A New SYBIL'S "WHO'Z DAT?"... ESTELLE WINWOOD (January 24, 1883 - June 20, 1984).

Darlings! Mummy has made a decision! After reading dozens of posts and having hundreds of conversations with well-meaning folks who just don't know about the great CHARACTER actors who gave films the depth and genius that surrounded and supported the so-called "stars", I am going to post a regular, special entry called SYBIL'S "WHO'Z DAT??"....there'll be photos and a mini-bio, and the next time you see one of those familiar, fabulous faces that you just "can't quite place".......well, maybe these posts will help. Some of these actors worked more, had longer and broader careers, and ended up happier, more loved, and even wealthier than the "stars" that the public "worships"......I think there may be a metaphor in that! What do you think??? Our guest this week is Estelle Winwood (January 24, 1883 – June 20, 1984)!!!

No! You’re seeing those dates right folks!!! She lived to be 101 years old….all the way back in 1984!! Did Willard Scott do a tribute??? Born Estelle Ruth Goodwin in England, she decided at five years of age to be an actress, and with her mother’s support she trained with the Lyric Stage Academy in London, before making her professional debut in Johannesburg at the age of 20. During the First World War she joined the Liverpool Repertory Company in Liverpool, Lancashire before moving on to a career in the West End theatre in London. She moved to the U.S. in 1916 and made her Broadway début in New York City; and, until the beginning of the 1930s, she divided her time between New York City and London. Throughout her career, her first love was the theatre; and, as the years passed, she appeared less frequently in London and became a frequent performer on Broadway, appearing in such plays as A SUCCESSFUL CALAMITY (1917), A LITTLE JOURNEY (1918), SPRING CLEANING (1923), THE DISTAFF SIDE (1934), THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST (which she also directed, 1939), WHEN WE ARE MARRIED (1939), LADIES IN RETIREMENT (1940), THE PIRATE (1942), TEN LITTLE INDIANS (1944), LADY WINDERMERE'S FAN (1947), and THE MADWOMAN OF CHAILLOT (1948). Like many stage actors of her era, she expressed a distaste for films and resisted the offers she received during the 1920s. Finally, she relented and made her film début in NIGHT ANGEL (1931), but her scenes were cut before the film's release. Her official film début came in THE HOUSE OF TRENT (1933), followed by QUALITY STREET (1937).

During the 1940s she continued her stage work with no films whatsoever, but in the 50s she began to take an interest in the new medium of Television. Because of her eccentric appearance and delivery, she guest starred on a wide variety of tv shows including the TWILIGHT ZONE, ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS, THE DONNA REED SHOW, DR. KILDARE, PERRY MASON, BEWITCHED, BATMAN, LOVE AMERICAN STYLE, THE REAL McCOYS, DENNIS THE MENACE, and several others. In the 1950s, 60s, and 70s she continued both onstage and in television making only occasional but unforgettable appearances in films like THE GLASS SLIPPER (1955), THE SWAN (1956), DARBY O’GILL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE (1959), THE MISFITS (1961), THE MAGIC SWORD (1962), THE NOTORIOUS LANDLADY (1962), DEAD RINGER (1964), CAMELOT (1967) and THE PRODUCERS (1968). Winwood's final film appearance, at age 92 in MURDER BY DEATH (1976), was as Elsa Lanchester’s character's ancient nursemaid. In this film, she joined other veteran actors spoofing some of the most popular detective characters in murder mysteries. When she made her final television appearance in a 1979 episode of QUINCY she officially became, at age 96, the oldest actor working in the U.S., beating out fellow British actress Ethel Griffies, who worked until her 90s. Winwood ultimately achieved an eighty-year career on the stage from her début at age 16 until her final appearance at age 100, playing Sir Rex Harrison’s mother in his final MY FAIR LADY tour in 1983.

In the 1930s she was very good friends with Tallulah Bankhead and actresses Eva Le Gallienne and Blyth Daly. They were dubbed "The Four Riders of the Algonquin" in the early silent film days, because of their appearances together at the "Algonquin Round Table". Winwood was married four times but bore no children. She died in her sleep in Woodland Hills, California, in 1984, at age 101. She was the oldest member in the history of the Screen Actors Guild. She was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery. When Estelle was asked, on the occasion of her 100th birthday, how she felt to have lived so long, she replied, "How rude of you to remind me!".

