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Burgess Meredith 1907 - 1997

Burgess Meredith of Malibu, Los Angeles County, California United States was born on November 16, 1907 in Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, OH to William George Meredith and Ida Beth Meredith. Burgess Meredith died at age 89 years old on September 9, 1997 in Malibu, Los Angeles County, CA.

Burgess Meredith

Oliver Burgess Meredith, Buzz, Buzz

Malibu, Los Angeles County, California United States

November 16, 1907

Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States

September 9, 1997

Malibu, Los Angeles County, California, United States

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Burgess Meredith Burgess Meredith (1907 - 1997)

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Burgess Meredith's History: 1907 - 1997

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Introduction

Burgess Meredith Born November 16, 1908 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA Died September 9, 1997 in Malibu, California, USA (melanoma and Alzheimer's disease) Birth Name Oliver Burgess Meredith Nickname Buzz Height 5' 5½" (1.66 m) One of the truly great and gifted performers of the century, who often suffered lesser roles, Burgess Meredith was born in 1907 in Cleveland, Ohio. He was educated in Amherst College in Massachusetts, before joining Eva Le Gallienne's Student Repertory stage company in 1929. By 1934 he was a star on Broadway in 'Little 'Ol Boy', a part for which he tied with George M. Cohan as Best Performer of the Year.. He became a favorite of dramatist Maxwell Anderson, premiering on film in the playwright's Winterset (1936). Other Broadway appearances included 'The Barretts of Wimpole Street'. 'The Remarkable Mr Pennypacker', 'Candida', and 'Of Mice and Men. 'Meredith served in the United States Army Air Corps in World War II, reaching the rank of captain. He continued in a variety of dramatic and comedic roles often repeating his stage roles on film until being named an unfriendly witness by the House Un-American Activities Committee in the early 1950s, whereupon studio work disappeared. His career picked up again, especially with television roles, in the 1960s, although younger audiences know him best for either the Rocky (1976) or Grumpy Old Men (1993) films. Meredith also did a large amount of commercial work, serving as the voice for Skippy Peanut Butter and United Air Lines, among others. He was also an ardent environmentalist who believed pollution one of the greatest tragedies of the time, and an opponent of the Vietnam War. Burgess Meredith died at age 89 of Alzheimer's disease and melanoma in his home in Malibu, California on September 9, 1997. Spouse (4) Kaja Sundsten (8 January 1951 - 9 September 1997) ( his death) ( 2 children) Paulette Goddard (21 May 1944 - 8 June 1949) ( divorced) Margaret Perry (10 January 1936 - 19 July 1938) ( divorced) Helen Derby Berrien (1932 - 20 August 1935) ( divorced)
11/16

1907

Birthday

November 16, 1907

Birthdate

Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio United States

Birthplace

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Nationality & Locations

burgess was born in cleveland ohio
Early Life & Education

Amherst College drop out.
Religious Beliefs

Methodist.
Military Service

Served in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II and held the rank of captain by 1945. During World War II, he served in the Army Air Corps, achieving the rank of captain. At the end of the war, he resumed his career, playing the war correspondent Ernie Pyle in ''The Story of G.I. Joe.''
Professional Career

