Alan Carney

{{refimprove|section|date=April 2024}}

Born David John Boughal in Manhattan on December 22, 1909,"New York, New York City, World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1940-1947", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:W71Y-QSPZ : Sat Mar 09 04:01:28 UTC 2024), Entry for David John Boughal and Actor."United States, Census, 1910", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M5WP-8P3 : Thu Jan 16 13:01:02 UTC 2025), Entry for Edward P and Elizabeth Boughal, 1910.{{efn|The actor's own resumé gave his real surname as Bougal and his birthdate as December 22, 1911.)The 1946-47 International Motion Picture Almanac, Terry Ramsaye, ed., Quigley Publications, New York, 1946, p. 40.}} Carny was the youngest of four children born to Irish immigrants Ellen "Nellie"—née Kearney—and Edward Francis Boughal."New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1938", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:24MV-8RR : Tue Feb 20 20:46:11 UTC 2024), Entry for Edward Boughal and Nellie Kearney, 4 May 1904."New York, County Naturalization Records, 1791-1980", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPRH-5YG2 : Fri Mar 08 12:30:33 UTC 2024), Entry for Edward Boughal and Ellen Kearney, 1915."United States, World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:7XYX-3PMM : Fri Nov 22 20:43:32 UTC 2024), Entry for Edward Francis Boughal and Ellen Boughal, from 1917 to 1918. At some point between 1920 and 1929, the family relocated to Brooklyn."United States, Census, 1920", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MJY1-1B5 : Mon Jan 20 01:54:32 UTC 2025), Entry for Edward Boughil and Nellie Boughil, 1920.[https://www.newspapers.com/image/544743775/?clipping_id=169467252 "Social Notes: St. Michael's Play"]. Brooklyn Times Union. January 29, 1929. p. 9. "A musical comedy, entitled 'True Blue,' a play about college life, will be presented by the members of the Micardian Dramatic Society of St. Michael's R. C. Church, Fourth avenue and Forty-second street. [...] In the dance ensembles will be seen the Misses Mary Cody, Betty O'Neil, Mary Purcell, Rita Bushey, Helen Rogers, Florence Peters, Anna Rooney, Rosemary Gorman and Edward R. Matthews, Stuart F. Moore, William J. Redden, Edward J. Boughal, David J. Boughal""United States, Census, 1930", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X4N1-4LQ : Sun Mar 10 06:00:30 UTC 2024), Entry for Edward F Boughal and Ellen K Boughal, 1930.

Upon finishing high school, Boughal began working in his father's print shop. Despite this fact, and despite his father's clearly expressed wishes, following in the latter's footsteps was never his intention. Instead, he hoped to become an actor. He began imitating customers of the shop, much to their dismay. He eventually appeared in an amateur night program, which resulted in his being added to a vaudeville act at Proctor's Theater in Yonkers, New York. By this time, the aspiring performer had traded in his potentially problematic birth name for a slightly Americanized version of his mother's maiden name.Wright, Virginia (June 23, 1943). [https://www.newspapers.com/image/689202659/?clipping_id=169511626 "Entertainment: Virginia Wright"]. Los Angeles Daily News. p. 1. Retrieved April 3, 2025. "It was this urge to act which forced Carney to run away from home at the surprisingly mature age of 23. But it was the only way he could convince his father, Ed Boughal, that he didn't want to follow in his footsteps and be a printer. He took his mother's name of Carney when he broke away." When the show's headliner, Marion Eddy, went on tour, it was Alan Carney that accompanied her.

After performing in vaudeville for several years, Carney made the transition from stage to screen in 1943,{{efn|The issue of exactly when and in which film Carney made his motion picture debut has long been muddied by one critical error made at the time of his death by several of the nation's most widely trusted news sources at the time (namely, United Press International, both the east and west coast papers of record, plus the publication often dubbed the entertainment industry's "trade paper of record"Smith, Jacob; Verma, Neil, ed. (2016). [https://books.google.com/books?id=baowDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA57 Anatomy of Sound: Norman Corwin and Media Authorship]. Oakland, CA: University of California Press. p. 57. {{ISBN|9780520285323}}. "'No one doubts the educational value of the Corwiniana in the offing,' reported Variety, which could never resist coining a neologism, but the word educational was seldom a compliment in the trade paper of record." See also:

