Charles Butterworth

Charles Butterworth
Charles Butterworth in Second Chorus (1940)
Born	July 26, 1896(1896-07-26) South Bend, Indiana
Died	June 14, 1946 (aged 49) Los Angeles, California
Other name(s)	Charlie Butterworth
Occupation	Stage and film actor
Years active	1926-1944
Spouse(s)	Ethel Kenyon (February 1932 - 1939)

Charles Butterworth (July 26, 1896 – June 13, 1946) was an American actor specializing in comedy roles, often in musicals. In his obituary, he was described as "the man who could not make up his mind". Butterworth's distinct voice was the inspiration for the Cap'n Crunch commercials from the Jay Ward studio. Voice actor Daws Butler based Cap'n Crunch on the voice of Butterworth.

Career

Butterworth's most memorable film role was in the Irving Berlin musical This is the Army (1943) as the bugle-playing Private Eddie Dibble. He generally was a supporting actor, e.g., to Mae West in Every Day's a Holiday, to the Andrews Sisters in What's Cookin'?, Give out, Sisters and Always a Bridesmaid, to Jeanette MacDonald in The Cat and the Fiddle and Love Me Tonight, to Myrna Loy in Penthouse, to Lew Ayres in My Weakness, to Laurel and Hardy and Jimmy Durante in Hollywood Party, to Clark Gable, Robert Montgomery, and Joan Crawford in Forsaking All Others, to Irene Dunne and Robert Taylor in Magnificent Obsession, to Carole Lombard and Fred MacMurray in Swing High, Swing Low, to Bob Hope in Thanks for the Memory, and to Fred Astaire, Paulette Goddard, and Burgess Meredith in Second Chorus. However, he had top billing in We Went to College (1936), played the title role in Baby Face Harrington (1935), and shared top billing (as the Sultan) with Ann Corio in The Sultan's Daughter (1944).

He is credited with the quip "Why don't you slip out of those wet clothes and into a dry martini?" from Every Day's a Holiday.^[1] In Forsaking All Others, when Clark Gable, quoting Benjamin Franklin, said, "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise," Butterworth replied, "Ever take a good look at a milkman?"

Death

Butterworth was killed in an automobile accident on June 13, 1946, when he lost control of his car on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles and crashed.^[2] For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Charles Butterworth has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7030 Hollywood Blvd.

Filmography

References

External links

• Charles Butterworth (actor) at the Internet Broadway Database
• Charles Butterworth (actor) at the Internet Movie Database
• Charles Butterworth (actor) at Allmovie
• Charles Butterworth (actor) at Find a Grave