https://lebeauleblog.com/2016/11/16/november-16-happy-birthday-maggie-gyllenhaal-and-george-s-kaufman/
Burgess Meredith (1907-1997) had a long film and television career. In the 1930s and ’40s he had film roles like George in Of Mice and Men and Ernie Pyle in The Story of GI Joe. He was yet another blacklisted actor in the 1950s, but revived his career in the 1960s with the help of director Otto Preminger. He is probably best-remembered, though, for two roles—as Mickey Goldmill, Rocky Balboa’s trainer (Meredith was an Oscar nominee for Rocky), and as The Penguin on the Batman TV series:
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https://lebeauleblog.com/2022/11/16/november-16-happy-birthday-burgess-meredith/
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A relatively young Burgess Meredith (1907-1997) is pictured above with Paulette Goddard. The two were married from 1944-1949. In the late 1920s, Meredith dropped out of Amherst College to begin an acting career lasting over sixty years.
During the 1970s, Meredith was nominated for two Oscars, two Emmys (winning one), a Golden Globe, and a Tony. One of his Oscar nominations was for his first appearance in his most famous feature film role.
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Meredith made his Broadway debut in 1930, in a revival of Romeo and Juliet. He spent a lot of time on stage during the 1930s, and again in the fifties, for reasons to be mentioned below. He had prominent roles in plays like John Van Druten’s Flowers of the Forest and Rudolph Besier’s The Barretts of Wimpole Street.
Meredith made his feature film debut in 1935, and soon became a recognized leading man, albeit not in the very top rank. He starred in films like Of Mice and Men (as George Milton) and The Story of G. I. Joe (as Ernie Pyle). However, at the end of the forties, he fell afoul of the Hollywood blacklist.
Limited to only a handful of film roles in the fifties, Meredith did a lot of stage work, began making TV appearances, and narrated a couple of documentaries. In the sixties, he began getting regular feature film work again, thanks to Otto Preminger, who cast him in films like Advise and Consent, The Cardinal, and In Harm’s Way.
During the sixties, Meredith also did a great deal of TV guest work. He was well known to a generation of TV viewers for his 21 appearances as The Penguin on Batman. He was a regular on the final season of NBC’s Mr. Novak, and on the early 1970s sci-fi series Search.
Meredith was a Tony nominee for 1974, for directing the play Ulysses in Nighttown, and an Oscar and Golden Globe nominee for the 1975 adaptation of Nathaniel West’s The Day of the Locust. A year later came his first appearance as Mickey Goldmill in Rocky. He then won an Emmy for starring as Joseph Welch on the TV movie Tail Gunner Joe, and was nominated again a year later for The Last Hurrah.
Meredith continued to work regularly in film until shortly before his death. He had major roles in films such as Foul Play, Clash of the Titans, and Grumpy Old Men. The 1995 sequel to the latter film was his final feature role.