• Sikov, Ed (2002). [https://archive.org/details/mrstrangelovebio0000siko/page/258/mode/2up?q=%22trade+paper+of+record%22 Mr. Strangelove : A Biography of Peter Sellers]. London : Sidgwick & Jackson. p. 259. {{ISBN|0283072970}}. "Variety noted that Gershwin and Kastner vehemently denied the whole thing. No, the producers categorically stated in Hollywood’s trade paper of record; they had made Peter’s deal for The Bobo (1967) directly with Harvey Orkin."
• Morrison, James (2018). [https://books.google.com/books?id=cGldDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT188 Auteur Theory and My Son John]. New York: Bloombury Publishing. {{ISBN|978-1-5013-1174-1}}. "Tracing the word 'auteur' from the 1960s through the 1990s in Variety, the industry's trade paper of record, is an instructive exercise."), all of whom, in their respective obits, erroneously—and prominently—credit the late actor with appearances in two wholly British-made, early-forties wartime productions, 1940's Convoy and 1942's famously Noel Coward-penned, David Lean-filmed flag-waver, In Which We Serve,United Press International (May 4, 1973). [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-cincinnati-post/169559706/ "Deaths Elsewhere: Alan Carney"]. The Cincinnati Post. p. 22. Retrieved April 4, 2025. "Carney, 63, made his stage debut in the Broadway production of 'Fanny' and his film credits include 'Li'l Abner,' 'Convoy,' and 'In Which We Serve.'"[https://www.newspapers.com/image/381694264/?clipping_id=169558387 "Alan Carney; Film, Stage Comedian"]. The Los Angeles Times. May 4, 1973. p. 22. Retrieved April 4, 2025. "Other credits included 'Li'l Abner,' in which he took the role of Mayor Daugmeat, 'Convoy,' 'The Pretender' and 'In Which We Serve.'"{{Cite news|title=Obituaries: Alan Carney|author=UPI|date=May 9, 1973|work=Variety|page=255|quote=Alan Carney, film and stage comedian, died May 2 of a heart attack at the Hollywood Park racetrack, Van Nuys, Calif., after winning a daily double. He started in vaudeville and at one time did an act with Wally Brown, which toured the major circuits in the 1930s and 1940s. Carney shifted to film work afterward and was under contract to RKO and later the Disney Studios. He had film roles in 'Li'l Abner,' 'Convoy,' 'In Which We Serve,' and in his final film assignment, 'It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.'|id={{ProQuest|963271858}}}} both of which in fact feature the like-named British comic character actor, George Carney.Parish, James Robert (1990). [https://archive.org/details/greatcombatpictu0000pari/page/96/mode/2up?q=%22convoy+associated+british%22+%22in+which+we+serve+united+artists%22+%22George+Carney%22 The Great Combat Pictures : Twentieth-Century Warfare on the Screen]. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow. pp. 97, 230. {{ISBN|0-8108-2315-2}}.}} in the RKO Radio Pictures production, Gildersleeve's Bad Day.[https://catalog.afi.com/Person/8717-Alan-Carney Alan Carney Filmography]. AFI Catalog. Retrieved April 3, 2025. As to how exactly this came to pass, there are at least two slightly varying published accounts, both involving Carney's discovery by film producer David Hempstead. The first, published in March 1943 by the St. Louis Post Dispatch, maintains that Hempstead, by mere happenstance, had caught Carney's act at the Crystal Terrace Room of St. Louis's Park Plaza Hotel and been sufficiently impressed to leave both his calling card and a standing invitation to come visit him in Hollywood, adding that Carney had eventually taken Hempstead up on the offer, leading to an extended RKO contract, and eventually his breakthrough performance as Cary Grant's bodyguard "Crunk" in the 1943 romantic comedy, Mr. Lucky.{{efn|The second account, published just prior to Mr. Lucky's release, maintains that their initial encounter was in fact arranged by RKO talent scout Arthur Willi, and promptly made Carney "the answer to producer David Hempstead's prayer for a hoodlum with a soul."}}

