Robert Woolsey

Robert Woolsey (born August 14, 1888 in Oakland , California , † October 31, 1938 in Malibu , California) was an American actor and comedian . Together with Bert Wheeler , he formed a highly successful comedian duo from the late 1920s. Both shot over 20 comedies with music and dance for RKO Pictures.

Life

After the early death of his father, Woolsey had to pursue various professions as a teenager , including as a jockey. After a riding accident in which he broke his leg, he worked as a page in a hotel in Cincinnati. There he came into contact with professional actors for the first time and discovered his love for vaudeville . From then on he played as a comedian for numerous theater groups in the United States and Great Britain and worked with various stars such as WC Fields .

In 1927 he was hired by the influential theater and film producer Florenz Ziegfeld junior for his musical Rio Rita . In this theater production he met the comedian Bert Wheeler . For both of them it was the beginning of a long and fruitful collaboration. Both appeared as comedian duo Wheeler & Woolsey in over 20 comedies with music and dance (at RKO Pictures ). The first joint film production was the cinema version of Rio Rita (1929). While Wheeler embodied the type of romantic lover in the films, Woolsey, who always wore circular glasses and cigar as attributes, acted as the comic part. The films were particularly successful because of the duo's quick and absurd pun:

Wheeler: You broke the law! - Woolsey: Couldn't you get another one?

In 1937, Woolsey's health deteriorated dramatically. He was bedridden for over a year before he died of kidney disease in Malibu on October 31, 1938 at the age of only 50. Robert Woolsey had only made one film himself without his partner Wheeler and although he continued his show career, Bert Wheeler could no longer build on his old successes after the death of his partner. Although they were probably the best-known Hollywood comedian duo of the 1930s alongside Laurel and Hardy , Wheeler and Woolsey have been very much forgotten today.

Filmography (selection)

• 1929: Rio Rita
• 1930: The Cuckoos
• 1930: Hook, Line and Sinker
• 1930: Half Shot at Sunrise
• 1931: Oh! Oh! Cleopatra! (with Woolsey as Julius Caesar and Wheeler as Mark Anton )
• 1931: Hollywood jewel theft (The Stolen Jools)
• 1931: Everything's Rosie (without Wheeler)
• 1932: Girl Crazy
• 1933: Diplomaniacs
• 1936: Mummy's Boys

literature

• Edward Watz: Wheeler & Woolsey: The Vaudeville Comic Duo and Their Films, 1929-1937. McFarland Press, Jefferson (NC) 1994, ISBN 0-89950-894-4 .

Web links

• Robert Woolsey in the Internet Movie Database (English)