
Ed Wynn
Isaiah Edwin Leopold (November 9, 1886 – June 19, 1966), better known as Ed Wynn, was an American actor and comedian noted for his Perfect Fool comedy character, his pioneering radio show of the 1930s, and his later career as a dramatic actor.
Ed Wynn first appeared on television on July 7, 1936 in a brief, ad-libbed spot with Graham McNamee during an NBC experimental television broadcast. In the 1949–50 season, Ed Wynn hosted one of the first network, comedy-variety television shows, on CBS, and won both a Peabody Award and an Emmy Award in 1949. Buster Keaton, Lucille Ball, and The Three Stooges all made guest appearances with Wynn. This was the first CBS variety television show to originate from Los Angeles, which was seen live on the west coast, but filmed via kinescope for distribution in the Midwest and East, as the national coaxial cable had yet to be completed. Wynn was also a rotating host of NBC's Four Star Revue from 1950 through 1952.
After the end of Wynn's third television series, The Ed Wynn Show (a short-lived situation comedy on NBC's 1958–59 schedule), his son, actor Keenan Wynn, encouraged him to make a career change rather than retire. The comedian reluctantly began a career as a dramatic actor in television and movies. Father and son appeared in three productions, the first of which was the 1956 Playhouse 90 broadcast of Rod Serling's play Requiem for a Heavyweight. Ed was terrified of straight acting and kept goofing his lines in rehearsal. When the producers wanted to fire him, star Jack Palance said he would quit if they fired Ed. (However, unbeknownst to Wynn, supporting player Ned Glass was his secret understudy in case something did happen before air time.) On live broadcast night, Wynn surprised everyone with his pitch-perfect performance, and his quick ad libs to cover his mistakes. A dramatization of what happened during the production was later staged as an April 1960 Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse episode, "The Man in the Funny Suit", starring both senior and junior Wynns, with key figures involved in the original production also portraying themselves. Ed and his son also worked together in the Jose Ferrer film The Great Man, with Ed again proving his unexpected skills in drama.
Requiem established Wynn as a serious dramatic actor who could easily hold his own with the best. His role in The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) won him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Also in 1959, Wynn appeared on Serling's TV series The Twilight Zone in "One for the Angels". Serling, a longtime admirer, had written that episode especially for him, and Wynn later in 1963 starred in the episode "Ninety Years Without Slumbering". For the rest of his life, Wynn skillfully moved between comic and dramatic roles. He appeared in feature films and anthology television, endearing himself to new generations of fans.
Known For | Acting |
---|---|
Most Rating | 0.071 |
Birthday | 1886-11-09 |
Place of Birth | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA |
Also Known As | Isaiah Edwin «Ed» Wynn, Isaiah Edwin Wynn, Isaiah Edwin Leopold, Isaiah Edwin "Ed" Wynn, |

1964

Mary Poppins
7.6/4736
Mr Banks is looking for a nanny for his two mischievous children and comes across Mary Poppins, an angelic nanny. She not only brings a change in thei...
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Mary Poppins

1965

The Greatest Story Ever Told
6.371/190
From his birth in Bethlehem to his death and eventual resurrection, the life of Jesus Christ is given the all-star treatment in this epic retelling. M...
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The Greatest Story Ever Told

1959

The Diary of Anne Frank
7.2/352
The true, harrowing story of a young Jewish girl who, with her family and their friends, is forced into hiding in an attic in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam.
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The Diary of Anne Frank

1967

The Gnome-Mobile
6.1/61
An eccentric millionaire and his grandchildren are embroiled in the plights of some forest gnomes who are searching for the rest of their tribe. While...
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The Gnome-Mobile

1951

Alice in Wonderland
7.2/5917
On a golden afternoon, wildly curious young Alice tumbles into the burrow and enters the merry, madcap world of Wonderland full of whimsical escapades...
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Alice in Wonderland

1961

Babes in Toyland
5.8/94
All roads lead to magical, merry Toyland as Mary Contrary and Tom Piper prepare for their wedding! But villainous Barnaby wants Mary for himself, so h...
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Babes in Toyland

1958

Marjorie Morningstar
6.2/20
While working as a counselor at a summer camp, college-student Marjorie Morgenstern falls for 32-year-old Noel Airman, a would-be dramatist working at...
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Marjorie Morningstar

1965

Those Calloways
6.2/27
Story of Cam Calloway and his family, who live in a densely wooded area in New England. Cam dreams of building a sanctuary for the geese that fly over...
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Those Calloways

1960

Cinderfella
6.1/109
When his father dies, poor Fella is left at the mercy of his snobbish stepmother and her two no-good sons Maximilian and Rupert. As he slaves away for...
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Cinderfella

1964

The Patsy
6.2/52
When a star comedian dies, his comedy team decides to train a 'nobody' to play the Star in a big TV show (a Patsy). But the man chosen, bellboy Stanle...
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The Patsy