Burgess Meredith - Character Actor Born November 16, 1908 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA Died September 9, 1997 in Malibu, California, USA (melanoma and Alzheimer's disease) Birth Name Oliver Burgess Meredith Nickname Buzz Height 5' 5½" (1.66 m) One of the truly great and gifted performers of the century, who often suffered lesser roles, Burgess Meredith was born in 1907 in Cleveland, Ohio. He was educated in Amherst College in Massachusetts, before joining Eva Le Gallienne's stage company, Civic Repertory Company, in New York City in 1933. He became a favorite of dramatist Maxwell Anderson, premiering on film in the playwright's Winterset (1936). Meredith served in the United States Army Air Corps in World War II, reaching the rank of captain. He continued in a variety of dramatic and comedic roles until being named an unfriendly witness by the House Un-American Activities Committee in the early 1950s, whereupon studio work disappeared. His career picked up again, especially with television roles, in the 1960s, although younger audiences know him best for either the Rocky (1976) or Grumpy Old Men (1993) films. Meredith also did a large amount of commercial work, serving as the voice for Skippy Peanut Butter and United Air Lines, among others. He was also an ardent environmentalist who believed pollution one of the greatest tragedies of the time, and an opponent of the Vietnam War. Burgess Meredith died at age 89 of Alzheimer's disease and melanoma in his home in Malibu, California on September 9, 1997. Spouse (4) Kaja Sundsten (8 January 1951 - 9 September 1997) ( his death) ( 2 children) Paulette Goddard (21 May 1944 - 8 June 1949) ( divorced) Margaret Perry (10 January 1936 - 19 July 1938) ( divorced) Helen Derby Berrien (1932 - 20 August 1935) ( divorced) Trade Mark (2) Distinctive raspy voice Often worked with director Otto Preminger. Trivia (32) Former son-in-law of Antoinette Perry. Was placed on the "Red Channel" list of the HUAC. Otto Preminger was instrumental in restoring his film career. His character, the Penguin, was so popular as a villain on the television series Batman (1966), the producers always had a Penguin script ready in case Meredith wanted to appear as a guest star. Had two children (with fourth wife Kaja Sundsten): Jonathon Meredith (musician) and Tala Meredith (painter). On the television series Batman (1966), he developed his grunting Penguin laugh out of necessity. Meredith had given up smoking some twenty-odd years earlier, but his character was required to smoke with a cigarette holder. The smoke would get caught in his throat and he would start coughing. Rather than constantly ruin takes in this matter, he developed the laugh to cover it up. "Actually, it was a pretty funny noise for a penguin to make," said Meredith. "I sounded more like a duck." Needless to say, Meredith gave up smoking again immediately after the series ended. Suffered from melanoma and other ailments, including Alzheimer's disease, at the time of his death. Was only seventeen years older than Jack Lemmon when he played his father in Grumpy Old Men (1993). In 1960, he received a special Tony Award, along with James Thurber, for "A Thurber Carnival". He was also nominated for a 1974 Tony Award as best director (dramatic) for Ulysses in "Nighttown". Was the second choice for the role of the Penguin on Batman (1966). Producers had originally wanted Spencer Tracy in the role, but Tracy would not sign unless his character was allowed to kill Batman. Obviously, they did not want to kill the main character, so the role went to Meredith. Biography in: "American National Biography". Supplement 1, pp. 406-407. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. He was fascinated by the subject of non-human intelligence, particularly dolphins. He once believed that a dolphin somehow called to him for help in the middle of the night while he was staying at a friend's home on the beach. He ran out and found the dolphin, caught in a net under a dock down the beach, although there was no way he should have been able to know it was there. He released it, saving its life. He believed it had made some sort of connection with him, perhaps telepathic, to call for help. Was offered the role of the Penguin's father in Batman Returns (1992) (which eventually went to Paul Reubens), but could not film it because of his delicate health. Once narrated a Gaelic Christmas Carol in English for The Chieftains on their CD "The Bells of Dublin". Relied on cue cards during the filming of Grumpier Old Men (1995), contributed from being in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. Despite his character dying in Rocky III (1982), he has appeared in every Rocky film, as either the real character, a flashback, or through archive footage. Nephew of comedian and character actor, Jay "Handsome Danny Mann" Burgess (1856-1937). After dropping out of Amherst College, Meredith held down various jobs in journalism, retail, as a clerk, and as an editor. He also had a brief spell in the merchant marine and as a runner on Wall Street. His father was a doctor, and his mother a Methodist revivalist. Loved to cook and was a noted connoisseur of fine wine and good cuisine. Served in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II and held the rank of captain by 1945. His father, William George Meredith, was Canadian (born in Toronto, Ontario). His mother, Ida Beth (Burgess), was from Ohio. Was friends with French avant-garde composer Edgard Varese (1883-1965) who wrote "Dance for Burgess" for him in 1949. He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6904 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on November 5, 1987. He died only one day after his Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) co-star, Helen Shaw. He played the Devil in both The Twilight Zone: Printer's Devil (1963) and Torture Garden (1967). He revealed in 1994 that he suffered from Cyclothymia, a form of Bipolar Disorder. Was good friends with Adam West. In March 1937 movie industry Trade Papers it was announced that Burgess Meredith had been signed for a leading role in the movie "Stage Door" (RKO Radio, 1937). He ultimately did not appear in the movie. He suffered from Cyclothymia, a form of bipolar disorder. In the 1986 book "Son of Golden Turkey Awards" by Harry and Michael Medved, Burgess won the award for "The Most Embarrasing Nude Scene in Hollywood History" for the 1971 movie "Such Good Friends". He directed a stage production of 'Ulysses in Night Town'. Personal Quotes (7) Like the seasons of the year, life changes frequently and drastically. You enjoy it or endure it as it comes and goes, as it ebbs and flows. I'll just take amusement at being a paradox. [on his childhood] All my life, to this day, the memory of my childhood remains grim and incoherent. If I close my eyes and think back, I see little except violence and fear. In those early years, I somehow came to understand I would have to draw from within myself whatever emotional resources I needed to go wherever I was headed. As a result, for years, I became a boy who lived almost totally within himself.
Personal Life & Family

