Oliver Burgess Meredith was an American actor and filmmaker whose career encompassed theater, film, and television.
48 Facts About Burgess Meredith
2.
Active for more than six decades, Meredith has been called "a virtuosic actor" and "one of the most accomplished actors of the century".
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Burgess Meredith was known later in his career for his appearances on The Twilight Zone and for portraying The Penguin in the 1960s TV series Batman and boxing trainer Mickey Goldmill in the Rocky film series.
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Burgess Meredith later appeared in the comedy Foul Play and the fantasy film Clash of the Titans.
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Burgess Meredith narrated numerous films and documentaries during his long career.
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Burgess Meredith's mother came from a long line of Methodist revivalists, a religion to which he adhered throughout his lifetime.
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Burgess Meredith graduated from Hoosac School in 1926 and then attended Amherst College.
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Burgess Meredith left Amherst and became a reporter for the Stamford Advocate.
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Burgess Meredith made his Broadway debut as Peter in Le Gallienne's production of Romeo and Juliet and became a star in Maxwell Anderson's Winterset, which became his film debut the following year.
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Burgess Meredith garnered critical acclaim in the 1935 Broadway revival of The Barretts of Wimpole Street starring Katharine Cornell.
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Burgess Meredith subsequently cast him in several of her later productions.
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Burgess Meredith created the role of Erie Smith in the English-language premiere of Eugene O'Neill's Hughie at the Theater Royal in Bath, England in 1963.
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Burgess Meredith played Hamlet in avant garde theatrical and radio productions of the play.
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Burgess Meredith shared a Special Tony Award with James Thurber for their collaboration on A Thurber Carnival.
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Burgess Meredith was a favorite of director Otto Preminger, who cast him in Advise and Consent, The Cardinal, In Harm's Way, Hurry Sundown, Skidoo, and Such Good Friends.
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Burgess Meredith was in Madame X and Stay Away Joe, appearing as the father of Elvis Presley's character.
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Burgess Meredith was acclaimed by critics for his performance as Harry Greener in The Day of the Locust and received nominations for the BAFTA, Golden Globe, and Academy Award for best supporting actor.
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Burgess Meredith then played Rocky Balboa's trainer Mickey Goldmill in the first three Rocky films.
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Burgess Meredith appeared in Ray Harryhausen's last stop-motion feature Clash of the Titans in a supporting role.
20.
Burgess Meredith directed the movie The Man on the Eiffel Tower starring Charles Laughton, which was produced by Irving Allen.
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Burgess Meredith was billed in a supporting role in this film.
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Burgess Meredith appeared in four different starring roles in the anthology TV series The Twilight Zone, tying him with Jack Klugman for the most appearances on the show in a starring role.
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In 1961's "Mr Dingle, the Strong", Burgess Meredith played the title character, a timid weakling who receives superhuman strength from an extraterrestrial experiment in human nature.
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Also that year in "The Obsolete Man", Burgess Meredith portrayed a librarian sentenced to death in a dystopic totalitarian society.
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Lastly, in 1963's "Printer's Devil", Burgess Meredith portrayed the Devil himself.
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Burgess Meredith later played two additional roles in Rod Serling's other anthology series, Night Gallery.
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Burgess Meredith was the narrator for Twilight Zone: The Movie in 1983.
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Burgess Meredith appeared in various western series, such as Rawhide, The Virginian, Wagon Train, Branded, The Wild Wild West, The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, Laredo, Bonanza, and Daniel Boone.
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Burgess Meredith appeared three times in Burke's Law, starring Gene Barry.
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Burgess Meredith was well known for his portrayal of the Penguin in the television series Batman from 1966 to 1968 and in the 1966 film based on the TV series.
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Burgess Meredith made 21 appearances on the series as the Penguin.
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Burgess Meredith made a brief cameo appearance as the Penguin in the 1968 episode of The Monkees titled "Monkees Blow Their Minds".
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Burgess Meredith won an Emmy Award as Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy or Drama Special for the 1977 television film Tail Gunner Joe, a fictionalized study of US Senator Joseph McCarthy, the anticommunist politician active in the 1950s.
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In 1992, Burgess Meredith narrated The Chaplin Puzzle, a television documentary that provides a rare insight into Charles Chaplin's work, circa 1914, at Keystone Studios and Essanay, where Chaplin developed his Tramp character.
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Coincidentally, Burgess Meredith married actress Paulette Goddard in 1944 following her divorce from Chaplin.
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In 1942, Burgess Meredith enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II, reaching the rank of captain.
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Burgess Meredith provided the narration for the war film A Walk in the Sun.
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Burgess Meredith was a TV commercial voice for such clients as Bulova, Honda, Pioneer, Stokely-Van Camp, United Airlines, and Freakies breakfast cereal.
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Burgess Meredith acted in the Kenny G music video of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", which was released in 1994.
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Burgess Meredith played the main character, a projectionist at a movie theater.
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Burgess Meredith was considered to play the Penguin's father in the 1992 Tim Burton film Batman Returns, but illness prevented him from appearing and the role was taken by Paul Reubens.
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Burgess Meredith was a lifelong Democrat and frequent donor to the party.
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Burgess Meredith wrote in his 1994 autobiography So Far, So Good that he had violent mood swings caused by cyclothymia, a form of bipolar disorder.
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On September 9,1997, Burgess Meredith died at age 89 from complications of Alzheimer's disease and melanoma, and his remains were cremated.
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Burgess Meredith was twice nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, in 1976 for Rocky, and in 1975 for The Day of the Locust, for which he received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture.
46.
Burgess Meredith won a Primetime Emmy Award for Supporting Actor in 1977 for Tail Gunner Joe, and was nominated for the same award the next year for The Last Hurrah, a remake of the film starring Spencer Tracy.
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Burgess Meredith was nominated for Best Supporting Actor by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films three times, in 1978,1979, and 1982, and won the last two times, for Magic and Clash of the Titans.
48.
Burgess Meredith received a Special Tony Award in 1960 for directing A Thurber Carnival.