1943 also saw the pairing of Carney with comic Wally Brown as RKO's answer to Abbott and Costello.Erickson, Hal (2012). [https://books.google.com/books?id=vyEzymp7hF0C&pg=PA102&dq=%22the+most+transparent%22+RKO+1943+%22Alan+Carney%22+%22Wally+Brown%22+RKO+%22Abbott+%26+Costello+clones%22 Military Comedy Films: A Critical Survey and Filmography of Hollywood Releases Since 1918]. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company. p. 102. {{ISBN|978-0-7864-6290-2}}. "The most transparent of all the Abbott & Costello/Buck Privates imitations was perpetrated by RKO Radio Pictures in 1943. [...] As for their Abbott & Costello clones, all RKO had to do was find a pair of seasoned vaudevillians who bore an approximate likeness to Bud and Lou. The men needed were the men found: Wally Brown and Alan Carney." In addition to their inexpensive starring vehicles, Brown and Carney co-starred in Step Lively, a musical remake of the Marx Brothers film Room Service, featuring George Murphy in the "Groucho" role, with Brown & Carney as his assistants.{{Cite news|title='IT SOUNDS TOO MUCH LIKE COMRADE': THE PRESERVATION OF AMERICAN IDEALS IN ROOM SERVICE|author=Trainor, Sebastian|date=Spring 2008|work=The Journal of American Drama and Theatre|pages=29-48,142|quote=In 1938 the farce was filmed with the Marx Brothers as its new stars. Then, in 1944, during the closing phases of World War II, it was adapted into a movie musical—with the new title, Step Lively—featuring a young Frank Sinatra crooning in a leading role, and future Republican U.S. Senator George Murphy as the star. [...] STEP LIVELY, based on the stage play Room Service by John P. Murray and Alien Boretz. Screenplay by Warren Duff and Peter Milne. [...] Released by RKO Studios on Friday, July 28, 1944.
Shoestring Producer [Gordon Miller] ..... George Murphy
Asst. to the Producer [Harry] ............. Alan Carney
Play Director [Binion] ..................... Wally Brown|id={{ProQuest|197723783}}}} The comedy team was also featured on a live USO tour arranged by the studio.{{Cite news|title=HVC Sends Stars To Nearby Projects|author=|date=December 28, 1943|work=The Hollywood Reporter|pages=3|quote=Adding to the list of Hollywood personalities scattered all over the nation on holiday tours to visit servicemen, more than a score of players were set yesterday by the Hollywood Victory Committee and USO-Camp Shows, Inc., for hospitals and camps in the Southern California area. One group, with Harpo Marx, Frances McCann, Wally Brown, Alan Carney and Lorraine Kruger, is spending the week in the San Diego area, with Cary Grant scheduled to join the troupe Dec. 29 and 30.|id={{ProQuest|2298680416}}}}

After 1946's Genius at Work, RKO terminated the team's contracts.Erickson, [https://books.google.com/books?id=NE7DPJWdXd4C&pg=PA104&dq=%22After+genius+at+work%22 op. cit., p. 104.] "After Genius at Work in 1946, RKO dissolved the team of Brown and Carney; the two comedians went their separate ways." Alan Carney continued in films and television as a supporting player, working prolifically for Walt Disney the 1960s and 1970s. One of Carney's best latter-day roles was as Mayor Dawgmeat in the 1959 musical film Li'l Abner. On television he played Harry Nolan in "Have Gun Will Travel" S1 E32 "The Five Books of Owen Deaver" which aired 4/25/1958.

Carney appeared with Wally Brown in Who Was That Lady? (1960) and in Walt Disney's The Absent-Minded Professor (1961), but they never appeared in the same scenes together. The duo was slated to be reunited for It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), but Brown died not long before filming began.

Carney made his last film appearance in Walt Disney Productions' Herbie Rides Again, released in 1974 after his death.

