Edmund Gwenn
Edmund Gwenn , actually Edmund John Kellaway , (born September 26, 1877 in Wandsworth , London , England , † September 6, 1959 in Woodland Hills , Los Angeles , USA ) was a British actor . For his portrayal of Santa Claus in The Miracle of Manhattan (1947), he was awarded the Oscar for best supporting actor. In addition, Gwenn made four films directed by Alfred Hitchcock .
Life
Edmund Gwenn was born in London in 1877 under the name Edmund John Kellaway, the son of a civil servant. After attending college, Gwenn began his theater career in Wales in 1895. George Bernard Shaw was so impressed with his acting that he cast Gwenn in the first production of Man and Superman and in five other of his plays. Gwenn's career was interrupted by his military service during World War I. In 1916, however, he had his first film appearance in Macbeth . After the war he continued his career as a theater actor, but occasionally appeared in silent films . From 1931 he was regularly seen on the screen. He immediately played a leading role in Up to the Knife , directed by Alfred Hitchcock . After several other films produced in England, he was invited to Hollywood by RKO Pictures around 1935 to appear in the drama Sylvia Scarlett alongside Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant . Numerous supporting roles followed, such as in A Restless Life (1936) or as Mr. Bennet in the Jane Austen adaptation Pride and Prejudice (1940). Mostly cast in good-natured roles, his brief appearance as an assassin in Hitchcock's The Foreign Correspondent (1940) was a surprising exception.
For his role as Santa in The Miracle of Manhattan (1947), he received both a Golden Globe and an Oscar in the category of Best Supporting Actor . Three years later he was awarded the Golden Globe again in the same category, this time for the film Mister 880 , which also earned him an Oscar nomination. From 1950 he worked increasingly for US television. Gwenn worked with Hitchcock again shortly before the end of his career: In Always Trouble with Harry (1955), he played one of the leading roles as a hunter who is unnecessarily troubled by a corpse. In 1957 he withdrew from the film business.
A marriage that Gwenn had entered into in 1901 ended in divorce around 1916, after which he did not remarry. His brother Arthur Chesney (1882-1949) and his cousin Cecil Kellaway (1890-1973) were also actors. Gwenn died of pneumonia after suffering a stroke twenty days before his 82nd birthday in Woodland Hills, California. He was cremated and his ashes are kept in the chapel of Pines Crematorium in Los Angeles. Gwenn was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1751 Vine Street for his contribution to cinema .
Filmography (selection)
- 1916: The Real Thing at Last
- 1920: Unmarried
- 1921: The Skin Game
- 1931: Up to the Knife (The Skin Game)
- 1933: I Was a Spy (I Was a Spy)
- 1934: Waltzes from Vienna
- 1935: Sylvia Scarlett
- 1936: The Walking Dead
- 1936: A Restless Life (Anthony Adverse)
- 1937: Fire over Ireland (Parnell)
- 1938: The rascal from America (A Yank at Oxford)
- 1940: Wedding against Will (The Doctor Takes a Wife)
- 1940: Pride and Prejudice (Pride and Prejudice)
- 1940: The Foreign Correspondent
- 1941: Cheers for Miss Bishop
- 1941: Scotland Yard
- 1941: Mary and the Millionaire ( The Devil and Miss Jones )
- 1943: For ever and a day (Forever and a Day)
- 1943: Homesickness ( Lassie Come Home )
- 1944 Between two worlds ( Between Two Worlds )
- 1944: Keys of the Kingdom ( The Keys of the Kingdom )
- 1945: Dangerous Partnership ( Dangerous Partners )
- 1946: The Unknown Beloved ( Undercurrent )
- 1947: The Miracle of Manhattan ( Miracle on 34th Street )
- 1947: Life with Father ( Life with Father )
- 1947: Typhoon ( Green Dolphin Street )
- 1948: An attic for two ( Apartment for Peggy )
- 1948: Lassie's home ( Hills of Home )
- 1949: Lassie in Need ( Challenge to Lassie )
- 1950: The men enemy ( A Woman of Distinction )
- 1950: Age does not protect against love ( Louisa )
- 1950: Mister 880
- 1951: Peking Express ( Peking Express )
- 1952: The Legion of the Damned ( Les Miserables )
- 1953: The Man with the Two Women ( The Bigamist )
- 1954: Alt-Heidelberg (The Student Prince)
- 1954: Formicula ( Them! )
- 1955: The Trouble with Harry ( The Trouble with Harry )
- 1955: A dog's life ( It's a Dog's Life )
- 1956: Calabuig (Calabuch)
- 1957: Alfred Hitchcock shows ( Alfred Hitchcock Presents , TV series)
Awards
- 1948: Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for The Miracle of Manhattan
- 1951: Oscar nomination for best supporting actor for Mister 880
Web links
- Edmund Gwenn in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Edmund Gwenn in the All Movie Guide (English)
- Edmund Gwenn in the database of Find a Grave (English)
personal data | |
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SURNAME | Gwenn, Edmund |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Kellaway, Edmund John (real name) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British actor |
DATE OF BIRTH | September 26, 1877 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Wandsworth , London , England |
DATE OF DEATH | September 6, 1959 |
Place of death | Woodland Hills , Los Angeles , USA |