Richard Haydn (born George Richard Haydon, 10 March 1905 – 25 April 1985) was a British-American comedy actor. Some of his better known performances include his roles as Professor Oddley in Ball of Fire (1941), Roger in No Time for Love (1943), Thomas Rogers in And Then There Were None (1945), Emperor Franz Joseph in The Emperor Waltz (1948), the Caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland (1951), Baron Popoff in The Merry Widow (1952), William Brown in Mutiny on the Bounty (1962), and Max Detweiler in The Sound of Music (1965).[1]
Richard Haydn | |
|---|---|
 Richard Haydn, 1945 | |
| Born | George Richard Haydon March 10, 1905 Camberwell, London, England |
| Died | April 25, 1985 (aged 80) Pacific Palisades, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1938–1985 |
Life
editHaydn was born on March 10, 1905, in Camberwell. After working as a music hall entertainer and overseer of a Jamaican banana plantation, he joined a touring British theatre troupe,[1] and then moved into television and film.
Haydn died on April 25, 1985, at the age of 80 following a heart attack. His body was found in his home in Pacific Palisades, California,[2] and was donated to the University of California, Los Angeles.[3]
Television and film work
edit
Haydn was known for playing eccentric characters, such as Edwin Carp, Claud Curdle (Mr. Music, 1950), Richard Rancyd (Miss Tatlock's Millions, 1948) and Stanley Stayle (Dear Wife, 1949).[clarification needed] Much of his stage delivery was done in a deliberate over-nasalised and over-enunciated manner.
Notable performances included the voice of The Caterpillar in the 1951 Disney animated adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, and his small role of Herr Falkstein in the 1974 Mel Brooks comedy Young Frankenstein. Haydn was the manservant Rogers in the 1945 adaptation of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, and William Brown in the 1962 version of Mutiny on the Bounty. He was acclaimed for his role in Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1965 film musical The Sound of Music, in which he played the Von Trapps' family friend Max Detweiler.[4]
Haydn performed as the nosy neighbour and gossip in Sitting Pretty with Clifton Webb and Maureen O'Hara in 1948, using his over-nasal voice. He was Prof. Summerlee in 1960's The Lost World, and in the same year, played opposite Doris Day in Please Don't Eat the Daisies.[4]
In the 1960 The Twilight Zone episode "A Thing About Machines", he portrayed Mr. Bartlett Finchley, a quirky, self-absorbed, technophobe who is confronted by every machine in his home. On April 1, 1964, he reprised his character of Edwin Carp in an episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show which saluted several old-time radio performers.
On 11 April 1968 he appeared as a Japanese businessman on the episode of Bewitched titled "A Majority of Two". On 23 February 1969, he played the Magician who had twin daughters on the episode of Bonanza titled "The Lady and the Mountain Lion" (S10/Ep21). On 12 January 1973, he appeared as Edward the butler in season 4 episode 15 of Love American Style titled "Love and the Impossible Gift".
Other work
editHaydn had a brief spell as a film director starting in the late 1940s. He directed:[4]
- Miss Tatlock's Millions (1948)
- Dear Wife (1949)
- Mr. Music (1950)
On radio, Haydn played Edwin Carp on The Charlie McCarthy Show,[5] and he was a regular on The Swan Soap Show, which featured George Burns and Gracie Allen.[5]: 323 Haydn wrote one book, titled The Journal of Edwin Carp, in 1954.
