Charles Winninger

Winninger, Charles [né Karl Winninger] (1884–1969), character actor. A native of Athens, Wisconsin, the heavyset, outgoing comedian began performing at the age of five and had appeared with circuses, in vaudeville, and on a show boat called the Cotton Blossom before he made his Broadway debut in the 1910 musical The Yankee Girl. Over the next quarter‐century he appeared in a dozen musicals, introducing “I Want to Be Happy” in No, No, Nanette (1925) and creating the role of Cap'n Andy of the Cotton Blossom in Show Boat (1927). After a long career in films he appeared in the 1951 revival of Music in the Air.