Known For
Acting
Born
Mar 27, 1868
Died
Jan 21, 1949
Place of Birth
New York City, New York, USA
Credits
53 titles
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.
Known For
Filmography
The Postman Didn't Ring
Silas Harwood
So Ends Our Night
Leopold Potzloch
Scatterbrain
Nicholas Raptis
Lillian Russell
Leopold Damrosch
Crime Over London
Mr. Sherwood / Reilly
Hot Money
Max Dourfuss
One Rainy Afternoon
Monique's Father
Brides Are Like That
Fred Schultz
The Great Ziegfeld
Dr. Ziegfeld
Freshman Love
Wilson, Sr.
Beautiful Dreamer
Harmony Lane
Professor Henry Kleber
Page Miss Glory
Mr. Freischutz
Bright Lights
Oscar Schlemmer
Smart Girl
Karl Krausemeyer
Naughty Marietta
Herr 'Schumie' Schuman
Gold Diggers of 1935
August Schultz
Sweet Music
Sidney Selzer
Maybe It's Love
Adolph Sr.
Sweet Adeline
Oscar Schmidt
Music in the Air
Hans Uppman
Young and Beautiful
Herman Cline
The Human Side
Fritz Speigal
Housewife
Krueger (as Joe Cawthorne)
Twenty Million Sweethearts
Herbert Brokman
The Last Gentleman
Dr. Wilson
Lazy River
Mr. Julius Ambrose
Broken Dreams
Pop
Best of Enemies
Gus Schneider
Made on Broadway
Maxie Schultz
Blondie Johnson
Jewelry Store Manager (as Joe Cawthorn)
Grand Slam
Alex Alexandrovitch
Whistling in the Dark
Barfuss
Men Are Such Fools
Werner (as Joseph Cawthorne)
They Call It Sin
Mr. Hollister
Love Me Tonight
Dr. Armand de Fontinac
White Zombie
Dr. Bruner
Peach-o-Reno
Joe Bruno
The Runaround
Lou
A Tailor-Made Man
Huber
Kiki
Alfred Rapp
The Princess and the Plumber
Merkl
Dixiana
Cornelius Van Horn, Carl's Father
Dance Hall
Bremmer
Jazz Heaven
Herman Kemple
The Taming of the Shrew
Gremio
Street Girl
Keppel - Cafe Owner
Speakeasy
Yokel
Hold 'Em Yale
Professor George Bradbury
Silk Legs
Ezra Fulton