Monty Woolley
| Monty Woolley | |
|---|---|
as Sheridan Whiteside, 1949.
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| Born |
Edgar Montillion Woolley August 17, 1888 Manhattan, New York City, U.S. |
| Died | May 6, 1963 (aged 74) Albany, New York, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Actor, stage director |
| Known for | The Man Who Came to Dinner |
Monty Woolley (August 17, 1888 – May 6, 1963) was an American stage, film, radio, and television actor. At the age of 50, he achieved a measure of stardom for his best-known role in the stage play and 1942 film The Man Who Came to Dinner. His distinctive white beard was his trademark and he was affectionately known as "The Beard."
Woolley was born Edgar Montillion Woolley in Manhattan to a wealthy family (his father owned the Bristol Hotel) and grew up in the highest social circles. Woolley received a bachelor's degree at Yale University, where Cole Porter was an intimate friend and classmate, and master's degrees from Yale and Harvard Universities. He eventually became an assistant professor of English and drama coach at Yale.Thornton Wilder and Stephen Vincent Benét were among his students. He served in World War I in the United States Army as a first lieutenant assigned to the general staff in Paris.
Woolley began directing on Broadway in 1929, and began acting there in 1936 after leaving his academic career. In 1939 he starred in the Kaufman and Hart comedy The Man Who Came to Dinner for 783 performances. It was for this well-reviewed role he was typecast as the wasp-tongued, supercilious sophisticate.
Woolley signed with 20th Century Fox in the 1940s and appeared in many films through the mid-1950s. His most famous film role, a reprise of his Broadway role, was in 1942's The Man Who Came To Dinner where he plays a cranky radio wag restricted to a wheelchair because of a seemingly injured hip, a caricature of the legendary pundit Alexander Woollcott. The film received a good review from the New York Times. He played himself in Warner Bros.' fictionalized film biography of Cole Porter, Night and Day (1946), and the role of Professor Wutheridge in The Bishop's Wife (1947).
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