Art Carney

Art Carney

Art Carney with The Honeymooners cast (Jackie Gleason, Audrey Meadows and Joyce Randolph)
Born Arthur William Matthew Carney
November 4, 1918(1918-11-04)
Mount Vernon, New York, U.S.
Died November 9, 2003(2003-11-09) (aged 85)
Chester, Connecticut, U.S.
Occupation Actor
Years active 1941–1993
Spouse Jean Myers (1940–1965)
Barbara Isaac (1966–1977)
Jean Myers (1980–2003)

Arthur William Matthew “Art” Carney (November 4, 1918 – November 9, 2003) was an American actor in film, stage, television and radio. Carney portrayed the upstairs neighbor and sewer worker Ed Norton, opposite Jackie Gleason's Ralph Kramden in the situation comedy The Honeymooners.

Contents

Personal life

Carney, youngest of six sons (Fred, Jack, Ned, Phil, Robert), was born in Mount Vernon, New York, the son of Helen (née Farrell) and Edward Michael Carney, who was a newspaper man and publicist.[1][2][3] His family was Irish American and Catholic.[4] He attended A B Davis High School.[5] Carney was drafted as an infantryman during World War II. During the Battle of Normandy, he was wounded in the leg by shrapnel and walked with a limp for the rest of his life.

Carney was married three times to two women: Jean Myers, from 1940 to 1965, and again from 1980 to his death, and Barbara Isaac from December 21, 1966 to 1977. He had three children with Jean Myers: Brian [1946], Eileen [1946] & Paul [1952].

Carney died November 9, 2003 of natural causes at a rest home near his home in Westbrook, Connecticut. Carney is interred at Riverside Cemetery in Old Saybrook, Connecticut.

Career

Radio

Carney was a comic singer with the Horace Heidt orchestra, which was heard often on radio during the 1930s, notably on the hugely successful Pot o' Gold, the first big-money giveaway show in 1939-41. Carney's film career began with an uncredited role in Pot o' Gold (1941), the radio program's spin-off feature film, playing a member of Heidt's band. Carney, a gifted mimic, worked steadily in radio during the 1940s, playing character roles and impersonating celebrities. In 1941 he was the house comic on the big band remote series, Matinee at Meadowbrook. One of his radio roles during the 1940s was the fish Red Lantern on Land of the Lost. In 1943 he played Billy Oldham on Joe and Ethel Turp, based on Damon Runyon stories. He appeared on The Henry Morgan Show in 1946-47. He impersonated FDR on The March of Time and Dwight D. Eisenhower on Living 1948. In 1950-51 he played Montague's father on The Magnificent Montague. He was a supporting player on Casey, Crime Photographer and Gang Busters.

Television

On the radio and television shows of The Morey Amsterdam Show from 1948 to 1950, Carney's character Charlie the doorman became known for his catchphrase, "Ya know what I mean?", a phrase so deeply embedded that it continues to have widespread usage more than half a century later.

In 1950, Jackie Gleason was starring in a New York–based comedy-variety series, Cavalcade of Stars, and played many different characters. Gleason's regular characters included Charlie Bratten, a lunchroom loudmouth who insisted on spoiling a neighboring patron's meal. Carney, established in New York as a reliable actor, played Bratten's mild-mannered victim, Clem Finch. Gleason and Carney developed a good working chemistry, and Gleason recruited Carney to appear in other sketches, including the domestic-comedy skits featuring The Honeymooners. Carney gained lifelong fame for his portrayal of sewer worker Ed Norton, opposite Jackie Gleason's Ralph Kramden. The success of these skits resulted in the famous filmed situation comedy The Honeymooners, and the Honeymooners revivals that followed.

Beyond The Honeymooners, Carney served as Gleason's television sidekick and troupe member for many years, which included several CBS runs of the Gleason variety show and some Honeymooners specials on ABC. Gleason picked Carney to play Norton because he realized that Carney was so funny that Gleason would have to work twice as hard to get laughs. This "competition" between the two was likely a factor in the program's consistently high level of humor. In fact, at one point during the 1950s, Carney was getting more media attention than Gleason, prompting Gleason to scale back Carney's participation for a few episodes. Popular demand restored Carney to prominence in the shows.

Carney's good-naturedly goofy portrayal of Norton continues to influence pop culture, particularly by inspiring the Hanna-Barbera characters, Yogi Bear and Barney Rubble.

He was nominated for seven Emmy Awards and won six.

In 1958, he starred in an ABC children's television special Art Carney Meets Peter and the Wolf, which also featured the Bil Baird Marionettes. It combined an original storyline with a marionette presentation of Serge Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf. Some of Prokofiev's other music was given lyrics written by Ogden Nash. The special was a success and was repeated twice.