1966

The Daydreamer
5/10
A young Hans Christian Andersen goes in search of knowledge in the Garden of Paradise in order to make his studies easier. Each time he falls asleep,...
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The Daydreamer

1930

Follow the Leader
5.4/4
A kooky waiter and sometimes vaudevillian promises to get his employer's daughter into a Broadway show. When he kidnaps the show's star, she gets her...
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Follow the Leader

1933

The Chief
3/1
The dim-witted son of a heroic fire chief tries to follow in his late father's footsteps, only to become the unknowing pawn of corrupt politicians.
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The Chief

1962

The New March of Dimes Presents: The Scene Stealers
7/1
A TV movie with intertwining music numbers and sketches.
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The New March of Dimes Presents: The Scene Stealers

1956

The Great Man
5.2/6
Joe Harris, preparing a eulogy for popular radio commentator Herb Fuller, finds that nobody has a good word to say about him.
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The Great Man

1932

Hollywood on Parade
3/1
A short featuring many stars
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Hollywood on Parade

2021

Boulevard! A Hollywood Story
5/4
Dickson Hughes and Richard Stapley, two young composers and romantic partners, are caught in the web of silent film star Gloria Swanson when she hires...
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Boulevard! A Hollywood Story

1943

Stage Door Canteen
6.1/14
A young soldier on a pass in New York City visits the famed Stage Door Canteen, where famous stars of the theater and films appear and host a recreati...
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Stage Door Canteen

1961

The Absent-Minded Professor
6.5/180
Bumbling professor Ned Brainard accidentally invents flying rubber, or "Flubber", an incredible material that gains energy every time it strikes a har...
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The Absent-Minded Professor

1963

Son of Flubber
5.9/65
Beleaguered professor Ned Brainard has already run into a pile of misfortunes with his discovery of the super-elastic substance "Flubber." Now he hope...
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Son of Flubber

1933

Turn Back the Clock
5.1/7
While recuperating in a hospital after he's hit by an automobile, a struggling shopowner dreams what his life might have been like if he'd made differ...
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Turn Back the Clock

1965

That Darn Cat!
6.5/173
A young woman suspects foul play when her cat comes home wearing a wristwatch. Convincing the FBI, though, and catching the bad guys is tougher than s...
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That Darn Cat!

1959

Meet Me in St. Louis
5/1
Young love and childish fears highlight a year in the life of a turn-of-the-century family up to the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.
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Meet Me in St. Louis

2008

Shemp Cocktail: A Toast to the Original Stooge
0/0
A compilation that highlights works from the Three Stooges. It includes the shorts Brideless Groom, Sing a Song of Six Pants, and Malice in the Palace...
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Shemp Cocktail: A Toast to the Original Stooge

1976

That's Entertainment, Part II
6.851/37
Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire present more golden moments from the MGM film library, this time including comedy and drama as well as classic musical num...
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That's Entertainment, Part II

1964

For the Love of Willadean
6/1
A new boy, Harley, joins a club but shows an interest in the girl on whom the club leader has a crush. The two club members trick Harley into stealing...
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For the Love of Willadean

1965

Dear Brigitte
6.37/27
Professor Leaf, an absent-minded poet with a prejudice against the sciences, is forced to face the fact that his son is a math prodigy with little art...
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Dear Brigitte

1963

The Sound of Laughter
2/1
A compilation of film clips of comedies from 1930's.
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The Sound of Laughter

1951

Operation Wonderland
7.3/3
1951 behind the scenes featurette of the Walt Disney animated classic.
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Operation Wonderland

1961

Backstage Party
7/1
Party, enterianment, and Behind the scenes
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Backstage Party

1962

The Golden Horseshoe Revue
0/0
The 10,000th performance of Disneyland's venerable "Golden Horseshoe Revue," featuring special guest stars.
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The Golden Horseshoe Revue

1956

Requiem for a Heavyweight
7/1
An over-the-hill heavyweight boxing champion who suffers from the ravages of years of head trauma is exploited by his manager, despite the efforts of...
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Requiem for a Heavyweight

1959

Miracle On 34th Street
7/1
In this charming TV adaptation of the 1947 film classic, a kindly old gentleman (Ed Wynn) working as a Macy's department store Santa causes a commotio...
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Miracle On 34th Street

1957

On Borrowed Time
0/0
Mr. Brink seems to bring death with him wherever he goes. But can a young boy and his grandfather change this dire situation?
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On Borrowed Time

1941

The Three Stooges: Live and Hilarious
0/0
The Three Stooges are at it again in a hilarious and extremely hard-to-find turn on the Ed Wynn Show.
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The Three Stooges: Live and Hilarious

1927

Rubber Heels
0/0
A European royal couple come to New York to sell some of the royal family's crown jewels. A gang of international jewel thieves is planning to steal t...
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Rubber Heels

1976

Hooray for Hollywood
0/0
A celebration of Hollywood in the 1930s, featuring a compilation of clips from features and newsreels of the era.
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