Actor I did Batman (1966) for two reasons, one of which was the salary. The other was that, after the first few episodes, Batman became the in-thing to do. Everybody... would either play a villain or appear as himself in that cameo showcase where a celebrity would poke his head through the window of a building that Batman and Robin were climbing. Actually, we didn't get as much money from the show as you might think, although we were paid decent money for the feature film version. The main impetus to continue appearing on Batman - beyond the desire to get some TV work - was that it was fashionable. I was born a character actor. I was never really a leading man type.
09/9

1997

Death

September 9, 1997

Death date

Unknown
Cause of death

Malibu, Los Angeles County, California United States
Death location

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Obituary

Burgess Meredith, 89, Who Was at Ease Playing Good Guys and Villains, Dies By Mel Gussow Sept. 11, 1997 Burgess Meredith, a virtuoso actor whose career spanned most of the 20th century and a multitude of performing arts, died on Tuesday at his home in Malibu, Calif. He was 89. In the 1930's, he was hailed for his performances on Broadway in ''Winterset'' and two other Maxwell Anderson plays. Reviewing the production of Mr. Anderson's ''High Tor,'' Richard Watts Jr. wrote, ''That Mr. Meredith is the best young actor on the American stage is generally conceded.'' He added, ''There isn't a better American actor of any age.'' Through his lifetime, he was discovered and rediscovered in films as well as onstage. One of his most notable movie roles was George, the guardian of the dimwitted Lennie, played by Lon Chaney Jr., in Steinbeck's morality tale ''Of Mice and Men'' (1939). After years on Broadway and in Hollywood, he achieved a new celebrity on television in the 1960's as the Penguin, the arch-criminal in the ''Batman'' television series. That was followed by his role as the crusty trainer in the film ''Rocky'' (1976), for which he received an Oscar nomination. Although those performances renewed his popularity, 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. He did ''Hamlet'' on the radio, was Marchbanks to Katharine Cornell's Candida and played Christy Mahon in ''The Playboy of the Western World.'' In 1939, Orson Welles and Mr. Meredith shared the stage as Falstaff and Prince Hal in a collage of Shakespeare, ''The Five Kings.'' John Houseman said Mr. Meredith's performance had ''a warmth and an energy that I have never seen equaled in the part, even by Laurence Olivier.'' The production, however, closed in Boston. Of his collaboration with Mr. Welles, Mr. Meredith said, ''We thought we'd combine our immortal talents, but we shared colossal disaster instead.'' When he played the title role in the 1940 Broadway revival of ''Liliom'' opposite Ingrid Bergman, Brooks Atkinson wrote in The New York Times: ''His swagger is genuine; it arises from real strength of mind and spirit, and since it is obviously doomed it is profoundly moving.'' In his earliest days his performances were marked by a youthful exuberance. Gradually -- or maybe suddenly -- Mr. Meredith mellowed into a character actor, one who could, with equal ease, be lovable or villainous. To admirers, it always seemed as if he enjoyed acting. Mr. Meredith was also acclaimed as a director. He staged the dramatization of James Joyce's ''Ulysses in Nighttown'' with Zero Mostel (and later played opposite Mr. Mostel in a television version of ''Waiting for Godot''). Later, he directed James Baldwin's ''Blues for Mr. Charlie'' for the Actors Studio Theater. Together with Jean Renoir, he wrote and produced the film ''The Diary of a Chambermaid'' (starring Paulette Goddard, Mr. Meredith's third wife). The actor's distinctive voice was heard for years on radio, in his 1937 ''Hamlet,'' for example. Frequently he acted as a narrator both on radio and television. Later in life he was also known for his work on television commercials, as the voice of United Airlines and Skippy Peanut Butter. He became an overnight sensation on television as the Penguin in ''Batman.'' It was the easiest assignment of his career, but the character made him an idol of teenagers. ''Of all the roles I've ever done, this is the first time my own kids have wanted to watch me,'' he said. If he took roles that seemed beneath his status, he took it in stride. ''If I spent all my time in Shakespearean companies and only did art movies like Olivier, my position would be more dignified and more serious, I might even be a better actor,'' he said. ''But this is America, and I'm a man moved by the rhythms of his time, so I'll just take amusement at being a paradox.'' Oliver Burgess Meredith was born on Nov. 16, 1907, in the Cleveland suburb of Lakewood to a doctor, William George Meredith, and the former Ida Burgess, the daughter of a Methodist revivalist. As a student at Amherst College, he paid his way by tending furnaces and washing dishes. He flunked trigonometry and dropped out. For the next five years he eked out a living as a salesman, clerk, reporter, editor, Wall Street runner and merchant seaman. In 1929, when he was 22, he decided to become an actor and joined Eva Le Gallienne's Civic Repertory Theater in Manhattan. He made his Broadway debut in 1932 in its production of ''Alice in Wonderland,'' playing the Duck, the Dormouse and Tweedledee. When he played his first leading role, as a juvenile delinquent in ''Little Ol' Boy''in 1933, Robert Benchley wrote in The New Yorker, ''I had to consult the back of the program to find out who Burgess Meredith was although I do not expect to forget him again.'' His breakthrough came in 1935 in ''Winterset,'' the verse drama inspired by the Sacco-Vanzetti case, in which he played Mio, a young man trying to vindicate his radical father after he has been executed. The role was written for Mr. Meredith. From then on, he shuttled between Broadway and Hollywood. He repeated his performance in the film version of ''Winterset.'' He appeared opposite Ginger Rogers in ''Tom, Dick and Harry'' and was in ''Idiot's Delight'' and in ''Second Chorus'' with Ms. Goddard and Fred Astaire. During World War II, he served in the Army Air Corps, achieving the rank of captain. At the end of the war, he resumed his career, playing the war correspondent Ernie Pyle in ''The Story of G.I. Joe.'' Increasingly, he became known for his comic performances, in such plays as Charles Laughton's all-star production of ''Major Barbara'' and the comedy, ''The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker.'' He also directed a string of popular comedies, including Wolcott Gibbs's ''Season in the Sun,'' Nathaniel Benchley's ''Frogs of Spring'' and James Thurber's ''Thurber Carnival.'' Analyzing successful comedy, he once remarked: ''The main problem is to make outrageousness acceptable. You have to stay away from absurdity and emphasize probability.'' Because of his outspoken liberal political views he collided with Senator Joseph McCarthy and was blacklisted from films in the late 1950's. His movie career was partly restored by Otto Preminger, who cast him in ''Advise and Consent,'' ''The Cardinal,'' ''Such Good Friends'' and other films. In 1975 he received an Oscar nomination for his supporting role in ''The Day of the Locust.'' Two years later he played Joseph Welch in a television show called ''Tail Gunner Joe.'' It was, he said, close to his favorite role, because through it he was able to have ''a splendid revenge'' on ''the McCarthy gang.'' Among his other films are ''Magic,'' ''Clash of the Titans'' and ''True Confessions.'' In ''Grumpy Old Men'' and ''Grumpier Old Men,'' he was Jack Lemmon's father, the grumpiest oldest man. Mr. Meredith was known as a wine expert and amateur chef and as a host, for many years, at his estate, High Tor, in Rockland County and, later, in Malibu. He was married four times, to Helen Derby and the actresses Margaret Perry and Paulette Goddard, and to Kaja Sundsten. He is survived by his wife; a son, Jonathan of Nevada City, Calif.; a daughter, Tala of Borrego Springs, Calif., and a granddaughter. Looking back in his 1994 memoir, ''So Far, So Good,'' he wrote: ''Life is elastic. It stretches away when you need it close -- and pulls close when you want it far away. Many of the activities I followed, I should have let go; they often brought sorrow at the time. Now, in reflection, they make me smile.''