Carney starred in an episode of The Twilight Zone "Night of the Meek". In 1964, he guest-starred in the episode "Smelling Like a Rose" along with Hal March and Tina Louise in the CBS drama Mr. Broadway, starring Craig Stevens. He also starred as Police Chief Paul Lanigan in the 1976 television movie, Lanigan's Rabbi, and in the short-lived series of the same name that aired in 1977, as part of "NBC Sunday Mystery Movie." In 1978, Carney portrayed the nasty father of Ognir Rrats in the 1978 television special "Ringo" which starred Ringo Starr. 1980 Mr. Carney portrayed the part of Art Rooney Owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers NFL Franchise in the Bio-Pic Fighting Back "The Rocky Blier Story"

Recordings

Carney recorded prolifically in the 1950s for Columbia Records. Two of his hits were "The Song of the Sewer", sung in character as Norton, and "'Twas the Night Before Christmas", a spoken-word record in which Carney, accompanied only by a jazz drummer, recited the famous Yuletide poem in syncopation. Some of Carney's recordings were comedy-novelty songs, but most were silly songs intended especially for children. Unlike some entertainers who exaggerated their speech patterns for young listeners, Carney respected his juvenile audience and did not talk down to it.

Between his stints with Jackie Gleason, Carney worked steadily as a character actor. In the season two opening episode of the Batman television series, titled "Shoot a Crooked Arrow" (1966), Carney gave a memorable performance as the newly introduced villain "The Archer". In 1978, Carney appeared in The Star Wars Holiday Special, a spin-off film to the Star Wars series. In it, he played Trader Saun Dann, a member of the Rebel Alliance who was a close friend of Chewbacca and his family.

Films

In 1974, he won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as Harry Coombes, an elderly man going on the road with his pet cat, in Harry and Tonto. He also appeared in such films as W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings, The Late Show (as an aging detective), House Calls, Movie Movie and Going in Style (as a bored senior citizen who joins in bank robberies). Later movies included The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984) and the thriller Firestarter.

In 1981, he portrayed Harry Truman, an 84-year-old lodge owner in the semi-fictional account of events leading to the eruption of Mount St. Helens, in the movie titled St. Helens.

In 1984, he portrayed Santa Claus in the holiday classic The Night They Saved Christmas with Jaclyn Smith. Mrs. Claus was played by June Lockhart of Lassie and Lost In Space fame.

Although he retired in the late 1980s, he returned in 1993 in a small cameo in the Arnold Schwarzenegger film, Last Action Hero.

Broadway

Carney made his Broadway debut in 1957 as the lead in The Rope Dancers, a drama by Morton Wishengrad. His subsequent Broadway appearances included his portrayal in 1965-67 of Felix Unger in The Odd Couple (opposite Walter Matthau and then Jack Klugman as Oscar). In 1969 he was nominated for a Tony Award for his performance in Brian Friel's Lovers.

Filmography

Year Film Role Notes
1941 Pot o’ Gold Band member
Radio announcer		 Uncredited
1950 PM Picnic Narrator
1964 The Yellow Rolls-Royce Joey Friedlander
1967 A Guide for the Married Man Technical Adviser (Joe X)
1974 Harry and Tonto Harry Coombes Academy Award for Best Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1975 W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings Deacon John Wesley Gore
1976 Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood J.J. Fromberg
1977 The Late Show Ira Wells National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
Scott Joplin John Stark
1978 Movie Movie Doctor Blaine/Doctor Bowers Star Wars Christmas Special
House Calls Dr. Amos Willoughby
1979 Going in Style Al Pasinetti Award
Steel Pignose Moran
Sunburn Marcus
Ravagers Sergeant
1980 Roadie Corpus C. Redfish
Defiance Abe
1981 St. Helens Harry Truman
Take This Job and Shove It Charlie Pickett
1982 Better Late Than Never Charley Dunbar
1983 The Last Leaf Mr. Behrman
1984 Firestarter Irv Manders
The Muppets Take Manhattan Bernard Crawford
The Naked Face Morgens
The Night They Saved Christmas Santa Claus
1985 Izzy and Moe Moe Smith
1986 Miracle of the Heart Father O'Halleran
1987 Night Friend Monsignor O’Brien
1990 Where Pigeons Go to Die Da
1993 Last Action Hero Frank

Awards and tributes

References

  1. ↑ Film Reference Biography
  2. ↑ Art Carney, Lauded for ’Honeymooners,’ Dies at 85
  3. ↑ "Art Carney, Lauded for 'Honeymooners,' Dies" The New York Times, November 12, 2003
  4. ↑ 'Honeymooners' actor Art Carney dies. China Daily.com. 12 November 2003.
  5. ↑ Yahoo Movies Biography
  6. ↑ Vincent Sardi, Jr. with Thomas Edward West. Off the Wall at Sardi's (Applause Books, 1991)

External links