Joseph Cawthorn
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Joseph Cawthorn (March 29, 1868, New York City, New York – January 21, 1949, Beverly Hills, California) was an American stage and film comic actor. Cawthorn started out in show business as a child, debuting at Robinson's Music Hall in his hometown of New York in 1872. He appeared in minstrel shows and vaudeville as a "Dutch" comic, employing a thick German dialect. He later worked in British music halls and American touring companies. Cawthorn made his Broadway debut in 1895, 1897 or 1898, and embarked on a long career lasting over two decades. His first success was playing Boris in Victor Herbert's 1898 operetta The Fortune Teller. Other notable Broadway roles included the title character in Mother Goose (1903) and inventor Dr. Pill in the fantasy musical Little Nemo (1908). In the latter, he was called upon to ad lib to buy time during one performance. As "the scene called for him to describe imaginary animals he had hunted", he invented the "whiffenpoof" on the spot. Yale students in the audience appropriated it for the name of their glee club. When his Broadway stardom waned, Cawthorn moved to Hollywood in 1927 and started a second prolific career, appearing in over 50 films, the last in 1942. He played Gremio in the first sound adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew in 1929, starring Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks; Schultz in Gold Diggers of 1935; and Florenz Ziegfeld's father in The Great Ziegfeld (1936). Cawthorn died peacefully on January 21, 1949. He was survived by his wife, actress Queenie Vassar.
Personal Details
Also Known As
Movies (50)
The Postman Didn't Ring
as Silas Harwood
1942
So Ends Our Night
as Leopold Potzloch
1941
Scatterbrain
as Nicholas Raptis
1940
Lillian Russell
as Leopold Damrosch
1940
Crime Over London
as Mr. Sherwood / Reilly
1936
Hot Money
as Max Dourfuss
1936
One Rainy Afternoon
as Monique's Father
1936
Brides Are Like That
as Fred Schultz
1936
The Great Ziegfeld
as Dr. Ziegfeld
1936
Freshman Love
as Wilson, Sr.
1936
Beautiful Dreamer
1935
Harmony Lane
as Professor Henry Kleber
1935
Page Miss Glory
as Mr. Freischutz
1935
Bright Lights
as Oscar Schlemmer
1935
Smart Girl
as Karl Krausemeyer
1935
Naughty Marietta
as Herr 'Schumie' Schuman
1935
Gold Diggers of 1935
as August Schultz
1935
Sweet Music
as Sidney Selzer
1935
Maybe It's Love
as Adolph Sr.
1935
Sweet Adeline
as Oscar Schmidt
1934
Music in the Air
as Hans Uppman
1934
Young and Beautiful
as Herman Cline
1934
The Human Side
as Fritz Speigal
1934
Housewife
as Krueger (as Joe Cawthorne)
1934
Twenty Million Sweethearts
as Herbert Brokman
1934
The Last Gentleman
as Dr. Wilson
1934
Lazy River
as Mr. Julius Ambrose
1934
Broken Dreams
as Pop
1933
Best of Enemies
as Gus Schneider
1933
Made on Broadway
as Maxie Schultz
1933
Blondie Johnson
as Jewelry Store Manager (as Joe Cawthorn)
1933
Grand Slam
as Alex Alexandrovitch
1933
Whistling in the Dark
as Barfuss
1933
Men Are Such Fools
as Werner (as Joseph Cawthorne)
1932
They Call It Sin
as Mr. Hollister
1932
Love Me Tonight
as Dr. Armand de Fontinac
1932
White Zombie
as Dr. Bruner
1932
Peach-o-Reno
as Joe Bruno
1931
The Runaround
as Lou
1931
A Tailor-Made Man
as Huber
1931
Kiki
as Alfred Rapp
1931
The Princess and the Plumber
as Merkl
1930
Dixiana
as Cornelius Van Horn, Carl's Father
1930
Dance Hall
as Bremmer
1929
Jazz Heaven
as Herman Kemple
1929
The Taming of the Shrew
as Gremio
1929
Street Girl
as Keppel - Cafe Owner
1929
Speakeasy
as Yokel
1929
Hold 'Em Yale
as Professor George Bradbury
1928
Silk Legs
as Ezra Fulton
1927