Edward Everett Horton
Acting • Born 1886-03-17 – Died 1970-09-29
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Edward Everett Horton Jr. (March 18, 1886 – September 29, 1970) was an American character actor. He had a long career in film, theater, radio, television, and voice work for animated cartoons. Horton began his stage career in 1906, singing and dancing and playing small parts in vaudeville and in Broadway productions. In 1919, he moved to Los Angeles, California, where he began acting in Hollywood films. His first starring role was in the comedy Too Much Business (1922), but he portrayed the lead role of an idealistic young classical composer in the drama Beggar on Horseback (1925). In the late 1920s, he starred in two-reel silent comedies for Educational Pictures, and made the transition to talking pictures with Educational in 1929. As a stage-trained performer, he found more film work easily, and appeared in some of Warner Bros.' early talkies, including The Terror (1928) and Sonny Boy (1929). Horton initially used his given name, Edward Horton, professionally. His father persuaded him to adopt his full name professionally, reasoning that other actors might be named Edward Horton, but only one named Edward Everett Horton. Horton soon cultivated his own special variation of the time-honored double take (an actor's reaction to something, followed by a delayed, more extreme reaction). In Horton's version, he would smile ingratiatingly and nod in agreement with what just happened; then, when realization set in, his facial features collapsed entirely into a sober, troubled mask. Horton starred in many comedy features in the 1930s, usually playing a mousy fellow who put up with domestic or professional problems to a certain point, and then finally asserted himself for a happy ending. He is best known, however, for his work as a character actor in supporting roles. These include The Front Page (1931), Trouble in Paradise (1932), Alice in Wonderland (1933), The Gay Divorcee (1934, the first of several Astaire/Rogers films in which Horton appeared), Top Hat (1935), Danger - Love at Work (1937), Lost Horizon (1937), Holiday (1938), Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941), Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), Pocketful of Miracles (1961), It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), and Sex and the Single Girl (1964). His last role was in the comedy film Cold Turkey (1971), in which his character communicated only through facial expressions.
Filmography
165 credits
Trouble in Paradise
Movie • 1932
François Filiba
Arsenic and Old Lace
Movie • 1944
Mr. Witherspoon
Pocketful of Miracles
Movie • 1961
Hudgins
Top Hat
Movie • 1935
Horace Hardwick
Lost Horizon
Movie • 1937
Alexander P. " Lovey " Lovett
Take the Heir
Movie • 1930
Smithers
Lady on a Train
Movie • 1945
Mr. Haskell
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Movie • 1963
Mr. Dinckler
The Emperor's Oblong Pancake
Movie • 1964
Narrator
Shall We Dance
Movie • 1937
Jeffrey Baird
Once a Gentleman
Movie • 1930
Oliver
Bluebeard's 8th Wife
Movie • 1938
Marquis De Loiselle
Reaching for the Moon
Movie • 1930
Roger, the Valet
Alice in Wonderland
Movie • 1933
Mad Hatter
Sex and the Single Girl
Movie • 1964
The Chief
The Gay Divorcee
Movie • 1934
