Born: March 18, 1886 – Died: September 29, 1970
Edward Everett Horton, a versatile actor known for his appearances in numerous Hollywood comedies of the 1930s, was born in Brooklyn, New York City, on March 18, 1886. His parents were Isabella S. (Diack) and Edward Everett Horton Sr., who worked as a compositor for the NY Times. With Scottish maternal grandparents and English and German ancestry from his father, Horton had a diverse heritage. He made a seamless transition from the theater, where he began his career in 1906, to the world of cinema, making his film debut in 1922. Unlike some of his silent-film peers, he adapted effortlessly to sound films, thanks in part to his distinctive voice. Over his career, he appeared in over 120 films and made significant contributions to both film and television.
Early Life and Career
Edward Everett Horton's childhood was marked by his early fascination with the world of entertainment. Growing up in Brooklyn, New York City, he developed a keen interest in acting and the theater from a young age.
Horton's journey in the entertainment industry began in 1906 when he made his theatrical debut. He honed his acting skills on the stage before venturing into the world of film. In 1922, he took his first step into the world of cinema, marking the beginning of his film career.
However, it was in the 1930s that Edward Everett Horton truly made his mark. He became known as the perfect comedic counterpart to the leading gentlemen in Hollywood comedies of that era. His distinctive voice and impeccable timing made him a sought-after actor in the industry. One of his notable successes during this period was his role in "Arsenic and Old Lace."
While he may not have won many major awards, Horton's enduring legacy lies in his extensive body of work, which spans over 120 films and includes a substantial contribution to television. His unmistakable voice became a trademark, and he became a beloved figure in the entertainment world.
Edward Everett Horton's impact on Hollywood and the entertainment industry is undeniable. His ability to effortlessly transition from theater to silent films and then to sound films showcased his adaptability and talent. While he may not be considered an icon or legend in the traditional sense, he remains a memorable figure in the history of comedy cinema, known for his quavering voice and comedic brilliance.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1971 | Cold Turkey | Hiram C. Grayson |
| 1970 | The Governor & J.J. (TV Series) | Doc Simon |
| 1970 | Nanny and the Professor (TV Series) | Professor Clarendon |
| 1970 | Love, American Style (TV Series) | Elmo (segment "Love and Las Vegas") |
| 1970 | The Name of the Game (TV Series) | Philip Armistead |
| 1969 | 2000 Years Later | Evermore |
| 1969 | It Takes a Thief (TV Series) | Lord Pelham-Gifford |
| 1967 | The Perils of Pauline | Caspar Coleman |
| 1966 | Batman (TV Series) | Chief Screaming Chicken |
| 1965 | Camp Runamuck (TV Series) | Henry Saunders |
| 1965 | F Troop (TV Series) | Roaring Chicken |
| 1963–1965 | Burke's Law (TV Series) | Wilbur Starlington | Grover Leander Smith |
| 1965 | Valentine's Day (TV Series) | Charles Marks | Chief Wampum |
| 1965 | The Cara Williams Show (TV Series) | Fenwick |
| 1964 | Sex and the Single Girl | The Chief |
| 1964 | Hoppity Hooper (TV Series) | Narrator for 'Fractured Fairy Tales' (voice) |
| 1959–1963 | The Bullwinkle Show (TV Series) | Fractured Fairy Tales Narrator (voice) |
| 1963 | It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World | Mr. Dinckler |
| 1963 | Our Man Higgins (TV Series) | Rawley |
| 1962–1963 | Dennis the Menace (TV Series) | Uncle Ned Matthews |
| 1962 | Saints and Sinners (TV Series) | Mr. Hollister |
| 1962 | Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (TV Series) | Senator Crabtree |
| 1959–1962 | Fractured Fairy Tales (TV Series) | Narrator (voice) |
