Keenan Wynn | |
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c.1950
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Born |
Francis Xavier Aloysius James Jeremiah Keenan Wynn July 27, 1916 New York, New York, U.S. |
Died | October 14, 1986 Brentwood, Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
(aged 70)
Cause of death | Pancreatic cancer |
Resting place | Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1934–1986 |
Spouse(s) | Eve Lynn Abbott (m. 1938–1947; divorced) Betty Jane Butler (m. 1949–1953; divorced) Sharley Hudson (m. 1954–1986; his death) |
Children | 5 |
Francis Xavier Aloysius James Jeremiah Keenan Wynn (July 27, 1916 – October 14, 1986) was an American actor. His expressive face was his ; and, though he rarely carried the lead role, he had prominent billing in most of his film and television parts.
Wynn was born in New York City, the son of vaudeville comedian Ed Wynn and his wife, the former Hilda Keenan. He took his stage name from his maternal grandfather, Frank Keenan, one of the first Broadway actors to star in Hollywood. His father was Jewish and his mother was of Irish Catholic background.
Ed Wynn encouraged his son to become an actor, and they both appeared in the original Playhouse 90 television production of Rod Serling's Requiem for a Heavyweight. The son was returning the favor: according to radio historian Elizabeth McLeod, Keenan had helped his father overcome professional collapse, a harrowing divorce, and a nervous breakdown to return to work a decade earlier, and now helped convince Serling and producer Martin Manulis that the elder Wynn should play the wistful trainer. He also appeared in a subsequent TV drama called The Man in the Funny Suit, which detailed the problems they had experienced while working on that show. In it, the Wynns, Serling, and many of the cast and crew played themselves. Keenan also featured in another Rod Serling production, a The Twilight Zone episode entitled, "A World of His Own" (1960) as playwright Gregory West, who uniquely caused series creator Rod Serling to disappear.