Egbert Fitzgerald
Cold Turkey
Movie • 1971
Hiram C. Grayson
The Front Page
Movie • 1931
Bensinger
The Devil Is a Woman
Movie • 1935
Gov. Don Paquito 'Paquitito'
The Story of Mankind
Movie • 1957
Sir Walter Raleigh
Forever and a Day
Movie • 1943
Anthony Trimble-Pomfret
Springtime in the Rockies
Movie • 1942
McTavish
The Merry Widow
Movie • 1934
Ambassador Popoff
Angel
Movie • 1937
Graham
To the Ladies
Movie • 1924
Leonard Beebe
Holiday
Movie • 1938
Nick Potter
Here Comes Mr. Jordan
Movie • 1941
Messenger 7013
The Whole Town's Talking
Movie • 1926
Chester Binney
Down to Earth
Movie • 1947
Messenger 7013
The Gang's All Here
Movie • 1943
Peyton Potter
The Ghost Goes Wild
Movie • 1947
Eric
Summer Storm
Movie • 1944
Count "Piggy" Volsky
Ladies Should Listen
Movie • 1934
Paul Vernet
San Diego I Love You
Movie • 1944
Philip McCooley
Kiss and Make-Up
Movie • 1934
Marcel Caron
Design for Living
Movie • 1933
Max Plunkett
Hitting a New High
Movie • 1937
Lucius B. Blynn
Holiday
Movie • 1930
Nick Potter
Little Big Shot
Movie • 1935
Mortimer Thompson
A Bedtime Story
Movie • 1933
Victor Dubois
2000 Years Later
Movie • 1969
Evermore
The Perfect Specimen
Movie • 1937
Mr. Grattan
College Swing
Movie • 1938
Hubert Dash
Lonely Wives
Movie • 1931
Richard 'Dickie' Smith / Felix, the Great Zero
Danger – Love at Work
Movie • 1937
Howard Rogers
Sunny
Movie • 1941
Henry Bates
The Great Garrick
Movie • 1937
Tubby
Ruggles of Red Gap
Movie • 1923
Ruggles
The King and the Chorus Girl
Movie • 1937
Count Humbert Evel Bruger
The Singing Kid
Movie • 1936
Davenport Rogers
Ask Dad
Movie • 1929
Dad
Going Highbrow
Movie • 1935
Augie Winterspoon
Biography of a Bachelor Girl
Movie • 1935
Leander 'Bunny' Nolan
Smart Woman
Movie • 1931
Billy Ross
It's a Boy
Movie • 1934
Dudley Leake
Easy to Love
Movie • 1934
Eric
The Perils of Pauline
Movie • 1967
Caspar Coleman
But the Flesh Is Weak
Movie • 1932
Sir George Kelvin
Hearts Divided
Movie • 1936
John
Helen's Babies
Movie • 1924
Uncle Harry
The Poor Rich
Movie • 1934
Albert Stuyvesant Spottiswood
Sing and Like It
Movie • 1934
Adam Frink - Producer
Wide Open
Movie • 1930
Simon Haldane
The Night Is Young
Movie • 1935
Baron Szereny
The Town Went Wild
Movie • 1944
Everett Conway
The Great Junction Hotel
Movie • 1931
The Groom
Smarty
Movie • 1934
Vernon
Brazil
Movie • 1944
Everett St. John Everett
In Caliente
Movie • 1935
Harold Brandon
$10 Raise
Movie • 1935
Hubert T. Wilkins
Success at Any Price
Movie • 1934
Harry Fisher
Weekend for Three
Movie • 1941
Fred Stonebraker
One Got Fat
Movie • 1963
Narrator (voice)
Paris Honeymoon
Movie • 1939
Ernest Figg
All the King's Horses
Movie • 1935
Count Josef 'Peppi' von Schlapstaat
Kiss Me Again
Movie • 1931
Rene
Six Cylinder Love
Movie • 1931
Monty Winston
Roar of the Dragon
Movie • 1932
Busby
The Age for Love
Movie • 1931
Horace Keats
His Night Out
Movie • 1935
Homer B. Bitts
Flapper Wives
Movie • 1924
Vincent Platt
The Magnificent Dope
Movie • 1942
Horace Hunter
The Gang's All Here
Movie • 1939
Treadwell
Ziegfeld Girl
Movie • 1941
Noble Sage
La Bohème
Movie • 1926
Benoit - Janitor
Beggar on Horseback
Movie • 1925
Neil McRae
Faithful in My Fashion
Movie • 1946
Hiram Dilworthy
The Sap
Movie • 1929
The Sap, Bill Small
Her Primitive Man
Movie • 1944
Orrin
Her Master's Voice
Movie • 1936
Ned Farrar
Cinderella Jones