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A New Sybil Bruncheon's "WHO'Z DAT?"... FRANKLIN PANGBORN (January 23, 1889 – July 20, 1958)

Darlings! Mummy has made a decision! After reading dozens of posts and having hundreds of conversations with well-meaning folks who just don't know about the great CHARACTER actors who gave films the depth and genius that surrounded and supported the so-called "stars", I am going to post a regular, special entry called SYBIL'S "WHO'Z DAT??"....there'll be photos and a mini-bio, and the next time you see one of those familiar, fabulous faces that you just "can't quite place".......well, maybe these posts will help. Some of these actors worked more, had longer and broader careers, and ended up happier, more loved, and even wealthier than the "stars" that the public "worships"......I think there may be a metaphor in that! What do you think??? Well, a few weeks ago, we reviewed the wonderful talent and character of Eric Blore, an actor who was thought of as one of the best butler, floorwalker, hotel manager-types Hollywood ever produced. And if he had a rival, it would be our next guest, Mr. Franklin Pangborn (January 23, 1889 – July 20, 1958)

Although most people believed that he was British, he was actually born in Newark, New Jersey (!) Very little is known of his early years, education, or career. An encounter with actress Mildred Holland when he was 17 led to Pangborn's first professional acting experience. He was working for an insurance company when she learned about his ambitions for acting and offered him an extra's position with her company at $12 per week, initially during his two weeks' vacation. That opportunity grew into four years' touring with Holland and her troupe. Following that, he acted in Jessie Bonstelle’s stock company.

He first appeared in Broadway theatre in 1911 and appeared in an additional five plays through to 1913. Again, nothing seems to be known about him until he served in the Army during World War I in 1917, and he doesn’t reappear in the records until his role in a 1924 play again on Broadway. Interestingly, for someone later identified mainly with comedy, Pangborn's early theatrical roles were mostly dramatic and included Armand Duval in CAMILLE, another role in a play adaptation of BEN HUR, and two parts in JOSEPH AND HIS BRETHERN. 

But Hollywood saw things differently. From his debut film in the silent EXIT SMILING (1926) to his final appearance in THE STORY OF MANKIND (1957), Pangborn was cast in almost nothing but comedy roles. In the early 1930s, Pangborn worked in short subjects for Mack Sennett, Hal Roach, Universal Pictures, Columbia Pictures, and Pathé, always in support of the leading players. For example, he played a befuddled photographer opposite “Spanky” McFarland in the OUR GANG short subject WILD POSES (1933). He also appeared in scores of feature films in small roles, cameos, and recurring gags. With his prissy voice and floor-walker demeanor, Pangborn became the perfect desk clerk, dressmaker, society secretary, or all-around busybody in well over 100 films. As a matter of fact, both he AND Eric Blore were cast as comic hotel managers in FLYING DOWN TO RIO (1933), the film that officially announced the pairing of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire for the first time.

Pangborn was a favorite of Mack Sennett who cast him repeatedly in short subjects. Most of Pangborn's pre-1936 appearances were in bits or minor roles, but a brief turn as a snotty society scavenger-hunt scorekeeper opposite Carole Lombard and William Powell in MY MAN GODFREY (1936) cemented his reputation as a surefire laugh-getter. The actor was a particular favorite of W.C. Fields, who saw to it that Pangborn was prominently cast in Fields' THE BANK DICK (1940) as hapless bank examiner J. Pinkerton Snoopington and again in NEVER GIVE A SUCKER AN EVEN BREAK (1941). He was a constant in smart comedy from Frank Capra and Gregory La Cava to the more extreme screwball comedies of Preston Sturges, though frequently upstaged with such a company of funny men as Sturges gathered around him. His appearance in Sturges’ HAIL THE CONQUERING HERO (1942) is perhaps his most riotous performance and his defining moment as celebrity comedian. Playing the chairman of the welcoming-home committee to the false-hero of Eddie Bracken, he is trying to coordinate all the festivities and caught in a literal battle of bands at the beginning of the film. Converged upon by various hokey town bands who all want to play the featured pieces, Pangborn attempts order but is methodically carried away as crowds of people arrive to suggest other songs and to assail him with arguments while the bands continue to play all the songs at once! It is musical chaos with Pangborn finally reduced to desperate blasts on a whistle and jumping up and down yelling "Not yet! Not yet!" It is one of the actor's finest pieces.

