David Wayne


David Wayne was an American actor and singer, with a stage and screen career spanning over 50 years. He was a recipient of two Tony Awards, Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Finian's Rainbow and Best Actor in a Play for The Teahouse of the August Moon, with a third nomination for The Happy Time.

Early life and career

Wayne was born in Traverse City, Michigan, the son of Helen Matilda and John David McMeekan. His mother died when he was four.
Wayne attended Western Michigan University for two years before working as a statistician in Cleveland. He began acting with Cleveland's Shakesperean repertory theatre in 1936.
When World War II began, Wayne volunteered as an ambulance driver with the British Army in North Africa. When the United States entered the war he joined the United States Army.
Wayne's first major Broadway role was Og the leprechaun in Finian's Rainbow, for which he won the Theatre World Award and the first ever Tony for Actor, Supporting or Featured. While appearing in the play, he and co-stars Albert Sharpe and Maude Simmons were recruited by producer David O. Selznick for roles in the film Portrait of Jennie.
In 1948, Wayne was one of 50 applicants granted membership in New York's newly formed Actors Studio.
He was awarded a second Tony for Best Actor for The Teahouse of the August Moon and was nominated as Best Actor for The Happy Time. He originated the role of Ensign Pulver in the classic stage comedy Mister Roberts and also appeared in Say, Darling; After the Fall; and Incident at Vichy.

Film and television career

In films, Wayne was most often cast as a supporting player, such as the piano-playing neighbor of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn's characters in Adam's Rib. He portrayed the child killer, originally played by Peter Lorre, in the remake of M, in a rare title and villainous role. Wayne appeared in four films with Marilyn Monroe, more than any other actor: As Young as You Feel, We're Not Married, O. Henry's Full House , and How to Marry a Millionaire where he had scenes with Monroe. He starred in The Tender Trap with Frank Sinatra, Debbie Reynolds, and Celeste Holm.
In 1955, Wayne starred in the NBC comedy Norby. Wayne appeared in the late 1950s on ABC's The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom and the Twilight Zone episode "Escape Clause". In 1959 he starred in the role of Major General Henning von Tresckow in the Alcoa-Goodyear Theatre production "Operation Spark", depicting the plot to assassinate Adolph Hitler. He starred as Darius Woodley in two 1961 episodes of NBC's The Outlaws starring Barton MacLane. Also in 1961, Wayne appeared in the Bell Telephone Company-produced driver safety film Anatomy of an Accident, about a family outing tragically cut short by a car accident.
He played the Mad Hatter, one of the recurring villains in the 1960s television series Batman. In 1964, he guest-starred in the series finale, "Pay Now, Die Later", of CBS's drama Mr. Broadway. Also in the 1960s, Wayne was a radio host on NBC's magazine program Monitor.
File:As Young as You Feel trailer 1.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Wayne and Jean Peters in trailer for As Young as You Feel
Wayne was known for his role as Dr. Charles Dutton in Michael Crichton's The Andromeda Strain. He also appeared as Uncle Timothy Jamison in the NBC sitcom The Brian Keith Show and played Charles Dutton in The Good Life, also on NBC. Wayne made a guest appearance in a leading role for a 1975 episode of Gunsmoke titled "I Have Promises to Keep". He co-starred with Jim Hutton in the 1976 television series Ellery Queen.
In 1978, Wayne played James Lawrence in the ABC drama Family, and he played Digger Barnes in four episodes of the CBS soap opera Dallas. Wayne's friend Keenan Wynn later replaced Wayne in this role. From 1979 to 1982, Wayne starred as Dr. Amos Weatherby in the television series House Calls.

Personal life

Wayne was married to Jane Gordon in 1941 and had two daughters and a son. In August 1970, their son disappeared and was presumed drowned during a camping and fishing trip. Wayne's wife, daughter of opera vocalist Jeanne Gordon, died in 1993.

Death

On February 9, 1995, Wayne died in his Santa Monica, California, home from complications of lung cancer at age 81.

Awards

Wayne won two Tony Awards, one in 1947 for Finian's Rainbow and one in 1954 for The Teahouse of the August Moon.

