14 Facts About Ed Gardner

Ed Gardner's father was an ornamental plasterer who played semiprofessional baseball.

Ed Gardner dropped out of school when he was 14 in order to play the piano at a neighborhood saloon.

Ed Gardner became interested in the theater when he worked with publicity for producer Crosby Gaige.

Ed Gardner began producing for the stage in the early 1930s.

Ed Gardner produced the drama play Coastwise on Broadway and wrote and directed the Broadway comedy After Such Pleasures.

The character, which Ed Gardner played, became Archie of Duffy's Tavern.

Ed Gardner found fame on radio with Duffy's Tavern, portraying the wisecracking, malaprop-prone barkeeper Archie.

Duffy the owner never appeared, but Archie did, with Ed Gardner assuming the role himself after he could not find the right actor to play the role.

Ed Gardner had previously originated the Rudy Vallee-John Barrymore radio show and directed shows for George Burns and Gracie Allen, Bing Crosby, Ripley's Believe It or Not, Al Jolson and Fanny Brice.

Ed Gardner was notorious for hiring as a writer anyone who sounded funny to him in passing, but Gardner ultimately had the final say on each show's script.

In 1949, hoping to be able to take advantage of Puerto Rico's income-tax-free status for future media ventures, Ed Gardner moved his radio show there, but it was not as successful as it was when it originated from Hollywood, California.

Ed Gardner recreated his role as Archie for the motion picture version, Duffy's Tavern, at Paramount.

Ed Gardner tried bringing Duffy's Tavern to television in 1954, starring himself alongside comedians Jimmy Conlin and Alan Reed.

Ed Gardner was interred in Chapel of the Pines at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Hollywood.