Yet Pangborn's usual stock of characters could fit drama as well. Actually, in HAIL THE CONQUERING HERO, his coordinator also has some dramatic scenes as well. He is used in dramas as a source of amusement as in NOW VOYAGER (1942) where he plays the cruise tourist director, waiting on deck for Bette Davis to join the tour of Rio De Janeiro. As an accomplished stage actor, he did miss the boards, and his friend Edward Everett Horton cast him in Horton's Los Angeles-based Majestic Theatre productions.

Pangborn played essentially the same character: prissy, polite, elegant, highly energetic, often officious, fastidious, somewhat nervous, prone to becoming flustered but essentially upbeat, and with immediately recognizable high-speed, patter-type speech. He typically played an officious desk clerk in a hotel, a self-important musician, a fastidious headwaiter, or an enthusiastic birdwatcher, and was usually put in a situation where he was frustrated or flustered by the antics of other characters. During the 30s and 40s, he appeared in over fifty films including classics like STAGE DOOR (1937), CAREFREE (1938), REBECCA OF SUNNYBROOK FARM (1938), SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS (1941), and THE PALM BEACH STORY (1942). Because of his brilliant ability at drawing a vivid character in just a few moments of screen time, he worked with and was admired by the greatest movie stars and directors of the golden age of Hollywood.

But times changed for Pangborn's specialties. Movies were more diverse and updated as the 1950s ensued. He immediately adapted to the ‘small screen’ which re-introduced him as a guest star on TV comedy shows, playing his beloved characters as cameo celebrations of his matter-of-fact stardom. Pangborn thrived on television, guesting both on sit-coms and variety shows, including an appearance as a giggling serial-killer in a "Red Skelton Show" comedy sketch. Pangborn was very briefly the announcer on Jack Paar’s “The Tonight Show”, but was fired after the first few weeks for a lack of "spontaneous enthusiasm" and replaced by Hugh Downs. The first episode is practically the only one that survives completely intact since the others were wiped by the network (except for selected clips!) to save money on videotape, the network's policy through the early 1970s. The show begins with Pangborn (enthusiastically!) reading the introduction with the coda "...and it's all live!".

Pangborn lived in Laguna Beach, California in a house with his mother and his "occasional boyfriend", according to William Mann in Behind the Screen. He died at 69 years of age on July 20, 1958 just a few months after his Jack Parr appearance and following cancer surgery. He is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale. The 1940 census lists his age as 40, ten years younger than birth records show. For all of his fine work in film, Franklin Pangborn has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1500 Vine Street.

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A New Sybil's "WHO'Z DAT?"... ALLEN JENKINS (April 9, 1900 - July 24, 1974)

Darlings! Mummy has made a decision! After reading dozens of posts and having hundreds of conversations with well-meaning folks who just don't know about the great CHARACTER actors who gave films the depth and genius that surrounded and supported the so-called "stars", I am going to post a regular, special entry called SYBIL'S "WHO'Z DAT??"....there'll be photos and a mini-bio, and the next time you see one of those familiar, fabulous faces that you just "can't quite place".......well, maybe these posts will help. Some of these actors worked more, had longer and broader careers, and ended up happier, more loved, and even wealthier than the "stars" that the public "worships"......I think there may be a metaphor in that! What do you think??? ….well, here’s one of those faces that you can’t miss or forget!...as a matter of fact, just to see his face automatically triggers the sound of his voice in many film fans! He’s Allen Jenkins (April 9, 1900 – July 20, 1974).

Born David Allen Curtis Jenkins in Staten Island, New York on April 9, 1900. Both of Allen Jenkins' parents were musical comedy performers, and he entered the theater as a stage mechanic after World War I, after having spent time working in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. He studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. In his first stage appearance, he danced next to James Cagney in a chorus line for an off-Broadway musical called PITTER-PATTER (1920), earning five dollars a week. He also appeared in Broadway plays between 1923 and 1962, including THE FRONT PAGE (1928). His big break came when he replaced Spencer Tracy for three weeks in the Broadway play THE LAST MILE (1930).

