Burgess Meredith

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Birthday:

16 November 1907, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

Birth Name:

Oliver Burgess Meredith

Height:

166 cm

One of the truly great and gifted performers of the century who often suffered lesser roles, Burgess Meredith was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1907 and educated in Amherst College in Massachusetts before joining Eva Le Gallienne's stage company in New York City in 1933. He became a favorite of dramatist Maxwell Anderson, premiering on film in the playwright's Winterset (1936). Meredith served in the United States Army Air Corps in World War II, reaching the rank of captain. He continued in a variety of dramatic and comedic roles until being named an unfriendly witness by the House Un-American Activities Committee in the early 1950s, whereupon studio work disappeared. His career picked up again, especially with television roles, in the 1960s, although younger audiences know him best for either the Rocky (1976) or Grumpy Old Men (1993) films. Meredith also did a large amount of commercial work, serving as the voice for Skippy Peanut Butter and United Air Lines, among others. He was also an ardent environmentalist who believed pollution one of the greatest tragedies of the time, and an opponent of the Vietnam War. Burgess Meredith died at age 89 of Alzheimer's disease and melanoma in his home in Malibu, California on September 9, 1997. Show less «

I did Batman (1966) for two reasons, one of which was the salary. The other was that, after the first few episodes, Batman became the in-thi...Show more »

I did Batman (1966) for two reasons, one of which was the salary. The other was that, after the first few episodes, Batman became the in-thing to do. Everybody... would either play a villain or appear as himself in that cameo showcase where a celebrity would poke his head through the window of a building that Batman and Robin were climbing. Actually, we didn't get as much money from the show as you might think, although we were paid decent money for the feature film version. The main impetus to continue appearing on Batman - beyond the desire to get some TV work - was that it was fashionable. Show less «

I was born a character actor. I was never really a leading man type.

Like the seasons of the year, life changes frequently and drastically. You enjoy it or endure it as it comes and goes, as it ebbs and flows.

I'll just take amusement at being a paradox.

[on his childhood] All my life, to this day, the memory of my childhood remains grim and incoherent. If I close my eyes and think back, I se...Show more »

[on his childhood] All my life, to this day, the memory of my childhood remains grim and incoherent. If I close my eyes and think back, I see little except violence and fear. In those early years, I somehow came to understand I would have to draw from within myself whatever emotional resources I needed to go wherever I was headed. As a result, for years, I became a boy who lived almost totally within himself. Show less «

Franchot Tone is nuttier than a fruitcake, so don't let the genteel frosting fool you.

[on Otto Preminger]: I haven't done anything of importance with Preminger - I just go in with him because he's a friend of mine, and he asto...Show more »

[on Otto Preminger]: I haven't done anything of importance with Preminger - I just go in with him because he's a friend of mine, and he astonishes me, always. I play cameo roles, which is always a mistake. He's an amazing man - a kind of Jekyll and Hyde. In his life, he's one of the most charming, articulate and kind, loving of men, and on the set he gets foam-flecked, you know? He doesn't bother me, he won't yell at - we'll say - Fonda or Wayne, but then I was never in his films for very long. Show less «