| 1957–1962 | The Red Skelton Hour (TV Series) | Muggsy | Sir Alfred Hangeron | Smitty - a Hobo ... |
| 1961 | Pocketful of Miracles | Hudgins |
| 1960 | The Real McCoys (TV Series) | Mr. Medwick |
| 1959 | The Best of Mr. Peabody & Sherman (TV Series) | Unknown |
| 1956–1958 | Matinee Theatre (TV Series) | Mr. Pim |
| 1957 | December Bride (TV Series) | Unknown |
| 1957 | The Story of Mankind | Sir Walter Raleigh |
| 1957 | Playhouse 90 (TV Series) | Mr. Carver |
| 1957 | The Gerald McBoing-Boing Show (TV Series) | Storyteller (segment: 'The Unenchanted Princess') |
| 1956 | Saturday Spectacular: Manhattan Tower (TV Movie) | Noah |
| 1956 | General Electric Theater (TV Series) | Mr. Parkinson |
| 1955 | Shower of Stars (TV Series) | Ed Hoffman |
| 1955 | Damon Runyon Theater (TV Series) | Thaddeus |
| 1955 | Max Liebman Presents: The Merry Widow (TV Movie) | Baron Zelta |
| 1955 | The Best of Broadway (TV Series) | Mr. Witherspoon |
| 1954 | The Colgate Comedy Hour (TV Series) | Unknown |
| 1954 | Omnibus (TV Series) | Narrator (segment "The Remarkable Case of Mr. Bruhl") |
| 1952–1953 | Broadway Television Theatre (TV Series) | Uncle Dudley | Walter Burns |
| 1953 | Medallion Theatre (TV Series) | Unknown |
| 1953 | The Philco Television Playhouse (TV Series) | Unknown |
| 1952 | Hollywood Screen Test (TV Series) | Unknown |
| 1952 | I Love Lucy (TV Series) | Mr. Ritter |
| 1950 | The Magnavox Theater (TV Series) | Unknown |
| 1950 | Don Ameche's Musical Playhouse (TV Series) | Hotel Manager (I950)) |
| 1948–1949 | The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre (TV Series) | Unknown |
| 1949 | The Ford Theatre Hour (TV Series) | Sheridan Whiteside |
| 1947 | Her Husband's Affairs | J.B. Cruikshank |
| 1947 | Down to Earth | Messenger 7013 |
| 1947 | The Ghost Goes Wild | Eric |
| 1946 | Faithful in My Fashion | Hiram Dilworthy |
| 1946 | Earl Carroll Sketchbook | Dr. Milo Edwards |
| 1946 | Cinderella Jones | Keating |
| 1945 | Lady on a Train | Mr. Haskell |
| 1945 | Steppin' in Society | Judge Avery Webster |
| 1944 | The Town Went Wild | Everett Conway |
| 1944 | Brazil | Everett St. John Everett |
| 1944 | San Diego I Love You | Philip McCooley |
| 1944 | Arsenic and Old Lace | Mr. Witherspoon |
| 1944 | Summer Storm | Count 'Piggy' Volsky |
| 1944 | Her Primitive Man | Orrin |
| 1943 | The Gang's All Here | Peyton Potter |
| 1943 | Thank Your Lucky Stars | Farnsworth |
| 1943 | Forever and a Day | Sir Anthony Trimble-Pomfret |
| 1942 | Springtime in the Rockies | McTavish |
| 1942 | I Married an Angel | Peter |
| 1942 | The Magnificent Dope | Horace Hunter |
| 1941 | The Body Disappears | Professor Shotesbury |
| 1941 | Weekend for Three | Stonebraker |
| 1941 | Here Comes Mr. Jordan | Messenger 7013 |
| 1941 | Bachelor Daddy | Joseph Smith |
| 1941 | Sunny | Henry Bates |
| 1941 | Ziegfeld Girl | Noble Sage |
| 1941 | You're the One | Death Valley Joe Frink |
| 1939 | That's Right - You're Wrong | Tom Village - a Screenwriter |
| 1939 | The Amazing Mr. Forrest | Treadwell |
| 1939 | Paris Honeymoon | Ernest Figg |
| 1938 | Little Tough Guys in Society | Oliver |
| 1938 | Holiday | Nick Potter |
| 1938 | College Swing | Hubert Dash |
| 1938 | Bluebeard's Eighth Wife | The Marquis De Loiselle |
| 1937 | Hitting a New High | Lucius B. Blynn |
| 1937 | The Great Garrick | Tubby |
| 1937 | The Perfect Specimen | Mr. Grattan |
| 1937 | Angel | Graham |
| 1937 | Danger - Love at Work | Howard Rogers |
| 1937 | Wild Money | P.E. Dodd |
| 1937 | Oh, Doctor | Edward J. Billop |
| 1937 | Shall We Dance | Jeffrey Baird |
| 1937 | The King and the Chorus Girl | Count Humbert Evel Bruger |
| 1937 | Lost Horizon | Lovett |
| 1936 | Let's Make a Million | Harrison Gentry |
| 1936 | The Man in the Mirror | Jeremy Dilke |
| 1936 | Hearts Divided | John |
| 1936 | Nobody's Fool | Will Wright |
