Keenan Wynn

At 70 years old, Keenan Wynn has this physical status:

Francis Xavier Jeremiah Keenan Wynn (July 27, 1916 – October 14, 1986) was an American character actor.

His expressive face was his stock-in-trade, and although he seldom appeared in lead roles, he received major credit in the majority of his film and television roles.

Early life

Wynn was born in New York City on July 27, 1916, the son of vaudeville comedian Ed Wynn and his partner, the former Hilda Keenan, was born on July 27, 1916. Frank Keenan, one of the first Broadway actors to play in Hollywood, derived his stage name from his maternal grandfather, Frank Keenan. His father was Jewish and his mother was of Irish Catholic origins. Ed Wynn encouraged his son to become an actor and join The Lambs Club, which he did in 1937.

Personal life and last years

Wynn was married to former stage actress Eve Lynn Abbott (1914–2004) before they divorced in 1947, whereupon Abbott married Van Johnson, one of the couple's closest friends. Abbott argued that her marriage to Wynn was a happy one, but that MGM studio manager Louis B. Mayer engineered her divorce and remarriage, even though Abbott divorced him and married Johnson, who was the object of rumors that he was homosexual. Ned Wynn, a son, actor, and writer, wrote the autobiographical book We Will Always Live In Beverly Hills. Tracy Keenan Wynn, his other son, is a screenwriter whose writings include The Longest Yard and Miss Jane Pittman's Autobiography (both 1974). Hilda Williams' daughter, Hilda, was married to Paul Williams. He was an uncle by marriage to the Hudson Brothers. Jessica Keenan Wynn, his granddaughter, is a writer.

Wynn suffered from painful ear infections, which resulted in him screaming in a loud voice, something he had no control over. (MGM Stock Company, MGM Stock Company) (Source: MGM Stock Company)

Wynn undertook a number of philanthropic ventures and helped numerous charities in his later years. In West Los Angeles, he was a long-serving member of the Westwood Sertoma service club.

Wynn died on October 14, 1986, after he suffered from pancreatic cancer in his last years. His ashes are laid to rest in Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park, alongside his father Ed Wynn, his daughter Emily (February 13, 1960 – November 27, 1980) who died from lupus and his aunt, Daffodil Corridor, Columbarium of the Dawn.

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Career

Wynn began his acting career as a stage actor. He appeared in many Broadway plays, including Remember the Day (1935), Black Widow (1936), Hitch Your Wagon (1937), and The More Merely Merrier (1941).

Wynn appeared on the radio show The Amazing Mr. Smith On Mutual Broadcasting System, April 7 – June 30, 1941. He played "a carefree young man who runs into trouble galore and becomes an involuntary detective."

Between 1934 and 1986, Wynn appeared in hundreds of films and television series. He was a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player in the 1940s and 1950s. In the wartime romance The Clock (1945), he appeared briefly as a nascent, timid drinker. Arguably his most memorable role was a small part in Clark Gable's (1948) appearance. The three Musketeers (1948), playing D'Artagnan's servant; Annie Get Your Gun (1951); The Americanization of Emily (1964) and Dr. Strangelove (1964).

Both the Wynns, father, and son were present in Rod Serling's Requiem for a Heavyweight television series in 1956. According to radio historian Elizabeth McLeod, Keenan had helped his father recover from retirement, a sad divorce, and a nervous breakdown, and now he advises Serling and producer Martin Manulis that the younger Wynn should be the wistful trainer. Both he and his dad appeared in The Man in the Funny Suit (1960), a sequel television drama that explored the difficulties they encountered while watching that series. The Wynns, Serling, and several of the cast and crew performed themselves in this film. In addition, Keenan appeared in another Rod Serling production, "A World of His Own" (1960), as playwright Gregory West, who had the distinct cause of series creator Rod Serling to fade.

Wynn appeared in "Malice in Wonderland," a Hollywood satire starring S. J. Perelman, broadcast on NBC's coveted Sunday afternoon anthology series Omnibus.

Wynn co-starred with Bob Mathias in NBC's The Troubleshooters, an adventure series about bizarre events involving an international construction company from 1959-1960. For Mathias' Frank Dugan, Wynn played Kodiak, the "troubleshooter." He appeared in several television series, including the ABC/Warner Bros. drama, The Islands, and the ABC Western film The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters.

In the crime drama Point Blank (1967), with Lee Marvin, Wynn took a dramatic turn as Yost. He was a central figure in the third Beach Party film, Bikini Beach (1964), as a scheming newspaper publisher who wishes to discourage the local young people from being excluded from the beach. In the comedy film The Great Race (1965), he played Hezakiah. He was the voice of the Winter Warlock in Santa Claus Is Comin' (1970) and appeared in numerous Disney films, including Snowball Express (1972), Herbie Rides Again (1974) and The Shaggy D.A. (1976) (as a jerk who discovers Wilbur Daniels' identity and uses it against him). In three Disney films, Alonzo Hawk, The Absent-Minded Professor, Son of Flubber, and Herbie Rides Again, he appeared as villainous businessman Alonzo Hawk.

He appeared in Francis Coppola's Rainbow (1968), Sergio Leone's epic western Once Upon a Time in the West (also 1968) and Robert Altman's Nashville (1975). Alias Smith and Jones (1971–1972), Emergency! (1975) Movin' On (1975) and The Bionic Woman (1978). Wynn appeared in ten episodes of TV's Dallas from 1979 to 1980, portraying former Ewing family friend-turned-enemy Digger Barnes. David Wayne, a friend of Wynn's, appeared in Digger Barnes in 1978 but was unable to continue with the role due to his co-starring role on the CBS drama House Calls starring Wayne Rogers.

Wynn was first cast in Superman (1978) to play Perry White (the boss of Clark Kent and Lois Lane at the Daily Planet) in April 1977. Wynn died from exhaustion and was rushed to a hospital by June (production had shifted to Pinewood Studios in England). Jackie Cooper replaced him. He appeared in one of Taxi and Quincy's last episodes in 1983, M.E. He appeared in the television film Call to Glory, which later became a weekly television series.

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