Jenkins was called to Hollywood by Darryl F. Zanuck and signed first to Paramount Pictures and shortly afterward to Warner Bros. His first role in films came in 1931, when he appeared as an ex-convict in the short STRAIGHT AND NARROW. He had originated the character of Frankie Wells in the Broadway production of BLESSED EVENT and reprised the role in its film adaptation, both in 1932. With the advent of talking pictures, he made a career out of playing comic henchmen, stooges, policemen, taxi drivers, and other 'tough guys' in numerous films of the 1930s and 1940s, especially for Warner Bros. where the actor made so many pictures that he was sometimes referred to as "the fifth Warner Brother." As outspoken and pugnacious off screen as on, Jenkins was a member in good standing of Hollywood's so-called "Irish Mafia," a rotating band of Hibernian actors (including James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Frank McHugh and James Gleason) who palled around incessantly. Vivid in even the smallest walk-ons roles, Jenkins was labeled the "greatest scene-stealer of the 1930s" by The New York Times. Some of his most iconic films include heavy “message dramas” like I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG (1932) with Paul Muni and classic Art Deco Busby Berkeley musicals like 42ND STREET (1933).

Popular but undisciplined and profligate with his money, Jenkins was reduced to "B" films by the 1940s and 1950s, including occasional appearances in RKO's Falcon films and the Bowery Boys epics at Monogram; still, he was as game as ever, and capable of taking any sort of physical punishment meted out to his characters. TV offered several opportunities for Jenkins in the 1950s and 1960s, notably his supporting role on 1956's HEY JEANNIE, a sitcom starring Scottish songstress Jeannie Carson, and 30 weeks' worth of voice-over work as Officer Dibble on the 1961 animated series Top Cat. Going the dinner theater and summer stock route in the 1960s, Jenkins was as wiry as ever onstage, but his eyesight had deteriorated to the point that he had to memorize where the furniture was set. Making ends meet between acting jobs, Jenkins took on work as varied as tool-and-die making for Douglas Aircraft and selling cars for a Santa Monica dealer. Asked in 1965 how he felt about "moonlighting", Jenkins (who in his heyday had commanded $4000 per week) growled, "I go where the work is and do what the work is! Moonlighting's a fact. The rest is for the birds." Towards the end of his life, Jenkins was hired for cameo roles by directors who fondly remembered the frail but still feisty actor from his glory days; one of Jenkins' last appearances was as a telegrapher in the final scene of Billy Wilder's THE FRONT PAGE (1974). Being a great character actor, he aged gracefully as his roles did moving smoothly through the years while the films and their subjects evolved. In 1959 Jenkins played the role of elevator operator Harry in the comedy PILLOW TALK with Doris Day and Rock Hudson.

Jenkins even voiced the character of Officer Charlie Dibble on the Hanna-Barbera TV cartoon, TOP CAT (1961–62). He was a regular on the television sitcom HEY, JEANNIE! (1956–57), starring Jeannie Carson and he often portrayed Muggsy on the 1950s-1970s CBS series THE RED SKELTON SHOW. He was also a guest star on many other television programs, such as THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., MR. & MRS. NORTH, I LOVE LUCY, PLAYHOUSE 90, THE ERNIE KOVACS SHOW, ZANE GREY THEATER, and YOUR SHOW OF SHOWS. He had a cameo appearance in IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD (1963). Eleven days before his death, he made his final appearance, at the end of Billy Wilder's remake of THE FRONT PAGE (1974); it was released posthumously.

Jenkins was married to Mary Landee from 1931 to 1962 when they divorced. They had three children. He went public with his alcoholism and was the first actor to speak in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate about it. He helped start the first Alcoholics Anonymous programs in California prisons for women. He was the seventh member of the Screen Actors Guild. Jenkins died of lung cancer early on July 20, 1974. He was 74 years old.

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A New Sybil's "WHO'Z DAT?"... CHARLES LANE (January 26, 1905 – July 9, 2007)

Darlings! Mummy has made a decision! After reading dozens of posts and having hundreds of conversations with well-meaning folks who just don't know about the great CHARACTER actors who gave films the depth and genius that surrounded and supported the so-called "stars", I am going to post a regular, special entry called SYBIL'S "WHO'Z DAT??"....there'll be photos and a mini-bio, and the next time you see one of those familiar, fabulous faces that you just "can't quite place".......well, maybe these posts will help. Some of these actors worked more, had longer and broader careers, and ended up happier, more loved, and even wealthier than the "stars" that the public "worships"......I think there may be a metaphor in that! What do you think??? Here’s a face that everyone has seen literally hundreds of times… and for nearly a century!! In fact, not only did his career last a record amount of time, but he lived to be 102…. Happy Birthday to Mr. Charles Lane (January 26, 1905 – July 9, 2007).

