David Wayne

{{About|the actor|the heavy metal vocalist|David Wayne (singer)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = David Wayne

| image = DAVIDWayne.jpg

| image_size =

| caption = Wayne in 1955

| birth_date = {{birth date|1914|1|30}}

| birth_place = Traverse City, Michigan, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1995|2|9|1914|1|30}}

| death_place = Santa Monica, California, U.S.

| alma_mater = Western Michigan University

| birth_name = Wayne James McMeekan

| occupation = Actor

| years_active = 1936–1994

| spouse = {{marriage|Jane Gordon|1941|1993|reason=died}}

| children = 3

| awards = Theatre World Award (1947)
Tony Award (1947, 1954)

}}

David Wayne (born Wayne James McMeekan; January 30, 1914 – February 9, 1995) was an American stage and screen actor with a career spanning over 50 years.

Early life and career

Wayne was born in Traverse City, Michigan, the son of Helen Matilda (née Mason) and John David McMeekan. His mother died when he was four. He grew up in Bloomingdale, Michigan.{{Citation needed |date=April 2024}}

Wayne attended Western Michigan University for two years before working as a statistician in Cleveland. He began acting with Cleveland's Shakesperean repertory theatre in 1936.{{cite news| last1=Folkart| first1=Burt A.| title=David Wayne, 81; Versatile Actor Won 2 Tony Awards| url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-02-11-mn-30596-story.html| access-date=2 December 2019| work=Los Angeles Times| date=February 13, 1995| quote=In the early days of the war he drove an ambulance in Africa for the British. After the United States joined the war he served with the U.S. Army.}}

When World War II began, Wayne volunteered as an ambulance driver with the British Army in North Africa. When the United States entered the war he joined the United States Army.

Wayne's first major Broadway role was Og the leprechaun in Finian's Rainbow, for which he won the Theatre World Award{{cite web| title=Theatre World Award Recipients| url=http://www.theatreworldawards.org/past-recipients.html| website=Theatre World Awards| access-date=25 July 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170725015455/http://www.theatreworldawards.org/past-recipients.html| archive-date=25 July 2017}} and the first ever Tony for Actor, Supporting or Featured (Musical).{{cite web| title=Search Results: David Wayne| url=http://www.tonyawards.com/p/tonys_search| website=Tony Awards| access-date=25 July 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160831204617/http://www.tonyawards.com/p/tonys_search| archive-date=31 August 2016| url-status=dead}} While appearing in the play, he and co-star Albert Sharpe were recruited by producer David O. Selznick to play Irish characters in the film Portrait of Jennie (1948).

In 1948, Wayne was one of 50 applicants (out of approximately 700) granted membership in New York's newly formed Actors Studio.Kleiner, Dick. [https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1798&dat=19561221&id=5AUdAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zYoEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6848,5227672 "The Actors Studio: Making Stars Out of the Unknown,"] The Sarasota Journal. December 21, 1956, p. 26. "That first year, they interviewed around 700 actors and picked 50. In that first group were people like Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Tom Ewell, John Forsythe, Julie Harris, Kim Hunter, Karl Malden, E.G. Marshall, Margaret Phillips, Maureen Stapleton, Kim Stanley, Jo Van Fleet, Eli Wallach, Ray Walston and David Wayne."

He was awarded a second Tony for Best Actor (Dramatic) for The Teahouse of the August Moon and was nominated as Best Actor (Musical) for The Happy Time. He originated the role of Ensign Pulver in the classic stage comedy Mister Roberts and also appeared in Say, Darling; After the Fall; and Incident at Vichy.

Film and television career

In films, Wayne was most often cast as a supporting player, such as the charming cad and neighbor of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn's characters in Adam's Rib (1949). He portrayed the child killer, originally played by Peter Lorre, in the remake of M (1951), in a rare title and villainous role. Wayne appeared in four films with Marilyn Monroe, more than any other actor: As Young as You Feel (1951), We're Not Married (1952), O. Henry's Full House (1952) (although he shared no scenes with Monroe), and How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) where he had scenes with Monroe. He starred in The Tender Trap (1955) with Frank Sinatra, Debbie Reynolds, and Celeste Holm.

