John Alexander

• Born: 1897 in Newport, Kentucky
• Died: Jul 13, 1982 in New York City, New York
• Occupation: Actor
• Active: '30s-'50s
• Major Genres: Comedy, Drama
• Career Highlights: Summer Holiday, The Marrying Kind, New Orleans
• First Major Screen Credit: Wings of the Turf (1924)

Biography

Portly, penguin-shaped actor John Alexander was brought to Hollywood in 1941 to recreate the stage role of Teddy Brewster in Frank Capra's film version of Arsenic and Old Lace. Alexander entered the comedy-movie hall of fame in this role of a demented, middle-aged fellow who imagined himself to be Teddy Roosevelt, and who frequently disrupted his household by yelling "CHAAAARGE!" and rushing up "San Juan Hill" (aka the staircase). Alexander would repeat the Teddy Brewster role in later stage and TV revivals of Arsenic for the rest of his career; he also occasionally played the real Teddy Roosevelt in such films as Fancy Pants (1950). Outside of his Roosevelt impersonations, Alexander was memorable as one of Bette Davis' earnest suitor in Mrs. Skeffington (1947), and as minstrel impresario Lew Dockstader in The Jolson Story (1946). Before his retirement in the mid-1960s, John Alexander appeared in several Broadway plays and musicals, and was an occasional guest star on such Manhattan-filmed TV series as Car 54, Where Are You? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Marrying Kind Buy this Movie	Fancy Pants Buy this Movie	Winchester '73 Buy this Movie	Summer Holiday Buy this Movie
Cass Timberlane Buy this Movie	Living in a Big Way Buy this Movie	New Orleans Buy this Movie	Where There's Life Buy this Movie

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