Born Charles Gerstle Levison in San Francisco, California, to Alice G. and Jacob B. Levison, he was, prior to his death, one of the last remaining survivors of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. Lane turned in his last performance at the age of 90. Lane appeared in many Frank Capra films, including YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU (1938), MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (1939), ARSENIC AND OLD LACE (1944) and IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946). His first film of more than 250 movies was as a hotel clerk in SMART MONEY (1931) starring Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney. Lane spent a short time as an insurance salesman before taking to the stage at the Pasadena Playhouse. Actor/director Irving Pichel first suggested that Lane go into acting in 1929, and four years later Lane was a founding member of the Screen Actors Guild, which he considered to be one of his most extraordinary achievements.

He became a favorite of director Frank Capra, who used him in several films; in IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, Lane played a seemingly hard nosed rent collector for the miserly Henry Potter (Lionel Barrymore), who tried to explain to his employer that many of his tenants were moving out, taking advantage of affordable mortgages provided by the film's protagonist, George Bailey (James Stewart). Lane also appeared in the 1949 film Mighty Joe Young, as one of the reporters cajoling Max O'Hara (Robert Armstrong) for information about the identity of "Mr. Joseph Young", the persona given featured billing on the front of the building, on opening night.

Although Lane appeared regularly on dozens of TV shows, he is most widely remembered for his portrayal of J. Homer Bedloe on the television situation comedy Petticoat Junction. Bedloe was a mean-spirited railroad executive who periodically visited the Shady Rest Hotel while seeking justification to end train service of the Hooterville Cannonball, but he never succeeded in that objective.

He was a good friend of Lucille Ball, and his specialty in playing scowling, beady-eyed, short tempered, no-nonsense professionals provided the perfect comic foil for Lucy's scatterbrained television character. He played several guest roles on I Love Lucy, most notably in the episode "Lucy Goes To the Hospital", where he is seated in the waiting room with Ricky while Lucy gives birth to their son. He also played the title role in the episode "The Business Manager", the casting director in "Lucy Tells The Truth. He also played the passport clerk in "Staten Island Ferry." Lane appeared twice in The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour. He later had recurring roles as shopkeeper Mr. Finch on Dennis the Menace and during the first season (1962–63) of Ball's The Lucy Show, playing banker Mr. Barnsdahl. According to The Lucy Book by Geoffrey Fidelman, Lane was turfed because he had trouble reciting his lines correctly. However, Lane was in reality a placeholder for Lucy's original choice, Gale Gordon, who joined the program in 1963 as Mr. Mooney after he was free from other contractual obligations.

In 1963, Lane appeared in the mega-comedy IT’S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD, playing the airport manager. His final acting role was at the age of 101 in 2006's The Night Before Christmas. His last television appearance was at the age of 90, when he appeared in the 1995 Disney TV remake of its 1970 teen comedy The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes with Kirk Cameron. In 2005, the TV Land Awards paid tribute to Lane by celebrating his 100th birthday. Seated in a wheelchair in the audience, which had sung “Happy Birthday” to him, Lane was presented with his award by Haley Joel Osment and then announced "If you're interested, I'm still available [for work]!" The audience gave him a standing ovation.

All told, Lane appeared in more than 250 films and hundreds of television shows. On his busiest days, Lane said he sometimes played more than one role, getting into costume and filming his two or three lines, then hurrying off to another set for a different costume and a different role. As for being typecast, Lane described it as "... a pain in the ass. You did something that was pretty good, and the picture was pretty good. But that pedigreed you into that type of part, which I thought was stupid and unfair, too. It didn't give me a chance, but it made the casting easier for the studio."

Lane's persona has been referenced in The Simpsons: on the audio commentary to the episode "Marge in Chains”, its director Jim Reardon states that Lane's performance in IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE inspired the character of the snide, humorless Blue-Haired Lawyer who appears in that and other episodes in the series. In 1931, Lane married Ruth Covell and they remained together for 70 years until her death in 2002. They had a son named Tom and a daughter named Alice. Despite his stern, hard-hearted demeanor in films and television, friends and acquaintances seem to unanimously describe Lane as a warm, funny and kind person. On January 26, 2007, Lane celebrated his 102nd birthday. He continued to live in the Brentwood home he bought with Ruth (for $46,000 in 1964) until his death. In the end, his son Tom Lane, said he was talking with his father at 9 p.m. on the evening of Monday, July 9, 2007 when he passed away. Charles Lane was 102. Lane was not the only person in his family to have a long life - his mother Alice died in her San Francisco home in 1973 aged 100.

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