Movie • 1946
Keating
I Married an Angel
Movie • 1942
Peter
The Man in the Mirror
Movie • 1936
Jeremy Dilke
That's Right – You're Wrong
Movie • 1939
Tom Village
Dad's Choice
Movie • 1928
Eddie
Little Tough Guys in Society
Movie • 1938
Oliver
Steppin' in Society
Movie • 1945
Judge Avery Webster
Earl Carroll Sketchbook
Movie • 1946
Dr. Milo Edwards
The Aviator
Movie • 1929
Robert Street
Her Husband's Affairs
Movie • 1947
J.B. Cruikshank
Thank Your Lucky Stars
Movie • 1943
Farnsworth
Wild Money
Movie • 1937
P.E. Dodd
Nobody's Fool
Movie • 1936
Will Wright
Oh, Doctor
Movie • 1937
Edward J. Billop
The Hottentot
Movie • 1929
Sam Harrington
The Private Secretary
Movie • 1935
Rev. Robert Spalding
The Man Who Fights Alone
Movie • 1924
Bob Alten
The Body Disappears
Movie • 1941
Professor Shotesbury
The Right Bed
Movie
Bobby Kent
The Way to Love
Movie • 1933
Professor Gaston Bibi
Behind the Counter
Movie • 1928
Eddie Baxter
Try and Get It
Movie • 1924
Glenn Collins
The Terror
Movie • 1928
Ferdinand Fane
Soldiers of the King
Movie • 1933
Sebastian Marvello
Your Uncle Dudley
Movie • 1935
Dudley Dixon
Things You Never See on the Screen
Movie • 1935
Self
Bachelor Daddy
Movie • 1941
Joseph Smith
You're the One
Movie • 1941
Death Valley Joe Frink
The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender
Movie • 1997
Self (archive footage)
Poker Faces
Movie • 1926
Jimmy Whitmore
No Publicity
Movie • 1927
Eddie Howard
Find the King
Movie • 1927
Edward Fairchild
Horse Shy
Movie • 1928
Eddie Hamilton
Vacation Waves
Movie • 1928
Eddie Davis
Let's Make a Million
Movie • 1936
Harrison Gentry
Sonny Boy
Movie • 1929
Crandall Thorpe
The Wonderful World of Trains
Movie • 1960
Professor Hotbox
Scrambled Weddings
Movie • 1928
Eddie Howe
Call Again
Movie • 1928
Eddie
Saturday Spectacular: Manhattan Tower
Movie • 1956
Noah
Taxi! Taxi!
Movie • 1927
Peter Whitby
The Nutcracker
Movie • 1926
Horatio Slipaway
Too Much Business
Movie • 1922
John Henry Jackson
The Ladder Jinx
Movie • 1922
Arthur Barnes
The Unenchanted Princess
Movie • 1957
Narrator
Three Men on a Horse
Movie • 1957
Mr. Carver
Uncertain Lady
Movie • 1934
Elliot Crane
A Front Page Story
Movie • 1922
Rodney Marvin
Burke's Law
TV • 1963
Grover Leander Smith
December Bride
TV • 1954
The Colgate Comedy Hour
TV • 1950
Self
F Troop
TV • 1965
Batman
TV • 1966
Chief Screaming Chicken
The Merv Griffin Show
TV • 1962
Self
I Love Lucy
TV • 1951
Mr. Ritter
The Ed Sullivan Show
TV • 1948
Self
General Electric Theater
TV • 1953
Mr. Parkinson
Saints and Sinners
TV • 1962
Mr. Hollister
Nanny and the Professor
TV • 1970
Dennis the Menace
TV • 1959
Uncle Ned Matthews
Matinee Theater
TV • 1955
The Philco Television Playhouse
TV • 1948
The Cara Williams Show
TV • 1964
The Steve Allen Show
TV • 1956
Self - Guest
Max Liebman Presents
TV • 1954
Fractured Fairy Tales
TV • 1959
Narrator (voice)
The George Gobel Show
TV • 1954
Self
Burke's Law
TV • 1963
Wilbur Starlington
The Lux Show
TV • 1957
Self
The Name of the Game
TV • 1968
Philip Armistead
The Bullwinkle Show
TV • 1959
Fractured Fairy Tales Narrator (voice)
The Mike Douglas Show
TV • 1961
Self
The Gerald McBoing-Boing Show
TV • 1956
Storyteller (voice)
Love, American Style
TV • 1969
Elmo
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends
TV • 1959
Fractured Fairy Tales Narrator (voice)