Arthur William Matthew “Art”
Carney (November 4, 1918 – November 9, 2003) was an
American
actor in film, stage, television
and radio. Carney portrayed
the upstairs neighbor and sewer worker
Ed Norton, opposite
Jackie Gleason's
Ralph Kramden in the situation comedy
The Honeymooners.
Personal life
Carney,
youngest of six sons (Fred, Jack, Ned, Phil, Robert), was born in
Mount Vernon,
New York
, the son of Helen (née Farrell) and Edward Michael
Carney, who was a newspaper man and publicist. His family
was
Irish American and
Catholic. He attended A B Davis High School. Carney
was drafted as an infantryman during
World
War II.
During the Battle of Normandy
, he was wounded in the leg by shrapnel and walked with a limp for
the rest of his life.
Carney was married three times to two women: Jean Myers, from 1940
to 1965, and again from 1980 to his death; and Barbara Isaac from
December 21, 1966 to 1977. He had three children with Jean Myers:
Brian [1946], Eileen [1946] & Paul [1952].
Career
Radio
Carney was a comic singer with the
Horace
Heidt orchestra, which was heard often on radio during the
1930s, notably on the hugely successful
Pot o' Gold, the first big-money giveaway
show in 1939-41. Carney's film career began with an uncredited role
in
Pot o' Gold (1941), the radio program's spin-off
feature film, playing a member of Heidt's band. Carney, a gifted
mimic, worked steadily in radio during the 1940s, playing character
roles and impersonating celebrities. In 1941 he was the house comic
on the
big band remote series,
Matinee at Meadowbrook. One of his radio roles during the
1940s was the fish Red Lantern on
Land of the Lost. In 1943 he
played Billy Oldham on
Joe and Ethel Turp, based on
Damon Runyon stories. He appeared on
The Henry Morgan
Show in 1946-47. He impersonated
FDR on
The March of Time and
Dwight D. Eisenhower on
Living 1948. In
1950-51 he played Montague's father on
The Magnificent
Montague. He was a supporting player on
Casey, Crime
Photographer and
Gang
Busters.
Television
On the radio and television shows of the
The Morey Amsterdam Show from 1948 to
1950, Carney's character Charlie the doorman became known for his
catchphrase, "Ya know what I mean?", a
phrase so deeply embedded that it continues to have widespread
usage more than half a century later.
In 1950,
Jackie Gleason was starring
in a New York–based comedy-variety series,
Cavalcade of Stars, and played many
different characters. One regular character was Charlie Bratten, a
lunchroom loudmouth who insisted on spoiling a neighboring patron's
meal. Carney, established in New York as a reliable actor, played
Bratten's mild-mannered victim, Clem Finch. Gleason and Carney
developed a good working chemistry, and Gleason recruited Carney to
appear in other sketches, including the domestic-comedy skits
featuring
The
Honeymooners. Carney gained lifelong fame for his
portrayal of upstairs neighbor and sewer worker Ed Norton, opposite
Jackie Gleason's Ralph Kramden. The
success of these skits resulted in the famous filmed situation
comedy
The Honeymooners
and the
Honeymooners revivals that followed.
Beyond
The Honeymooners, Carney served as Gleason's
sidekick and troupe member during many of the Gleason's years on
television, which included several CBS runs of the Gleason variety
show and some
Honeymooners specials on ABC. Gleason picked
Carney to play Norton because he realized that Carney was so funny
that Gleason would have to work twice as hard to get laughs. This
"competition" between the two was likely a factor in the program's
consistently high level of humor. In fact, at one point during the
1950s, Carney was getting more media attention than Gleason,
prompting Gleason to scale back Carney's participation for a few
episodes. Popular demand restored Carney to prominence in the
Gleason shows.
Carney's good-naturedly goofy portrayal of Norton continues to
influence pop culture, particularly by inspiring the
Hanna-Barbera characters,
Boo-Boo Bear and
Barney Rubble.
He was nominated for seven
Emmy Awards
and won six.
In 1958, he starred in an ABC children's television special
Art
Carney Meets Peter and the Wolf, which also featured the
Bil Baird Marionettes. It combined an
original storyline with a marionette presentation of
Serge Prokofiev's
Peter and the Wolf. Some of
Prokofiev's other music was given lyrics written by
Ogden Nash. The special was a success and was
subsequently repeated twice.
Carney was also in an episode of
The Twilight Zone "Night of the
Meek". In 1964, he guest-starred in the episode "Smelling Like a
Rose" along with
Hal March and
Tina Louise in the CBS drama
Mr. Broadway, starring
Craig Stevens. He also starred as the
title character in the short-lived television drama,
Lannigan's Rabbi, which aired in 1977.
In 1978, Carney portrayed the nasty father of Ognir Rrats in the
1978 television special "Ringo" which starred
Ringo Starr.
Recordings
Carney recorded prolifically in the 1950s for
Columbia Records. Two of his hits were "The
Song of the Sewer," sung in character as Norton, and "'Twas the
Night Before Christmas," a spoken-word record in which Carney,
accompanied only by a jazz drummer, recited the famous Yuletide
poem in syncopation. Some of Carney's recordings were
comedy-novelty songs, but most were silly songs intended especially
for children. Unlike some entertainers who exaggerated their speech
patterns for young listeners, Carney respected his juvenile
audience and did not talk down to it.
Between his stints with Jackie Gleason, Carney worked steadily as a
character actor. In the season two opening episode of the
Batman television series, titled
"Shoot a Crooked Arrow" (1966), Carney gave a memorable performance
as the newly introduced villain "The Archer". In 1978, Carney
appeared in
The Star
Wars Holiday Special, a spin-off film to the
Star Wars series. In it, he played Trader
Saun Dann, a member of the
Rebel
Alliance who was a close friend of
Chewbacca and his family.
Films
In 1974, he won the
Academy
Award for Best Actor for his performance as Harry Coombes, an
elderly man going on the road with his pet cat, in
Harry and Tonto. He also appeared in
such films as
W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings,
The Late Show (as an aging
detective),
House Calls,
Movie Movie and
Going in Style (as a bored
senior citizen who joins in bank robberies). Later movies included
The Muppets Take
Manhattan (1984) and the thriller
Firestarter.
In 1981,
he portrayed Harry Truman, an 84-year-old lodge owner in the
half-fictional/half-real account of events leading to the eruption
of Mount St. Helens
, in the movie titled St. Helens. Although he
retired in the late 1980s, he returned in 1993 to make a small
cameo in the
Arnold
Schwarzenegger film,
Last
Action Hero.
In 1984, he portrayed
Santa Claus in the
holiday classic
The
Night They Saved Christmas with
Jaclyn Smith.
Mrs.
Claus was played by
June Lockhart
of
Lassie and
Lost In Space fame.
Broadway
Carney made his Broadway debut in 1957 as the lead in
The Rope
Dancers, a drama by Morton Wishengrad.
His subsequent stage
included the portrayal on Broadway
in 1965-67
of Felix Ungar in The Odd
Couple (opposite Walter
Matthau and then Jack Klugman as
Oscar). In 1969 he was nominated for a Tony Award for his
performance in
Brian Friel's
Lovers.
Death and legacy
Carney
died November 9, 2003 of natural causes at a rest home near his
home in Westbrook,
Connecticut
. Carney is interred at Riverside Cemetery in
Old Saybrook,
Connecticut
.
Filmography
Awards and tributes
References
External links
at 6627 Hollywood Blvd.
Restaurant.
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