Monty Woolley

Monty Woolley
as Sheridan Whiteside, 1949.
Born	Edgar Montillion Woolley August 17, 1888(1888-08-17) New York City, New York
Died	May 6, 1963(1963-05-06) (aged 75) Albany, New York
Nationality	American
Occupation	Actor, stage director
Known for	The Man Who Came to Dinner

Monty Woolley (August 17, 1888 – May 6, 1963) was an American stage, film, radio, and television actor.^[1] At the age of 50, he achieved a measure of stardom for his best-known role in the stage play and 1942 film The Man Who Came to Dinner. His distinctive white beard was "his trademark."^[2]

Early life

Woolley was born Edgar Montillion Woolley^[3] in New York City to a wealthy family (his father owned the Bristol Hotel) and grew up in the highest social circles. Woolley received a Bachelor's degree at Yale University, where Cole Porter was an intimate friend and classmate, and Master's degrees from Yale and Harvard University.^[4] He eventually became an assistant professor of English and dramatic coach at Yale.^[5] Thornton Wilder and Stephen Vincent Benét were among his students. He served in World War I in the U.S. Army as a first lieutenant assigned to the general staff in Paris.^[4]

Acting career

Hollywood Walk of Fame, 6542 Hollywood Blvd.

Woolley began directing on Broadway in 1929,^[6] and began acting there in 1936 after leaving his academic career. In 1939 he starred in the Kaufman and Hart comedy The Man Who Came to Dinner for 783 performances. It was for this well-reviewed role he was typecast as the wasp-tongued, supercilious sophisticate.^[7][8]

Like Clifton Webb, Woolley signed with 20th Century Fox in the 1940s and appeared in many films through the mid-1950s. His most famous film role was one which he first performed on Broadway, that of a cranky radio wag restricted to a wheelchair because of a seemingly-injured hip in 1942's The Man Who Came to Dinner, a caricature of the legendary pundit Alexander Woollcott. The film received a good review from the New York Times.^[8] He played himself in Warner Bros.' fictionalized film biography of Cole Porter, Night and Day (1946).

He was also a frequent radio presence as a guest performer, from the time he first appeared in the medium as a foil to Al Jolson.^[9] Woolley became a familiar guest presence on such shows as The Fred Allen Show, Duffy's Tavern, The Big Show, The Chase and Sanborn Hour with Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, and others. In 1950, Woolley landed the starring role in the NBC series, The Magnificent Montague. He played a former Shakespearean actor whose long fall onto hard times forced him to swallow his pride and take a role on daily network radio, becoming an unlikely star while sparring with his wife, Lily (Anne Seymour); and, his wise-cracking maid, Agnes (Pert Kelton). The show lasted from November 1950 through September 1951.^[10]

Hand and beard print at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

Woolley appeared on television at first in cameos, then his own dramatic play series On Stage with Monty Woolley.^[5] He starred in a CBS TV adaptation of The Man Who Came to Dinner in 1954,^[11] which he and some reviewers lambasted,^[12][13] and appeared in other televised dramas in the series Best of Broadway.^[7][11][14]

After completing his last film, Kismet (1955), he returned to radio for about a year, after which he was forced to retire due to ill health.

Woolley was nominated twice for an Academy Award, as Best Actor in 1943 for The Pied Piper and as Best Supporting Actor in 1945 for Since You Went Away. He won a Best Actor award from the National Board of Review in 1942 for his role in The Pied Piper.

His handprints and beard were impressed in the pavement of Grauman's Chinese Theatre in 1943.^[2][15] Woolley received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960, officially listed in the "Motion Picture" category,^[16] though his star bears the television emblem.^[17]

Death

Monty Woolley, "affectionately known as 'The Beard,'" died due to complications with kidney and heart ailments on May 6, 1963, in Albany, New York, aged 74.^[18] He is interred at the Greenridge Cemetery, Saratoga Springs, Saratoga County, New York.

Personal life

Woolley and Cole Porter enjoyed many adventures together in New York and on foreign travels, although Porter reportedly disapproved of Woolley taking a black man as his lover.^[19] Woolley has been described in scholarly and other works as gay, and closeted.^[20][21][22]

According to Bennett Cerf in his 1944 book Try and Stop Me, Woolley was at a dinner party and suddenly belched. A woman sitting nearby glared at him; he glared back and said, "And what did you expect, my good woman? Chimes?" Cerf wrote, "Woolley was so pleased with this line that he insisted it be written into his next role in Hollywood."^[2][23]

Stage

• Fifty Million Frenchmen (1929) - Director
• The New Yorkers (1930) - Director
• The Second Little Show (1930) - Director
• America's Sweetheart (1931) - Director
• Champagne, Sec (1933) - Director
• Walk a Little Faster (1933) - Director
• Jubilee (1935) - Director
• On Your Toes (1936) - Sergei Alexandrovitch
• Knights of Song (1938) - His Royal Highness, Albert Edward
• The Man Who Came to Dinner (1939) - Sheridan Whiteside^[24][25]

Filmography

References

Notes

External links

• Monty Woolley at the Internet Movie Database
• Monty Woolley at the Internet Broadway Database
• Monty Woolley at Find a Grave