He debuted on Broadway in 1939 in Set to Music and appeared in Two for the Show (1940).[6]
Filmography
editFilm
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1938 | Red Peppers | George Pepper | TV movie |
| 1941 | Charley's Aunt | Charley Wyckham | |
| Ball of Fire | Professor Oddley | ||
| 1942 | Are Husbands Necessary? | Chuck | |
| Thunder Birds | George Lockwood | ||
| 1943 | Forever and a Day | Mr. Fulcher | |
| No Time for Love | Roger Winant | ||
| 1945 | Tonight and Every Night | Specialty | |
| And Then There Were None | Thomas Rogers | ||
| Adventure | Limo | ||
| 1946 | The Green Years | Jason Reid | |
| Cluny Brown | Jonathon Wilson | ||
| 1947 | The Beginning or the End | Doctor Chisholm | |
| The Late George Apley | Horatio Willing | ||
| Singapore | Deputy Commissioner Hewitt | ||
| The Foxes of Harrow | Andre Leblanc | ||
| Forever Amber | Earl of Radcliffe | ||
| 1948 | Sitting Pretty | Mr. Clarence Appleton | |
| The Emperor Waltz | Emperor Franz-Josef | ||
| Miss Tatlock's Millions | Fergel | (as Richard Rancyd) | |
| 1949 | Dear Wife | Early Riser | (as Stanley Stayle) |
| 1950 | Mr. Music | Jerome Thisbee | (as Claud Curdle) |
| 1951 | Alice in Wonderland | Caterpillar | Voice |
| 1952 | The Merry Widow | Baron Popoff | |
| 1953 | Never Let Me Go | Christopher Wellington St. John Denny | |
| Money from Home | Bertie Searles | ||
| 1954 | Her Twelve Men | Doctor Avord Barrett | |
| 1955 | Jupiter's Darling | Horatio | |
| 1956 | The Toy Tiger | John Fusenot | |
| 1958 | Twilight for the Gods | Oliver Wiggins | |
| 1960 | Please Don't Eat the Daisies | Alfred North | |
| The Lost World | Professor Summerlee | ||
| Let's Make Love | Prologue Narrator | voice actor, uncredited | |
| 1962 | Five Weeks in a Balloon | Sir Henry Vining | |
| Mutiny on the Bounty | William Brown | ||
| 1965 | The Sound of Music | Max Detweiler | |
| Clarence, the Cross-Eyed Lion | Rupert Rowbotham | ||
| 1967 | The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin | Quentin Bartlett | |
| 1973 | The Return of Charlie Chan | Andrew Kidder | TV movie |
| 1974 | Young Frankenstein | Herr Falkstein | |
| 1985 | The Hugga Bunch | Bookworm | TV movie, Voice, uncredited (final role) |
Television
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1952 | Schlitz Playhouse | Episode: "A Quarter for Your Troubles" | |
| 1954 | The Philco Television Playhouse | Episode: "The King and Mrs. Candle" | |
| 1955 | Producers' Showcase | Episode: "The King and Mrs. Candle" | |
| 1957 | Playhouse 90 | Stephen Spettigue | Episode: "Where's Charley?" |
| Muche | Episode: "Topaze" | ||
| 1958 | The Accountant | Episode: "Heart of Darkness" | |
| Shirley Temple's Storybook | Prime Minister | Episode: "The Emperor's New Clothes" | |
| 1959 | Lux Playhouse | Cedric | Episode: "This Will Do Nicely" |
| 1960 | General Electric Theater | Chancellor | Episode: "The Ugly Duckling" |
| The Twilight Zone | Bartlett Finchley | Episode: "A Thing About Machines" | |
| 1964 | Burke's Law | Julian Clarington | Episode: "Who Killed Jason Shaw?" |
| The Dick Van Dyke Show | Edwin Carp | Episode: "The Return of Edwin Carp" | |
| 1965 | The Man from U.N.C.L.E. | Mr. Hemingway | Episode: "The Mad, Mad Tea Party Affair" |
| 1966 | Laredo | Jonathon Pringle | Episode: "A Very Small Assignment" |
| 1967 | ABC Stage 67 | Whitey | Episode: "The Wide Open Door" |
| 1968 | Bewitched | Kenzu Mishimoto | Episode: "A Majority of Two" |
| 1969 | Bonanza | Malcolm the Magnificent | Episode: "The Lady and the Mountain Lion" |
| It Takes a Thief | Blanton | Episode: "The Old Who Came in from the Spy" | |
| 1971 | Lassie | Henry Newton | Episode: "The Flying Grandpa" |
| 1972 | McCloud | Edwin | Episode: "Fifth Man in a String Quartet" |
| 1973 | Love, American Style | Edward | Episode: "Love and the Impossible Gift" |
References
edit- ^ a b Eder, Bruce (2014). "Richard Haydn: Full Biography". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 12, 2014. Retrieved May 11, 2014.
- ^ Staff (April 26, 1985). "Body of Actor Richard Haydn Found in His Palisades Home". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
- ^ Wilson, Scott (2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. McFarland. p. 326. ISBN 9781476625997. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
- ^ a b c Richard Haydn AFI Catalog
- ^ a b Terrace, Vincent (1999). Radio Programs, 1924–1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows. McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 72. ISBN 978-0-7864-4513-4.
- ^ "Richard Haydn". Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
External links
edit
- Richard Haydn discography at Discogs
- Richard Haydn at IMDb
- ‹The template AllMovie name is being considered for deletion.› Richard Haydn at AllMovie
- Richard Haydn at the TCM Movie Database
- Richard Haydn at the Internet Broadway Database
