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Joseph Cawthorn
Acting
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 Broa…
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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.
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BODY OF WORK
Joseph Cawthorn's Filmography
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The Postman Didn't Ring
as Silas Harwood
So Ends Our Night
as Leopold Potzloch
Scatterbrain
as Nicholas Raptis
Lillian Russell
as Leopold Damrosch
Crime Over London
as Mr. Sherwood / Reilly
Hot Money
as Max Dourfuss
One Rainy Afternoon
as Monique's Father
Brides Are Like That
as Fred Schultz
The Great Ziegfeld
as Dr. Ziegfeld
Freshman Love
as Wilson, Sr.
No Poster
Beautiful Dreamer
Harmony Lane
as Professor Henry Kleber
Page Miss Glory
as Mr. Freischutz
Bright Lights
as Oscar Schlemmer
Smart Girl
as Karl Krausemeyer
Naughty Marietta
as Herr 'Schumie' Schuman
Gold Diggers of 1935
as August Schultz
Sweet Music
as Sidney Selzer
Maybe It's Love
as Adolph Sr.
Sweet Adeline
as Oscar Schmidt
Music in the Air
as Hans Uppman
Young and Beautiful
as Herman Cline
The Human Side
as Fritz Speigal
Housewife
as Krueger (as Joe Cawthorne)
Twenty Million Sweethearts
as Herbert Brokman
The Last Gentleman
as Dr. Wilson
Lazy River
as Mr. Julius Ambrose
Broken Dreams
as Pop
Best of Enemies
as Gus Schneider
Made on Broadway
as Maxie Schultz
Blondie Johnson
as Jewelry Store Manager (as Joe Cawthorn)
Grand Slam
as Alex Alexandrovitch
Whistling in the Dark
as Barfuss
Men Are Such Fools
as Werner (as Joseph Cawthorne)
They Call It Sin
as Mr. Hollister
Love Me Tonight
as Dr. Armand de Fontinac
White Zombie
as Dr. Bruner
Peach-o-Reno
as Joe Bruno
The Runaround
as Lou
A Tailor-Made Man
as Huber
Kiki
as Alfred Rapp
The Princess and the Plumber
as Merkl
Dixiana
as Cornelius Van Horn, Carl's Father
Dance Hall
as Bremmer
Jazz Heaven
as Herman Kemple
The Taming of the Shrew
as Gremio
Street Girl
as Keppel - Cafe Owner
Speakeasy
as Yokel
Hold 'Em Yale
as Professor George Bradbury
Silk Legs
as Ezra Fulton
Very Confidential
as Donald Allen
Two Girls Wanted
as Philip Hancock
The Secret Studio
as Pa Merton