| 1936 | The Singing Kid | Davenport Rogers |
| 1936 | Her Master's Voice | Ned Farrar |
| 1935 | Your Uncle Dudley | Dudley Dixon |
| 1935 | His Night Out | Homer B. Bitts |
| 1935 | The Private Secretary | Rev. Robert Spalding |
| 1935 | Little Big Shot | Mortimer |
| 1935 | Top Hat | Horace Hardwick |
| 1935 | Going Highbrow | Augie |
| 1935 | In Caliente | Harold Brandon |
| 1935 | $10 Raise | Hubert T. Wilkins |
| 1935 | The Devil Is a Woman | Gov. Don Paquito 'Paquitito' |
| 1935 | All the King's Horses | Count Josef 'Peppi' von Schlapstaat |
| 1935 | The Night Is Young | Baron Szereny |
| 1935 | Biography of a Bachelor Girl | Leander 'Bunny' Nolan |
| 1934 | The Merry Widow | Ambassador Popoff |
| 1934 | The Gay Divorcee | Egbert 'Pinky' Fitzgerald |
| 1934 | Ladies Should Listen | Paul Vernet |
| 1934 | Kiss and Make-Up | Marcel Caron |
| 1934 | Smarty | Vernon Thorpe |
| 1934 | Sing and Like It | Adam Frink - Producer |
| 1934 | Uncertain Lady | Elliot Crane |
| 1934 | Success at Any Price | Fisher |
| 1934 | The Poor Rich | Albert Stuyvesant Spottiswood |
| 1934 | Easy to Love | Eric |
| 1933 | Alice in Wonderland | Mad Hatter |
| 1933 | Design for Living | Max Plunkett |
| 1933 | The Way to Love | Prof. Gaston Bibi |
| 1933 | It's a Boy | Dudley Leake |
| 1933 | A Bedtime Story | Victor Dubois |
| 1933 | The Woman in Command | Sebastian Marvello |
| 1932 | Trouble in Paradise | François Filiba |
| 1932 | Roar of the Dragon | Busby |
| 1932 | -But the Flesh Is Weak | Sir George Kelvin |
| 1931 | The Great Junction Hotel (Short) | The Groom |
| 1931 | The Age for Love | Horace Keats |
| 1931 | Smart Woman | Billy Ross |
| 1931 | 6 Cylinder Love | Monty Winston |
| 1931 | The Front Page | Bensinger |
| 1931 | Lonely Wives | Richard 'Dickie' Smith | Felix, the Great Zero |
| 1931 | Kiss Me Again | Rene |
| 1930 | Reaching for the Moon | Roger - The Valet |
| 1930 | Once a Gentleman | Oliver |
| 1930 | Holiday | Nick Potter |
| 1930 | Wide Open | Simon Haldane |
| 1930 | Take the Heir | Smithers |
| 1929 | The Aviator | Robert Street |
| 1929 | Good Medicine (Short) | Unknown |
| 1929 | The Sap | The Sap |
| 1929 | Prince Gabby (Short) | Unknown |
| 1929 | The Hottentot | Sam Harrington |
| 1929 | Trusting Wives (Short) | Unknown |
| 1929 | The Right Bed (Short) | Unknown |
| 1929 | Sonny Boy | Crandall Thorpe |
| 1929 | Ask Dad (Short) | Dad |
| 1929 | The Eligible Mr. Bangs (Short) | Mr. Bangs |
| 1928 | Call Again (Short) | Unknown |
| 1928 | Vacation Waves (Short) | Eddie Davis |
| 1928 | The Terror | Ferdinand Fane |
| 1928 | Scrambled Weddings (Short) | Eddie Howe |
| 1928 | Horse Shy (Short) | Eddie Hamilton |
| 1928 | Miss Information (Short) | The Firm's Representative |
| 1928 | Behind the Counter (Short) | Eddie Baxter |
| 1928 | Dad's Choice (Short) | Eddie |
| 1927 | Find the King (Short) | Edward Fairchild |
| 1927 | No Publicity (Short) | Eddie Howard |
| 1927 | Taxi! Taxi! | Peter Whitby |
| 1926 | The Whole Town's Talking | Chester Binney |
| 1926 | Poker Faces | Jimmy Whitmore 'Poker Face' |
| 1926 | The Nutcracker | Horatio Slipaway |
| 1926 | La Bohème | Colline |
| 1925 | The Business of Love | Edward Burgess |
| 1925 | Marry Me | John Smith #2 |
| 1925 | Beggar on Horseback | Neil McRae |
| 1924 | Helen's Babies | Uncle Harry |
| 1924 | The Man Who Fights Alone | Bob Alten |
| 1924 | Try and Get It | Glenn Collins (as Edward Horton) |
| 1924 | Flapper Wives | Vincent Platt (as Edward Horton) |
| 1923 | To the Ladies | Leonard Beebe (as Edward Horton) |
| 1923 | The Vow of Vengeance | Unknown |
| 1923 | Ruggles of Red Gap | Ruggles (as Edward Horton) |
| 1922 | A Front Page Story | Rodney Marvin (as Edward Horton) |
| 1922 | The Ladder Jinx | Arthur Barnes (as Edward Horton) |
| 1922 | Too Much Business | John Henry Jackson (as Edward Horton) |
General:
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