In 1955, Wayne starred in the NBC comedy Norby.{{r|etvs|page1=771}} Wayne appeared in the late 1950s on ABC's The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom and the Twilight Zone episode "Escape Clause". He starred as Darius Woodley in two 1961 episodes of NBC's The Outlaws starring Barton MacLane. Also in 1961, Wayne appeared in the Bell Telephone Company-produced driver safety film Anatomy of an Accident, about a family outing tragically cut short by a car accident.

He played the Mad Hatter, one of the recurring villains in the 1960s television series Batman. In 1964, he guest-starred in the series finale, "Pay Now, Die Later", of CBS's drama Mr. Broadway. Also in the 1960s, Wayne was a radio host on NBC's magazine program Monitor.{{citation needed|date=January 2018}}

File:As Young as You Feel trailer 1.jpg in trailer for As Young as You Feel (1951)]]

Wayne was known for his role as Dr. Charles Dutton in Michael Crichton's The Andromeda Strain (1971). He also appeared as Uncle Timothy Jamison in the NBC sitcom The Brian Keith Show and played Charles Dutton in The Good Life, also on NBC.{{r|etvs|page1=404–405}} Wayne made a guest appearance in a leading role for a 1975 episode of Gunsmoke titled "I Have Promises to Keep". He co-starred with Jim Hutton in the 1976 television series Ellery Queen (as Inspector Richard Queen).{{r|etvs|page1=305}}

In 1978, Wayne played James Lawrence in the ABC drama Family{{r|etvs|page1=324}}, and he played Digger Barnes in four episodes of the CBS soap opera Dallas.{{cite book| last1=Terrace| first1=Vincent| title=Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010| date=January 10, 2014| access-date=December 2, 2019| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YX_daEhlnbsC&q=dallas| publisher=McFarland| location=Jefferson, N.C.| isbn=978-0-7864-8641-0| page=229| edition=2nd}} Wayne's friend Keenan Wynn later replaced Wayne in this role. From 1979 to 1982, Wayne starred as Dr. Amos Weatherby in the television series House Calls.{{r|etvs|page1=480}}

Personal life

Wayne was married to Jane Gordon in 1941 and had two daughters and a son. In August 1970, their son disappeared and was presumed drowned during a camping and fishing trip.{{cite news| title=David Wayne's Son Missing With a Friend in Canada| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/08/24/archives/david-waynes-son-missing-with-a-friend-in-canada.html| date=August 24, 1970| newspaper=The New York Times}}{{cite news| title=Actor's Son Believed Dead| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/08/29/archives/actors-son-believed-dead.html| date=August 29, 1970| newspaper=The New York Times| access-date=December 2, 2019}} Wayne's wife, daughter of opera vocalist Jeanne Gordon, died in 1993.{{Citation needed |date=April 2024}}

Wayne was a lifelong Democrat who supported Adlai Stevenson's campaign during the 1952 presidential election.Motion Picture and Television Magazine, November 1952, page 33, Ideal Publishers

Death

On February 9, 1995, Wayne died in his Santa Monica, California, home from complications of lung cancer at the age of 81.{{cite news| last1=Lueck| first1=Thomas J.| title=David Wayne, Sprightly and Versatile Actor, Is Dead at 81| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/02/13/obituaries/david-wayne-sprightly-and-versatile-actor-is-dead-at-81.html| access-date=27 June 2015| newspaper=The New York Times| date=February 13, 1995| quote=When World War II began he was rejected by the Army, but volunteered to serve as an ambulance driver in North Africa with the American Field Service.| archive-url=https://archive.today/20130630012840/http://www.nytimes.com/1995/02/13/obituaries/david-wayne-sprightly-and-versatile-actor-is-dead-at-81.html#selection-183.0-183.57| archive-date=30 June 2013| url-status=dead}} His remains were cremated and distributed to his family.{{Citation needed |date=April 2024}}

Awards

Wayne won two Tony Awards, one in 1947 for Finian's Rainbow and one in 1954 for The Teahouse of the August Moon.

