1. Joseph Sherrard Kearns was an American actor, who is best remembered for his role as George Wilson on the CBS television series Dennis the Menace from 1959 until his death in 1962.
17 Facts About Joseph Kearns
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Joseph Kearns was a prolific radio actor, and provided the voice of the Doorknob in the 1951 animated Disney film, Alice in Wonderland.
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Joseph Kearns's first acting experience was in 1916 when he joined "The Rising Generation", a vaudeville troupe of eleven children that toured for 14 months.
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Joseph Kearns joined the staff of radio station KSL in Salt Lake City in 1930 remaining there until 1936 when he moved to Los Angeles.
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Joseph Kearns began his acting career in radio in the 1930s, becoming active during the 1940s, with appearances on the shows The Adventures of Sam Spade, Burns and Allen, The Whistler, and dozens of other shows.
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Joseph Kearns appeared on The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, playing various different characters including Professor Moriarty and even Dr Watson.
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Joseph Kearns made his film debut in Hard, Fast and Beautiful.
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Joseph Kearns was the voice of the Doorknob in Disney's animated film, Alice in Wonderland.
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Joseph Kearns appeared in other movies, making his final film appearance as the crime photographer in Anatomy of a Murder.
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On television, Joseph Kearns reprised his radio roles on The Jack Benny Program and appeared with Eve Arden and Richard Crenna in Our Miss Brooks, first as Assistant Superintendent Michaels and later as Superintendent Stone, a role that he had played on radio.
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The last episode Joseph Kearns filmed was titled "The Man Next Door", episode 100, and shown on May 6,1962, three months after his death.
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Joseph Kearns, who was musically trained by his mother, had played the pipe organ for a Los Angeles theatre in the 1930s.
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Joseph Kearns purchased a Hammond organ and installed it in a studio apartment that he designed and built in the 1940s.
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Joseph Kearns later purchased a larger 18-rank Wurlitzer organ that had been designed for Warner Brothers in 1929.
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Joseph Kearns suffered a cerebral hemorrhage on February 11,1962, during the third season of Dennis the Menace.
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Joseph Kearns had reportedly lost 40 pounds in six weeks.
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Joseph Kearns was buried at the Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles.