AllMovie

An actor since childhood, Kenny Delmar made his screen debut in D.W. Griffith's Orphans of the Storm, playing Joseph Schildkraut's character as a boy. Delmar's career shifted into drive in the 1930s when he secured steady work as a radio actor and announcer playing a wide variety of roles in everything from The Shadow to Orson Welles' Mercury Theater on the Air (he played the FDR soundalike in Welles' notorious War of the Worlds broadcast). While working as the announcer for The Fred Allen Show in 1945, Delmar created the character of bombastic southern senator Beauregard Claghorn ("That's a joke, son -- joke, that is!"). The role transformed Delmar into an overnight sensation, leading to a feature film based on the Claghorn character, 1947's It's a Joke Son!, the moderately successful Broadway musical Texas, Little Darlin' in 1951, and countless Claghorn imitators, the most famous of which was the Warner Bros. cartoon rooster Foghorn Leghorn. Remaining a New York-based actor until his retirement, Kenny Delmar spent the 1960s providing voices for TV commercials and cartoon series, playing The Hunter on King Leonardo, Commander McBragg on Tennessee Tuxedo, and Col. Kit Coyote on Underdog.