Filmography

Features:

Stranger on the Third Floor (1940) as Cab Driver (uncredited)
Portrait of Jennie (1948) as Gus O'Toole
Adam's Rib (1949) as Kip Lurie
The Reformer and the Redhead (1950) as Arthur Colner Maxwell
Stella (1950) as Carl Granger
My Blue Heaven (1950) as Walter Pringle
Up Front (1951) as Joe
M (1951) as Martin W. Harrow
As Young as You Feel (1951) as Joe Elliott
With a Song in My Heart (1952) as Don Ross
Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie (1952) as Ben Halper
We're Not Married! (1952) as Jeff Norris
O. Henry's Full House (1952) as Horace (segment "The Cop and the Anthem")
The I Don't Care Girl (1953) as Ed McCoy
Tonight We Sing (1953) as Sol Hurok
Down Among the Sheltering Palms (1953) as Lieutenant Carl G. Schmidt
How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) as Freddie Denmark
Hell and High Water (1954) as Tugboat Walker
The Tender Trap (1955) as Joe McCall
The Naked Hills (1956) as Tracy Powell
The Three Faces of Eve (1957) as Ralph White
The Sad Sack (1957) as Corporal Larry Dolan
The Last Angry Man (1959) as Woodrow 'Woody' Thrasher
The Big Gamble (1961) as Samuel Brennan
The Andromeda Strain (1971) as Dr. Charles Dutton
The African Elephant (1971, Documentary) as Narrator
Huckleberry Finn (1974) as The Duke
The Front Page (1974) as Bensinger
Tubby the Tuba (1975) as Pee-Wee the Piccolo (voice)
The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975) as Colonel T.R. Clydesdale
A Place to Be (1979, Documentary) as Narrator
The Prize Fighter (1979) as Pop Morgan
Finders Keepers (1984) as Stapleton
The Survivalist (1987) as Dub Daniels

Short Subjects:

Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Awards (1951) as Himself
Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Night Life (1952) as Himself
Anatomy of an Accident (1961) as John Avery
John F. Kennedy: 1917-1963 (1979) as Narrator

Television work

Great Catherine (1948, TV Movie)
Norby (1955) as Preston Norby / Pearson Norby (canceled after 13 episodes)
Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1957) (Season 2 Episode 28: "One More Mile to Go") as Sam Jacoby
The Strawberry Blonde (1959, TV Movie) as Biff Grimes
The Twilight Zone, "Escape Clause" (1959) as Walter Bedeker
Wagon Train (1960) ('The Shad Bennington Story') as Shadrack Bennington
Naked City, "The Multiplicity of Herbert Konish" (1962) as Herbert Konish
Teahouse of the August Moon (1962 TV movie) as Sakini
Kings of Broadway (1962, TV Movie) (unsold pilot)
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1963) (Season 1 Episode 15: "The Thirty-First of February") as Andrew Anderson
Cowboy and the Tiger (1963, TV Movie) as Narrator (unsold pilot)
Lamp At Midnight (1966, TV Movie) as Father Firenzuola
Batman (1966, guest villain, episodes 13, 14, 69, 70) as The Mad Hatter
Arsenic and Old Lace (1969, TV Movie) as Teddy Brewster
The Boy Who Stole the Elephant (1970, TV Movie) as Colonel Rufus Ryder
Night Gallery, "The Diary" (1971) as Dr. Mill (segment "The Diary")
Mooch Goes to Hollywood (1971, TV Movie) as Himself (uncredited)
The Good Life (1971–1972) as Charles Dutton
The Catcher (1972, TV Movie) as Armand Faber
The Dark Side (1972) (unsold pilot)
The Streets of San Francisco (1972, TV Series) as Wally Sensibaugh
Banacek ("Ten Thousand Dollars a Page") (1973) as Walter Tyson
Hawaii Five-O ("30,000 Rooms and I Have the Key") (1974) as Monsieur Bordeaux
Return of the Big Cat (1974, TV Movie) as Grandpa Jubal
Barney Miller ("Bureaucrat") (1975) as E. J. Heiss{{cite web |title=Barney Miller (TV series) "Bureaucrat" (1975) |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0519002/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm |access-date=12 July 2019 |website=IMDb}}
Gunsmoke ("I Have Promises to Keep") (1973-1975) as Reverend Byrne / Judge Warfield
It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman (1975, TV Movie) as Dr. Abner Sedgwick
Ellery Queen (1975–1976) as Inspector Richard Queen
Once an Eagle (1976, TV Mini-Series) as Colonel Terwilliger
In the Glitter Palace (1977, TV Movie) as Nate Redstone
Hunter ("Yesterday Upon the Stair") (1977)
Black Beauty (1978, TV Mini-Series) as Mr. Dowling / Narrator
Loose Change (1978, TV Mini-Series) as Dr. Moe Sinden
Murder at the Mardi Gras (1978, TV Movie) as Mickey Mills
Dallas (1978) as Digger Barnes
The Gift of Love (1978, TV Movie) as O'Henry / Narrator
The Girls in the Office (1979, TV Movie) as Ben Nayfack
An American Christmas Carol (1979, TV Movie) as Merrivale
Eight is Enough (1980) as Matt
House Calls (1979–1982) as Dr. Amos Weatherby
Matt Houston (1984) S2/Ep20, “Blood Ties” as Bill Houston
Murder, She Wrote (1985, TV Series) as Cyrus Leffingwell
Newhart (1985, TV Series) as Mr. Pittman (episode "Pirate Pete")
The Golden Girls (1986) as Big Daddy
Poker Alice (1987, TV Movie, based on the frontier gambler Poker Alice, with Elizabeth Taylor in the starring role) as Amos (final film role)

