Eddie Foy Jr.
Eddie Foy Jr. | |
|---|---|
 Foy Jr. in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) | |
| Born | Edwin Fitzgerald Jr. February 4, 1905 |
| Died | July 15, 1983 (aged 78) |
| Resting place | Holy Sepulchre Cemetery |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1915–1977 |
| Spouse(s) |
Barbara Newberry
(m. 1930; div. 1932)Anna Marie McKenney
(m. 1933; died 1952) |
| Children | Eddie Foy III |
| Parent | Eddie Foy |
Edwin Fitzgerald Jr. (February 4, 1905 – July 15, 1983), known professionally as Eddie Foy Jr., was an American stage, film, and television actor.
Early life
Edwin Fitzgerald Jr. was born on February 4, 1905, in New Rochelle, New York, the son of vaudevillian Eddie Foy and his third wife, Madeline Morando. He was one of the "Seven Little Foys" immortalized in the 1955 film of the same name. Of the seven, he had the longest performing career, and the only one in movies (though six Foys appeared in two short films directed by his elder brother Bryan Foy).
Career
He made his Broadway debut in Florenz Ziegfeld's 1929 extravaganza Show Girl alongside Ruby Keeler and Jimmy Durante. He also appeared in At Home Abroad, The Cat and the Fiddle, The Red Mill, The Pajama Game, Donnybrook!, and Rumple (1957), for which he received a Tony Award nomination as Best Actor in a Musical.
Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Foy appeared in dozens of B movies. He closely resembled his father,[1] and portrayed him in four feature films: Frontier Marshal (1939), Lillian Russell (1940), Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), and Wilson (1944), and again in a 1964 telefilm about the family's early days in vaudeville. Additional film credits include The Farmer Takes a Wife, The Pajama Game, Bells Are Ringing, and Gidget Goes Hawaiian.
Foy found steady work with the advent of television. In addition to a leading role in the first hour-long sitcom, Fair Exchange, he made numerous guest appearances on such programs as The Gisele MacKenzie Show, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Glynis, My Living Doll, Burke's Law, ABC Stage 67, My Three Sons, and Nanny and the Professor.
Personal life
In 1933, Foy married Anna Marie McKenney. They had a son, Eddie Foy III,[2] and she died in 1952.[3]
Death
Foy died of pancreatic cancer in Los Angeles on July 15, 1983 at age 78.[4] He is buried alongside his father and siblings (except his brother Bryan) in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in New Rochelle, New York.[citation needed]
Filmography
- The Swell Head (1928)
- Queen of the Night Clubs (1929) – Eddie Parr
- Leathernecking (1930) – Chick Evans
- Nearly Naked (1933) – Eddie
- Broadway Thru a Keyhole (1933) – Joan's partner
- Myrt and Marge (1933) – Eddie Hanley
- Moulin Rouge (1934) – Magician (uncredited)
- Wonder Bar (1934) – Chorus Boy / Angel Measuring Wings (uncredited)
- King of Burlesque (1936) – Dancer (uncredited)
- Star for a Night (1936) – Dancer (uncredited)
- College Holiday (1936) – Dancer (uncredited)
- Turn Off the Moon (1937) – Dancer
- Secret Service of the Air (1939) – Gabby Watters (#1 'Secret Service series')
- Women in the Wind (1939) – Denny Corson
- Code of the Secret Service (1939) – Gabby (#2 'Secret Service series')
- Frontier Marshal (1939) – Eddie Foy
- The Cowboy Quarterback (1939) – Steve Adams
- Smashing the Money Ring (1939) – Gabby (#3 'Secret Service series')
- Lillian Russell (1940) – Eddie Foy Sr.
- Murder in the Air (1940) – Gabby Watters (#4 'Secret Service series', final)
- A Fugitive from Justice (1940) – Ziggy
- Scatterbrain (1940) – Eddie MacIntyre
- The Texas Rangers Ride Again (1941) – Mandolin
- The Case of the Black Parrot (1941) – Tripod Daniels
- Rookies on Parade (1941) – Cliff Dugan
- Country Fair (1941) – Johnny Campbell
- Puddin' Head (1941) – Harold L. Montgomery Jr.
- Four Jacks and a Jill (1942) – Happy McScud
- Yokel Boy (1942) – Joe Ruddy
- Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) – Eddie Foy
- Powder Town (1942) – Mr. Billy Meeker
- Moonlight Masquerade (1942) – Lord Percy Ticklederry
- Joan of Ozark (1942) – Eddie McCabe
- Dixie Dugan (1943) – Matt Hogan
- Dixie (1943) – Mr. Felham
- And the Angels Sing (1944) – Fuzzy Johnson
- Wilson (1944) – Eddie Foy
- Honeychile (1951) – Eddie Price
- The Farmer Takes a Wife (1953) – Fortune Friendly
- Lucky Me (1954) – Duke McGee
- The Pajama Game (1957) – Vernon Hines
- Bells Are Ringing (1960) – J. Otto Prantz
- Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961) – Monty Stewart
- Gidget Goes to Rome (1963) – Beachgoer Wanting to Use Phone (uncredited)
- 30 Is a Dangerous Age, Cynthia (1968) – Oscar
- Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976) – Custard Pie Star
References
- ^ Hal Erickson, Eddie Foy, Jr. Biography, AllMovie.com
- ^ Mara, Margaret (April 12, 1946). "Mrs. Eddie Foy Jr. Is Superb in Difficult Role". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. New York, Brooklyn. p. 16. Retrieved June 9, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ McManus, Margaret (November 19, 1961). "Eddie Foy Jr. in Live TV Show". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Missouri, St. Louis. p. 199. Retrieved June 9, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Eddie Foy Jr., actor, dancer and comedian". The Boston Globe. Massachusetts, Boston. Reuter. July 16, 1983. p. 27. Retrieved June 9, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
External links
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
- American male stage actors
- American male film actors
- American male television actors
- American male child actors
- American male musical theatre actors
- Vaudeville performers
- 1905 births
- 1983 deaths
- American people of Irish descent
- Male actors from New Rochelle, New York
- 20th-century American male actors
- Deaths from pancreatic cancer
- Deaths from cancer in California
- Burials at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery (New Rochelle, New York)
- 20th-century American male singers
- 20th-century American singers