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Richard Haydn

 
Actor: Richard Haydn
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Actors
  • Born: Mar 10, 1905 in London, England, UK
  • Died: Apr 25, 1985 in Pacific Palisades, California
  • Occupation: Actor, Director
  • Active: '40s-'60s
  • Major Genres: Comedy, Romance
  • Career Highlights: The Sound of Music, Sitting Pretty, No Time for Love
  • First Major Screen Credit: Charley's Aunt (1941)

Biography

Tweedy, eccentric character actor Richard Haydn failed at several professions -- including music hall entertainer and overseer of a Jamaican banana plantation -- before latching onto a touring British theatre troupe. While performing on radio, Haydn created the character of nerdish, nasal "fish expert" Edwin Carp, a role which earned him a spot in the American variety revue Set to Music and later resulted in several satirical books written by the actor (he would reprise the Edwin Carp character on a memorable 1964 episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show). Signed to a 20th Century-Fox film contract in 1940, Haydn's first film assignment was the comparatively straight role of Charley Wyckham in Charley's Aunt (1941). Versatile to a fault, Haydn's film roles ranged from normal, sobersided types like the schoolteacher in the Green Years (1946), to the despicable British nobleman in Forever Amber (1946). His most enjoyable performances were as fey, prissy, often mother-dominated types: Cluny Brown (1946) and Sitting Pretty (1947) were his best assignments in this vein. Haydn directed three films for Paramount, playing small roles in each (under such pseudonyms as Richard Rancyd): Miss Tatlock's Millions (1947), Dear Wife (1948) and Mr, Music (1950), The biggest hit with which Haydn was associated was 1965's The Sound of Music (1965), in which he played the vacillating theatrical entrepreneur Max Detweiller. He also sparkled in TV roles on such series as Lassie, The Man From UNCLE and Bonanza. His last film role (heavily cut before release) was a tiny expository part at the beginning of Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein (1974). Almost as mercurial offscreen as on, Richard Haydn was averse to granting interviews, usually making comments like "There is no Richard Haydn. It is probably something you ate". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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Wikipedia: Richard Haydn
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Richard Haydn
Born George Richard Haydon
March 10, 1905(1905-03-10)
Camberwell, London, England, UK
Died April 25, 1985 (aged 80)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation Actor, Writer
Years active 1938–1985

Richard Haydn (March 10, 1905 – April 25, 1985) was an English comic actor in radio, movies, and television.

Contents

Early life and career

Born George Richard Haydon in London, he was known for playing eccentric characters, such as Edwin Carp, Claud Curdle, Richard Rancyd and Stanley Stayle. Much of his stage delivery was done in a deliberate over-nasalized and over-enunciated manner. He was possibly best noted in his performance as the voice of the Caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland (1951), an animated Disney film adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Haydn also portrayed Max Dettweiler in the 1965 musical film version of "The Sound of Music" and was particularly memorable as the manservant Rogers in the 1945 adaptation of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None .

According to the DVD commentary of Young Frankenstein, Mel Brooks said that Haydn used gardening and horticulture as a means of escape from the Hollywood grind and eschewed the Hollywood lifestyle. Brooks added that Haydn died without life insurance.

Television and film

In The Twilight Zone episode "A Thing About Machines", he portrayed Mr. Bartlett Finchley, a quirky, self-absorbed, technophobe who is confronted by every machine in his home.

On April 1, 1964, he reprised the Edwin Carp character, a poet and an expert on fish, in an episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show which saluted several old-time radio performers.

On April 11, 1968, he appeared as a Japanese businessman on an episode of Bewitched entitled "A Majority of Two".

Perhaps his most acclaimed role was in Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1965 film musical, The Sound of Music, in which he played the von Trapp's family friend Max Detweiler.

Other work

He was a regular on the Burns and Allen radio show.

Haydn authored one book, The Journal of Edwin Carp, in 1954.

Partial filmography

External links

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