Stage appearances

As You Like It (1935) (Cleveland)
Escape This Night (April 22 – May 1938) (Broadway)
Dance Night (October 14–16, 1938) (Broadway)
The American Way (January 21 – September 23, 1939) (Broadway)
''The Scene of the Crime (March 28 – April 4, 1940) (Broadway)
The Merry Widow (Revival) (August 4, 1943 – May 6, 1944) (Broadway)
Peepshow (February 3–26, 1944) (Broadway)
Park Avenue (November 4, 1946 – January 4, 1947) (Broadway)
Finian's Rainbow (January 10, 1947 – October 2, 1948) (Broadway) (replaced by Philip Truex in February 1948)
Mister Roberts (February 18, 1948 – January 6, 1951) (Broadway) (replaced by Larry Blyden in 1950)
The Teahouse of the August Moon (October 15, 1953 – March 24, 1956) (Broadway) (replaced by Burgess Meredith in 1954)
The Ponder Heart (February 16 – June 23, 1956) (Broadway)
The Loud Red Patrick (October 3 – December 22, 1956) (Broadway)
Say, Darling (April 3, 1958 – January 17, 1959) (Broadway) (replaced by Eddie Albert in 1959)
Send Me No Flowers (December 5, 1960 – January 7, 1961) (Broadway)
Venus at Large (April 12–14, 1962) (Broadway)
Too True to Be Good (Revival) (March 12 – June 1, 1963) (Broadway)
After the Fall (January 23, 1964 – May 29, 1965) (ANTA Washington Square Theatre)
Marco Millions (February 20 – June 18, 1964) (ANTA Washington Square Theatre)
But For Whom Charlie (March 12 – July 2, 1964) (ANTA Washington Square Theatre)
Incident At Vichy (December 3, 1964 – May 7, 1965) (ANTA Washington Square Theatre)
The Yearling (December 10–11, 1965) (Broadway)
Show Boat (July 1966) Lincoln Center (Role; Capt. Andy)
The Happy Time (January 18 – September 28, 1968) (Broadway)

Radio appearances

Year	Program	Episode/source
class="wikitable"
1952	Stars in the Air	Good Sam{{cite news\| last1=Kirby\|first1=Walter\| title=Better Radio Programs for the Week\| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2477300/the_decatur_daily_review/\| newspaper=The Decatur Daily Review\| date=March 9, 1952\| page=42\| via=Newspapers.com\| access-date=May 23, 2015}} {{Open access}}
1953	Lux Radio Theatre	Wait 'Till the Sun Shines, Nellie{{cite news\| last1=Kirby\| first1=Walter\| title=Better Radio Programs for the Week\| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2687366/the_decatur_daily_review/\| newspaper=The Decatur Daily Review\| date=May 3, 1953\| page=52\| via=Newspapers.com\| access-date=June 26, 2015}} {{Open access}}