]
In a 1950s article on Cox's series Mister Peepers, Popular Science reported that Cox kept a small workshop in his dressing room. (Cox's Hollywood Squares colleague Peter Marshall recalled in his memoir Backstage with the Original Hollywood Square that Cox installed and maintained all the wiring in his own home.)
While he mostly maintained a meek onscreen persona, TV viewers did get to see a glimpse of Cox's physicality on an episode of I've Got a Secret, aired on May 11, 1960, in which he and host Garry Moore ran around on stage assembling furniture while the panel was blindfolded.
On the May 15, 1974, installment of The Tonight Show, actor Robert 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—and was survived by his third wife and his two children.[2]
Cox and Marlon Brando remained close friends throughout Cox's life, and Brando appeared unannounced at Cox's wake. Brando is also reported to have kept Cox's ashes in his bedroom and conversed with them nightly.[2] Their close friendship was the subject of rumors. Brando told a journalist: "If Wally had been a woman, I would have married him and we would have lived happily ever after."[10] Writer-editor Beauregard Houston-Montgomery said that while under the influence of marijuana, Brando told him that Cox had been the love of his life.[11]
A Democrat, Cox supported the campaign of Adlai Stevenson during the 1952 presidential election.[12]
Death[edit]
Cox was found dead on February 15, 1973, in his home in Hollywood, California, at age 48.[1][13] According to an autopsy, Cox died of a heart attack caused by a coronary occlusion.[13] Initial reports indicated that he wished to have no funeral and that his ashes be scattered at sea.[13] A later report indicated his ashes were put in with those of Brando and another close friend, Sam Gilman, and scattered in Death Valley and Tahiti.[2]