Edward Everett Horton
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Edward Everett Horton Jr. (March 18, 1886 – September 29, 1970) was an American character actor. He had a long career in film, theater, radio, television, and voice work for animated cartoons. Horton began his stage career in 1906, singing and dancing and playing small parts in vaudeville and in Broadway productions. In 1919, he moved to Los Angeles, California, where he began acting in Hollywood films. His first starring role was in the comedy Too Much Business (1922), but he portrayed the lead role of an idealistic young classical composer in the drama Beggar on Horseback (1925). In the late 1920s, he starred in two-reel silent comedies for Educational Pictures, and made the transition to talking pictures with Educational in 1929. As a stage-trained performer, he found more film work easily, and appeared in some of Warner Bros.' early talkies, including The Terror (1928) and Sonny Boy (1929). Horton initially used his given name, Edward Horton, professionally. His father persuaded him to adopt his full name professionally, reasoning that other actors might be named Edward Horton, but only one named Edward Everett Horton. Horton soon cultivated his own special variation of the time-honored double take (an actor's reaction to something, followed by a delayed, more extreme reaction). In Horton's version, he would smile ingratiatingly and nod in agreement with what just happened; then, when realization set in, his facial features collapsed entirely into a sober, troubled mask. Horton starred in many comedy features in the 1930s, usually playing a mousy fellow who put up with domestic or professional problems to a certain point, and then finally asserted himself for a happy ending. He is best known, however, for his work as a character actor in supporting roles. These include The Front Page (1931), Trouble in Paradise (1932), Alice in Wonderland (1933), The Gay Divorcee (1934, the first of several Astaire/Rogers films in which Horton appeared), Top Hat (1935), Danger - Love at Work (1937), Lost Horizon (1937), Holiday (1938), Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941), Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), Pocketful of Miracles (1961), It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), and Sex and the Single Girl (1964). His last role was in the comedy film Cold Turkey (1971), in which his character communicated only through facial expressions.
164 acting credits
Acting · 164
The Mike Douglas Show
1961
Batman
1966
Love, American Style
1969
The Philco Television Playhouse
1948
The Merv Griffin Show
1962
Burke's Law
1963
I Love Lucy
1951
The Bullwinkle Show
1959
Matinee Theater
1955
The Name of the Game
1968
The Ed Sullivan Show
1948
The Colgate Comedy Hour
1950
The Steve Allen Show
1956
Dennis the Menace
1959
F Troop
1965
December Bride
1954
Nanny and the Professor
1970
The George Gobel Show
1954
Saints and Sinners
1962
The Cara Williams Show
1964
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
1963
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends
1959
General Electric Theater
1953
Arsenic and Old Lace
1944
The Lux Show
1957
Pocketful of Miracles
1961
Max Liebman Presents
1954
Lost Horizon
1937
Sex and the Single Girl
1964
Top Hat
1935
Holiday
1938
The Gerald McBoing-Boing Show
1956
Trouble in Paradise
1932
The Gay Divorcee
1934
Here Comes Mr. Jordan
1941
The Perils of Pauline
1967
The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender
1997
Alice in Wonderland
1933
Ziegfeld Girl
1941
Shall We Dance
1937
The Terror
1928
Angel
1937
Design for Living
1933
Fractured Fairy Tales
1959
Bluebeard's 8th Wife
1938
Forever and a Day
1943
The Night Is Young
1935
The Front Page
1931
The Merry Widow
1934
The Story of Mankind
1957
Thank Your Lucky Stars
1943
The Gang's All Here
1943
Smarty
1934
Bob Hope's World of Comedy
1976
Cold Turkey
1971
Down to Earth
1947
Brazil
1944
Biography of a Bachelor Girl
1935
Reaching for the Moon
1930
The Devil Is a Woman
1935
The Perfect Specimen
1937
La Bohème
1926
I Married an Angel
1942
The Magnificent Dope
1942
San Diego I Love You
1944
Summer Storm
1944
The Singing Kid
1936
Holiday
1930
Kiss Me Again
1931
Smart Woman
1931
Danger – Love at Work
1937
Little Big Shot
1935
Wild Money
1937
Kiss and Make-Up
1934
Springtime in the Rockies
1942
Roar of the Dragon
1932
Lady on a Train
1945
Going Highbrow
1935
It's a Boy
1934
The Man Who Fights Alone
1924
$10 Raise
1935
Sonny Boy
1929
The Hottentot
1929
Easy to Love
1934
Faithful in My Fashion
1946
That's Right – You're Wrong
1939
Sunny
1941
Her Master's Voice
1936
The Aviator
1929
The Ghost Goes Wild
1947
The Body Disappears
1941
Try and Get It
1924
The Gang's All Here
1939
Hitting a New High
1937
Helen's Babies
1924
The Age for Love
1931
Her Primitive Man
1944
Taxi! Taxi!
1927
College Swing
1938
His Night Out
1935
The Way to Love
1933
2000 Years Later
1969
Steppin' in Society
1945
The Man in the Mirror
1936
Vacation Waves
1928
In Caliente
1935
Her Husband's Affairs
1947
Ladies Should Listen
1934
The Poor Rich
1934
Lonely Wives
1931
Take the Heir
1930
Six Cylinder Love
1931
Hearts Divided
1936
Cinderella Jones
1946
Beggar on Horseback
1925
The Town Went Wild
1944
Success at Any Price
1934
The Great Garrick
1937
Wide Open
1930
A Front Page Story
1922
The Whole Town's Talking
1926
Oh, Doctor
1937
The Nutcracker
1926
The Emperor's Oblong Pancake
1964
Bachelor Daddy
1941
To the Ladies
1924
Things You Never See on the Screen
1935
You're the One
1941
Uncertain Lady
1934
The King and the Chorus Girl
1937
But the Flesh Is Weak
1932
Nobody's Fool
1936
Paris Honeymoon
1939
Scrambled Weddings
1928
All the King's Horses
1935
Find the King
1927
The Great Junction Hotel
1931
Call Again
1928
Sing and Like It
1934
Weekend for Three
1941
A Bedtime Story
1933
Little Tough Guys in Society
1938
Horse Shy
1928
Ruggles of Red Gap
1923
Ask Dad
1929
Flapper Wives
1924
One Got Fat
1963
Saturday Spectacular: Manhattan Tower
1956
The Sap
1929
The Private Secretary
1935
Poker Faces
1926
Too Much Business
1922
No Publicity
1927
Dad's Choice
1928
Earl Carroll Sketchbook
1946
Once a Gentleman
1930
The Ladder Jinx
1922
Let's Make a Million
1936
Behind the Counter
1928
The Right Bed
—
Three Men on a Horse
1957
Your Uncle Dudley
1935
Soldiers of the King
1933
The Wonderful World of Trains
1960