Born Isaiah Edward Leopold, Wynn ran away from home at 15 to work as a utility boy for a stage company, with which he also acted. The company failed and he returned home. Shortly thereafter, he moved to New York, soon becoming a vaudeville comic headliner. In 1914, he began appearing with the Ziegfeld Follies, billed as the Perfect Fool; meanwhile, he got into a widely publicized feud with another Ziegfeld star, W.C. Fields. After organizing an actors' strike in 1919, he was boycotted by the Shuberts. At the height of his popularity as a Broadway comic star, he got around the boycott by writing and producing his own shows, which were both critical and popular successes. Having appeared in a few films, in the '30s he increased his popularity on radio as the Texaco Fire Chief. At the end of the '30s, several of his business ventures collapsed, including a radio chain; he suffered a nervous breakdown and his career seemed over. He bounced back on Broadway in the '40s. In 1949, he won the first TV Emmy Award as Best Actor in a Series. Out of work in the '50s, when his comedy style had become dated, he was encouraged by his son -- actor Keenan Wynn -- to launch a new career as a film actor. From 1957 to 1967, he was busy onscreen as a dramatic character actor, and for his work in The Diary of Anne Frank (1959), he received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. He also appeared in TV dramas.
| Title | Year | Editors' Rating | User Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
The Gnome-Mobile
Actor |
1967 | |||
|
The Daydreamer
Voice |
1966 | |||
| 1965 | ||||
|
Dear Brigitte
Actor |
1965 | |||
|
That Darn Cat
Actor |
1965 | |||
| 1965 | ||||
|
Those Calloways
Actor |
1965 | |||
|
Mary Poppins
Actor |
1964 | |||
|
The Patsy
Actor |
1964 | |||
| 1963 | ||||
|
Babes in Toyland
Actor |
1961 | |||
| 1961 | ||||
|
Cinderfella
Actor |
1960 | |||
|
The Diary of Anne Frank
Actor |
1959 | |||
| 1959 | ||||
|
Marjorie Morningstar
Actor |
1958 | |||
| 1956 | ||||
|
The Great Man
Actor |
1956 | |||
| 1953 | ||||
|
Alice in Wonderland
Voice |
1951 | |||
| 1950 | ||||
|
The Ed Wynn Show
Actor |
1949 | |||
|
Stage Door Canteen
Actor |
1943 | |||
|
The Chief
Actor |
1933 | |||
|
Follow the Leader
Actor |
1930 | |||
|
Rubber Heels
Actor |
1927 |




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