57 Facts About Wesley Addy

Robert Wesley Addy was an American actor of stage, television, and film.

Wesley Addy attended Inglewood Union High School, where he played the oboe.

Wesley Addy entered UCLA as an economics major during the spring quarter of 1930, but switched to dramatics after his freshman year.

Wesley Addy was active in the university's Dramatic Society from his sophomore year.

Wesley Addy reprised his performance of Orestes, this time in Eumenides.

Wesley Addy joined the Vineyard Player's summer stock company, which performed at the Rice Playhouse.

Wesley Addy had two minor bits, as one of the Unemployed in the Depression-themed work, and as a male chorus member under the direction of Martha Graham.

Wesley Addy's second Broadway credit was a short-lived fey drama called How Beautiful with Shoes for which he had a minor bit.

Wesley Addy then worked at smaller theatres in the outlying New York City area, featuring with Ruth Gordon in a revival of Maxwell Anderson's Saturday's Children, and following it with Fresh Fields His first break came with There's Always Juliet, a Federal Theatre revival production.

Wesley Addy's next known performance was in Richard II, which returned to Broadway during September 1937 after a hiatus for the summer months.

Wesley Addy replaced another actor in two minor roles for this production staged by Margaret Webster that starred Maurice Evans.

Wesley Addy next appeared in summer stock with the Surry Players in rural Surry, Maine.

Wesley Addy again played Hotspur, to high praise from the reviewers:.

Wesley Addy returned to Broadway in November 1939 with Summer Night by Vicki Baum and Benjamin Glazer.

Flops project an aura onto their unlucky participants; it was five months before Wesley Addy found another stage job.

At the time of the 1940 US Census in April, Wesley Addy was temporarily staying at a boarding house in San Francisco.

Wesley Addy, playing Benvolio, performed in the week-long tryouts in San Francisco and Chicago.

Oakland Tribune reviewer Wood Soanes praised the supporting cast, including Wesley Addy, but found the two stars underwhelming.

Wesley Addy alone drew praise from critic Arthur Pollock, who was scathing about the two stars and Edmond O'Brien as Mercutio.

Lauren Gilbert took over the role of Orsino in Twelfth Night when Wesley Addy signed for Battle of Angels.

Scant compensation came from columnist George Ross, who noted how successfully Wesley Addy had jumped into last-minute roles for Twelfth Night and Battle of Angels.

Wesley Addy would continue this activity up until he entered military service in 1941.

On March 8,1941, Wesley Addy temporarily took over the lead in an hour-long dramatic serial on CBS Radio, Honest Abe, replacing Ray Middleton.

Wesley Addy's tenure ended one month later, when Henry Hull took over the part.

On May 4,1941, Wesley Addy did another "Great Plays" radio program, Prologue to Glory, where he played young Abe Lincoln.

Wesley Addy's first known screen performance came from an hour-long production of Noel Coward's Hay Fever on New York experimental television.

The first post-war mention of Wesley Addy resuming his performing career comes from February 1946, when he again took over a role on short notice.

Wesley Addy replaced James Monks in the role of Haemon midway through a two-week tryout run in Boston.

Wesley Addy was considered too young for the role, but "being a good actor, makes a good acting job of it".

Wesley Addy next turns up as a replacement for Leo Genn in the original Broadway production of Another Part of the Forest in March 1947, finishing the last 10 weeks of its six-month run.

Corbin Patrick of The Indianapolis Star felt Wesley Addy dominated the performance.

Claudia Cassidy of the Chicago Tribune thought Wesley Addy's was the driving force, though she emphasized his discretion rather than his power.

Wesley Addy's next performing work was a small part in a Theatre Guild radio broadcast of Romeo and Juliet during February 1948.

Wesley Addy followed it a month later with the speaking role in a performance of Oedipus rex by the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

That summer of 1948 Wesley Addy played Iago in a week-long Boston production of Othello that starred Canada Lee as Othello and Claire Luce as Desdemona.

Wesley Addy reprised his role in Oedipus rex and narrated Peter and the Wolf when the Boston Symphony Orchestra gave performances at Tanglewood during August 1948.

The Chicago Tribune critic liked it, though she thought the part handed to Wesley Addy was nebulous, and suggested the second and third acts needed work during the three week tryout.

Wesley Addy did another speaking role with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in January 1949, narrating A Lincoln Portrait by Aaron Copland.

Wesley Addy was then to appear in an Equity Library Theatre production of A Highland Fling but left the cast when signed for a part in The Traitor, a new play by Herman Wouk.

Wesley Addy did a Theatre Guild on the Air radio broadcast during October 1949 of an Arthur Wing Pinero play, The Thunderbolt, which starred Van Heflin and Celeste Holm.

Wesley Addy was then cast in The Enchanted, which opened in Philadelphia for a two-week tryout on January 2,1950.

New York was the center for early television production, which is why Wesley Addy appeared first on the small screen.

Wesley Addy did another live episode of the same program in September 1949, this time as "John Shand" to Margaret Phillips "Maggie Wylie" in What Every Woman Knows.

Wesley Addy made a debut film, The First Legion, though it wouldn't be released until 1951.

Wesley Addy opened as Edgar in King Lear on Christmas Day 1950.

Columnist Leonard Lyons mentioned that Wesley Addy was "taped and bandaged" from the nightly duels he fought in King Lear, his character being the last man standing at play's end.

For 1951 television again dominated Wesley Addy's performing work, as he acted in six episodes of five different dramatic series: The Philco Television Playhouse, The Web, Ellery Queen, Out There, and Celanese Theatre.

Wesley Addy appeared on a CBS television talk show and joined Katherine Cornell in reprising their roles in Candida for a Theatre Guild NBC radio broadcast.

Wesley Addy continued doing dramatic radio programs for CBS, one serial and one anthology.

Wesley Addy's performing year finished up with a stage benefit to raise funds for the American Shakespeare Theatre project.

Wesley Addy's schedule was front-loaded, with six TV shows within the first three months of the year.

Wesley Addy reported some flaws endemic to live television, such as a stagehand following Hamlet into camera view, but thought the overall production was excellent and Addy "highly effective".

Wesley Addy did two television episodes over the summer then joined the cast of The Strong Are Lonely during its Philadelphia tryout in late September 1953.

Wesley Addy then jumped into another major TV drama, a severely condensed version of King Lear starring Orson Welles that was shown live during October 1953.

Wesley Addy finished out his performing year with three more television appearances.

In 1976, Wesley Addy appeared in Paddy Chayefsky's Network, directed by Sidney Lumet.

Wesley Addy was married to actress Celeste Holm from 1966 until his death.