In 1936, Carney married Elinor D. Miller.{{cite news |last1=Niemeyer |first1=Harry Jr. |title=Discovered In St. Louis |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/st-louis-post-dispatch-alan-carney/169388396/ |access-date=April 2, 2025 |work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch |agency=Everyday Magazine |date=March 7, 1943 |page=2 H|via = Newspapers.com }}[https://www.newspapers.com/image/174423496/?clipping_id=169463608 "Applications for Marriage Licenses"]. The Philadelphia Inquirer. May 23, 1936. p. 21. Retrieved April 3, 2025. "Elinor D. Miller, 22, 3606 Fairmount Ave., and David J. Boughal, 26, Brooklyn." They divorced sometime between 1947 and 1953.[https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-windsor-star/169466888/ "Social and Personal"]. The Windsor Star. June 20, 1947. p. 29. "Miss Terry Tomolillo of Louis avenue returned by plane from Hollywood, California, she spent the past month as the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Alan Carney of Laurel Canyon drive, North Hollywood."[https://www.dailynews.com/obituaries/elinor-carney-wilson-ca/ Obituary: Elinor Carney Wilson]. Los Angeles Daily News. September 13, 2003. Retrieved April 3, 2025. "Elinor married Alan Carney, the noted comedian, actor and screenwriter in the early 1940’s after enjoying a career as a dancer with the Rockettes and the Sally Rand Chorus in New York. After a divorce she married Alan Wilson, also a comedian and writer, in 1953."

Carney died in Van Nuys, California, on May 2, 1973, at age 63, from a heart attack brought on by the excitement of winning the daily double at Hollywood Park Racetrack.{{cite news |title=Alan Carney Dies. Comedian Was 63 |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1973/05/05/archives/alan-carney-dies-comedian-was-63.html|quote=Alan Carney, film and stage comedian who was at one time under contract to both R.K.O. and Disney Studios, died Wednesday of a heart attack after having won the daily double at Hollywood Park. |newspaper=The New York Times |date=May 5, 1973 |accessdate=2015-02-10 }}

{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}

• Gildersleeve's Bad Day (1943) as Toad
• Mr. Lucky (1943) as Crunk
• Mexican Spitfire's Blessed Event (1943) as Navajo Room Bartender
• The Adventures of a Rookie (1943) as Mike Strager
• Gangway for Tomorrow (1943) as Swallow
• Around the World (1943) as Joe Gimpus
• Rookies in Burma (1943) as Mike Strager
• Seven Days Ashore (1944) as Orval 'Handsome' Martin
• Step Lively (1944) as Harry
• Girl Rush (1944) as Mike Strager
• Zombies on Broadway (1945) as Mike Strager
• Radio Stars on Parade (1945) as Mike Strager
• Genius at Work (1946) as Mike Strager
• Vacation in Reno (1946) as Angel
• The Pretender (1947) as Victor Korrin
• Hideout (1949) as Evans
• Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! (1958) as Bartender / Owner (uncredited)
• Compulsion (1959) as Globe Newspaper Editor (uncredited)
• Li'l Abner (1959) as Mayor Daniel D. Dogmeat
• Who Was That Lady? (1960) as Building Superintendent (uncredited)
• North to Alaska (1960) as Bartender (uncredited)
• Swingin' Along (1961) as Officer Sullivan
• The Absent-Minded Professor (1961) as First Referee
• The Comancheros (1961) as Stillwater Bartender (uncredited)
• Son of Flubber (1963) as Referee
• It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) as a sergeant with the Santa Rosita Police Department
• Sylvia (1965) as Gus
• Monkeys, Go Home! (1967) as Grocer
• The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin (1967) as Joe Turner
• Blackbeard's Ghost (1968) as Bartender
• Flap (1970) as Member of Circus Train (uncredited)
• Wild Rovers (1971) as Palace Bartender
• Herbie Rides Again (1974) as Judge with Cigar at Chicken Run (final film role)

{{Div col end}}

{{notelist}}

{{reflist}}

{{Commons category}}

• {{IMDb name|id=0138768|name=Alan Carney}}
• {{IBDB name}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carney, Alan}}

Category:1909 births

Category:1973 deaths

Category:American male film actors

Category:American vaudeville performers

Category:Male actors from Brooklyn

Category:20th-century American male actors

Category:RKO Pictures contract players

Category:American male comedians

Category:Comedians from Brooklyn

Category:American people of Irish descent