Filmography

Features:
  • Stranger on the Third Floor as Cab Driver
  • Portrait of Jennie as Gus O'Toole
  • Adam's Rib as Kip Lurie
  • The Reformer and the Redhead as Arthur Colner Maxwell
  • Stella as Carl Granger
  • My Blue Heaven as Walter Pringle
  • Up Front as Joe
  • M as Martin W. Harrow
  • As Young as You Feel as Joe Elliott
  • With a Song in My Heart as Don Ross
  • Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie as Ben Halper
  • We're Not Married! as Jeff Norris
  • O. Henry's Full House as Horace
  • The I Don't Care Girl as Ed McCoy
  • Tonight We Sing as Sol Hurok
  • Down Among the Sheltering Palms as Lieutenant Carl G. Schmidt
  • How to Marry a Millionaire as Freddie Denmark
  • Hell and High Water as Tugboat Walker
  • The Tender Trap as Joe McCall
  • The Naked Hills as Tracy Powell
  • The Three Faces of Eve as Ralph White
  • The Sad Sack as Corporal Larry Dolan
  • The Last Angry Man as Woodrow 'Woody' Thrasher
  • The Big Gamble as Samuel Brennan
  • The Andromeda Strain as Dr. Charles Dutton
  • The African Elephant as narrator
  • Huckleberry Finn as The Duke
  • The Front Page as Bensinger
  • Tubby the Tuba as Pee-Wee the Piccolo
  • The Apple Dumpling Gang as Colonel T.R. Clydesdale
  • A Place to Be as narrator
  • The Prize Fighter as Pop Morgan
  • Finders Keepers as Stapleton
  • The Survivalist as Dub Daniels
Short subjects:
  • Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Awards as himself
  • Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Night Life as himself
  • Anatomy of an Accident as John Avery
  • John F. Kennedy: 1917-1963 as narrator

    Television work

  • Great Catherine
  • Norby as Preston Pearson Norby
  • Alfred Hitchcock Presents as Sam Jacoby
  • The Strawberry Blonde as Biff Grimes
  • The Twilight Zone, "Escape Clause" as Walter Bedeker
  • Wagon Train as Shadrack Bennington
  • Naked City, "The Multiplicity of Herbert Konish" as Herbert Konish
  • Teahouse of the August Moon as Sakini
  • Kings of Broadway
  • The Alfred Hitchcock Hour as Andrew Anderson
  • Cowboy and the Tiger as Narrator
  • Lamp at Midnight as Father Firenzuola
  • Batman as The Mad Hatter
  • Arsenic and Old Lace as Teddy Brewster
  • The Boy Who Stole the Elephant as Colonel Rufus Ryder
  • Night Gallery, "The Diary" as Dr. Mill
  • Mooch Goes to Hollywood as Himself
  • The Good Life as Charles Dutton
  • The Catcher as Armand Faber
  • The Dark Side
  • The Streets of San Francisco as Wally Sensibaugh
  • Banacek as Walter Tyson
  • Hawaii Five-O as Monsieur Bordeaux
  • Return of the Big Cat as Grandpa Jubal
  • Barney Miller as E. J. Heiss
  • Gunsmoke as Reverend Byrne / Judge Warfield
  • It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman as Dr. Abner Sedgwick
  • Ellery Queen as Inspector Richard Queen
  • Once an Eagle as Colonel Terwilliger
  • In the Glitter Palace as Nate Redstone
  • Hunter
  • Black Beauty as Mr. Dowling / Narrator
  • Loose Change as Dr. Moe Sinden
  • Murder at the Mardi Gras as Mickey Mills
  • Dallas as Digger Barnes
  • The Gift of Love as O'Henry / Narrator
  • The Girls in the Office as Ben Nayfack
  • An American Christmas Carol as Merrivale
  • Eight is Enough as Matt
  • House Calls as Dr. Amos Weatherby
  • Matt Houston S2/Ep20, "Blood Ties" as Bill Houston
  • Murder, She Wrote as Cyrus Leffingwell
  • Newhart as Mr. Pittman
  • The Golden Girls as Big Daddy
  • Poker Alice as Amos

    Stage appearances

  • As You Like It
  • Escape This Night
  • Dance Night
  • The American Way
  • The Scene of the Crime
  • The Merry Widow
  • Peepshow
  • Park Avenue
  • Finian's Rainbow
  • Mister Roberts
  • The Teahouse of the August Moon
  • The Ponder Heart
  • The Loud Red Patrick
  • Say, Darling
  • Send Me No Flowers
  • Venus at Large
  • Too True to Be Good
  • After the Fall
  • Marco Millions
  • But For Whom Charlie
  • Incident at Vichy
  • The Yearling
  • Show Boat Lincoln Center
  • ''The Happy Time''

    Radio appearances