Charles Winninger


Charles John Winninger was an American stage and film actor, most often cast in comedies or musicals.

Life and career

Winninger was born in Athens, Wisconsin, the son of Rosalia and Franz Winninger. His parents were Austrian immigrants. He began as a vaudeville actor. His most famous stage role was as Cap'n Andy Hawks in the original production of Show Boat, the Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein II musical classic, in 1927. He played the role in the 1932 stage revival and the 1936 film version of the show. He became so identified with the role and with his persona as a riverboat captain that he played several variations of the role, notably on the radio program Maxwell House Show Boat, which was clearly inspired by the Broadway musical.
Winninger's pre-Code film career includes Night Nurse, a 1931 drama about two girls being systematically starved to death by the family chauffeur. Winninger portrays a kindly physician who attempts to save the suffering children. After the film of Show Boat in 1936, Winninger appeared in 1936's Three Smart Girls, 1937's Nothing Sacred, 1939's Destry Rides Again, 1941's Ziegfeld Girl, and 1945's State Fair. He returned to Broadway only once for the 1951 revival of Kern and Hammerstein's Music in the Air.
Winninger had the lead role in only one film, 1953's The Sun Shines Bright, John Ford's remake of Judge Priest. Winninger played the role that Will Rogers portrayed in 1934.
Winninger made a notable television appearance in 1954 in I Love Lucy as Barney Kurtz, the former vaudevillian partner of Fred Mertz in an episode titled "Mertz and Kurtz". He made his last film in 1960.

Personal life

On November 12, 1912, Winninger married actress Blanche Ring. They were divorced on June 12, 1951. He married Gertrude Walker later that year; they remained married until his death.
Winninger died in 1969 and is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park-Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles.

Recognition

In 1960, Winninger received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his radio contributions.

Filmography

  • Mister Flirt in Wrong as Mr. Rawsberry
  • Lizzie's Shattered Dreams as 2nd Stranger from the City
  • The Doomed Groom as The Groom
  • A September Mourning as The Artist
  • Pied Piper Malone - Louie as the Barber
  • The Canadian as Pop Tyson
  • Summer Bachelors as Preston Smith
  • Soup to Nuts as Otto Schmidt
  • Fighting Caravans as Marshall
  • Bad Sister as Mr. Madison
  • Gun Smoke as Tack Gillup
  • God's Gift to Women as John Churchill
  • Night Nurse as Dr. Arthur Bell
  • Children of Dreams as Dr. Joe Thompson
  • The Sin of Madelon Claudet as M. Novella, Photographer
  • Flying High as Doctor Brown
  • Husband's Holiday as Mr. Reid
  • Social Register as Jonesie
  • Show Boat as Cap'n Andy Hawks
  • White Fang as Doc McFane
  • Three Smart Girls as Judson Craig
  • Woman Chases Man as B.J. Nolan
  • Cafe Metropole as Joseph Ridgeway
  • The Go Getter as Cappy Ricks
  • You Can't Have Everything as Sam Gordon
  • Nothing Sacred as Dr. Enoch Downer
  • Every Day's a Holiday as Van Reighle Van Pelter Van Doon
  • You're a Sweetheart as Cherokee Charlie
  • Goodbye Broadway as Pat Malloy
  • Hard to Get as Ben Richards
  • Three Smart Girls Grow Up as Judson Craig
  • Babes in Arms as Joe Moran
  • Destry Rides Again as Washington Dimsdale
  • Barricade as Samuel J. Cady
  • If I Had My Way as Joe Johnson
  • Beyond Tomorrow as Michael O'Brien
  • My Love Came Back as Julius Malette
  • Little Nellie Kelly as Michael Noonan
  • Pot o' Gold as C.J. Haskell
  • Ziegfeld Girl as 'Pop' Gallagher
  • The Getaway as Dr. Josiah Glass
  • My Life with Caroline as Bliss
  • Mister Gardenia Jones as John Jones
  • Friendly Enemies as Karl Pfeiffer
  • Coney Island as Finnigan
  • Hers to Hold as Judson Craig
  • A Lady Takes a Chance as Waco
  • Flesh and Fantasy as King Lamarr
  • Broadway Rhythm as Sam Demming
  • Sunday Dinner for a Soldier as Dudley 'Granfeathers' Osborne
  • Belle of the Yukon as Pop Candless
  • State Fair as Abel Frake
  • She Wouldn't Say Yes as Doctor Lane
  • Lover Come Back as William 'Pa' Williams, Sr.
  • Living in a Big Way as D. Rutherford Morgan
  • Something in the Wind as Uncle Chester Read
  • The Inside Story as Uncle Ed
  • Give My Regards to Broadway as Albert Norwick
  • Father Is a Bachelor as Professor Mordecai Ford
  • Torpedo Alley as Oliver J. Peabody
  • The Sun Shines Bright as Judge William Pittman Priest
  • A Perilous Journey as Captain Eph Allan
  • Champ for a Day as Pa Karlsen
  • Those Were the Days
  • Las Vegas Shakedown as Ernest Raff
  • Raymie as R.J. Parsons
  • The Miracle of the White Reindeer as Zoo Keeper

    Radio appearances