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Burgess Meredith lived 16 years longer than the average family member when died at the age of 89.

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7 Memories, Stories & Photos about Burgess

Amanda S. Stevenson

17.7k+ favorites

01/13/2021

I met him in the theatre district on 46th Street. I said, "I liked you in Rocky." And he laughed and said, "You won't see me in Rocky anymore." But it wasn't true. He was in ALL the Rocky movies . . . in flashbacks, etc.

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Amanda S. Stevenson

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11/16/2019

Burgess Meredith

A photo of Burgess Meredith

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

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Amanda S. Stevenson

17.7k+ favorites

11/16/2019

Oliver Burgess Meredith

A photo of Oliver Burgess Meredith

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

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Amanda S. Stevenson

17.7k+ favorites

11/16/2019

Oliver Burgess Meredith

A photo of Oliver Burgess Meredith

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

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Amanda S. Stevenson

17.7k+ favorites

11/16/2019

Oliver Burgess Meredith

A photo of Oliver Burgess Meredith

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

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Amanda S. Stevenson

17.7k+ favorites

11/16/2019

Oliver Burgess Meredith

A photo of Oliver Burgess Meredith

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

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Kathy Pinna

2.74k+ favorites

08/26/2011

Burgess Meredith | The Penguin

Actor Burgess Meredith, the original Penguin in television's Batman. In 1938, he was the acting President of the Actor's Equity and appeared before the Senate to urge the formation of a Federal Bureau of Fine Arts.

Burgess Meredith was a fine stage and film actor but the Boomer generation probably knows him best as the Penguin on the tv series Batman and for appearing 4 times on The Twilight Zone. He won several Emmys and was nominated for several Academy Awards.

photo courtesy of the Library of Congress, Harris & Ewing

Date & Place: February 28, 1938 at Senate in Washington DC, Washington DC USA