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Arthur Q. Bryan

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Arthur Q. Bryan
Born
Arthur Quirk Bryan[1]

(1899-05-08)May 8, 1899
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
DiedNovember 18, 1959(1959-11-18) (aged 60)
Hollywood, U.S.
Resting placeValhalla Memorial Park Cemetery
Occupation(s)Actor, voice actor, comedian, radio personality
Years active1922–1959
Known forVoice of Elmer Fudd (1939–1959)

Arthur Quirk Bryan (May 8, 1899 – November 18, 1959) was an American actor, voice actor, comedian and radio personality, best remembered for his longtime recurring role as well-spoken, wisecracking Dr. Gamble on the radio comedy Fibber McGee and Molly and for creating the voice of the Warner Brothers cartoon character Elmer Fudd.[2]

Early career and Looney Tunes

Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Bryan sang in a number of churches in the New York City area and had plans to be a professional singer.[3] He sang tenor with the Seiberling Singers and the Jeddo Highlanders on NBC radio.[4]

Radio

In the late 1920s, Bryan was an announcer at WOR radio in New York City.[5] Contemporary radio listings in a daily newspaper indicate that he was still at WOR as late as September 13, 1931.[6] In October 1931, he began working as an announcer at WCAU in Philadelphia,[4] and in 1933 he moved to Philadelphia's WIP[7] By 1934, he was heard on WHN in New York.[8] In 1938–1939, he was a regular on The Grouch Club, which aired on the CBS Pacific network[9] and was featured in some short-subject films made by the group.[10]

Bryan's work in animation did not go unnoticed by radio producers. Although his first forays into that medium were accompanied by instructions that he use the Fudd voice, Bryan soon came to the attention of Don Quinn and Phil Leslie, the production and writing team responsible for Fibber McGee and Molly and their supporting characters, two of whom spun off into their own radio hits, The Great Gildersleeve and Beulah. The Gildersleeve character, played by Harold Peary, became series broadcasting's first successful spin-off hit; that plus the onset of World War II (which cost Fibber McGee & Molly their Mayor La Trivia, when Gale Gordon went into the Coast Guard in early 1942, and "The Old Timer" Bill Thompson was drafted almost a year later) nabbed nearly every other remaining male voice.

Bryan was first hired for the new Great Gildersleeve series, to play the part of Cousin Octavia's secretary/assistant, Lucius Llewellyn (using the Elmer Fudd voice), and later one of Gildersleeve's cronies, Floyd Munson, the barber. His work on the series (in Bryan's natural voice) so impressed Quinn and Leslie, that Bryan was added to the cast of their main show, Fibber McGee and Molly, in 1943. On Fibber, Bryan found himself in the unusual position of being smarter than, more educated than, and generally superior to his foil, titular braggart McGee. Playing Doc Gamble, Bryan was a polar opposite of the Fudd character—Gamble was well-spoken, even-tempered, and usually got the better of McGee, which Elmer could never do with Bugs.

In the early 1940s, Bryan played Waymond Wadcliffe on the Al Pearce & His Gang program on CBS.[11] Bryan starred as Major Hoople (from June 22, 1942 to April 26, 1943) in The Charlotte Greenwood Show.[12] and played Lt. Levinson on radio's Richard Diamond, Private Detective (from September 6, 1950 to June 29, 1951). In the mid-1940s, he had the role of Duke on Forever Ernest.[13] He also appeared shortly in an episode of the Father Knows Best radio sitcom (episode 41) as Mr. Gill the car mechanic.[citation needed]

Films

Bryan first became involved with the movie industry when he moved to Hollywood in 1936 to become a scenario writer for Paramount Pictures.[14]

Bryan's live action work remained largely in uncredited cameo roles, usually employing the Fudd persona, or minor supporting roles in B-movies (like the apoplectic newspaper editor in the Bela Lugosi thriller The Devil Bat). In the 1940 Charley Chase short South of the Boudoir, he speaks in his normal voice, but at one point slips into his Fudd voice while coming on to Chase's wife. He did work steadily, appearing in dozens of films over the years, in such successful releases as Samson and Delilah; two Bob Hope/Bing Crosby "Road" films, Road to Singapore and Road to Rio; and the Ozzie and Harriet feature Here Come the Nelsons. He appeared frequently in live-action short-subjects for Warner Bros. and Columbia Pictures.[citation needed]

Bryan continued as the Fibber show's secondary male lead, even after Thompson and (for a time) Gordon returned to the show, and he stayed as Dr. Gamble all the way through its final incarnation on the NBC Monitor series in 1959, as well as playing Floyd on "Gildersleeve" through its conclusion in 1954. Bryan's final original work as Fudd came in the Warner Bros. Edward R. Murrow spoof Person to Bunny.

Television

Bryan was a panelist on the early TV quiz show Quizzing the News (1948–49). He would be found in numerous productions in the early 1950s predominantly in 1-episode bit parts, such as in the early filmed for television comedy, Beulah. He also landed a minor television role in 1955, as the handyman Mr. Boggs in the short-lived CBS sitcom, Professional Father. On The Halls of Ivy, Bryan played Professor Warren, head of the college's history department, a role he also had on the radio program of the same name.[3]

Death

Bryan died of a sudden heart attack on November 18, 1959 in Hollywood. Hal Smith assumed the voice of Elmer Fudd in 1960s Looney Tunes productions, and beginning in the early 1970s Mel Blanc would voice this character for various special television appearances. Bryan is buried in Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery.

Legacy

The DVD specials for some cartoons such as What's Opera, Doc?, in Looney Tunes Golden Collection, includes bits of conversation between Bryan and Mel Blanc, affording a rare opportunity to hear them working together, and to hear Bryan's natural voice. Bryan's natural voice is also heard as the tired hotel guest in A Pest in the House, in which Bryan "talks to himself", Elmer Fudd being the hotel manager.[citation needed]

Selected filmography

References

  1. ^ See the September 12, 1918 draft card of Arthur Q. Bryan, available on ancestry.com
  2. ^ "Arthur Q. Bryan Credits". Tvguide.com. Retrieved June 17, 2014.
  3. ^ a b "Browns And Giants on KDUB-TV Today". Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. October 31, 1954. p. 61. Retrieved August 22, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  4. ^ a b "Behind the Microphone" (PDF). Broadcasting. November 15, 1931. p. 19. Retrieved August 23, 2015.[permanent dead link]
  5. ^ "Echoes from the Loud-Speaker". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. September 8, 1929. p. 70. Retrieved August 22, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  6. ^ "(radio listing)". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. September 13, 1931. p. 72. Retrieved August 22, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  7. ^ "Behind the Microphone" (PDF). Broadcasting. June 1, 1933. p. 21. Retrieved August 23, 2015.[permanent dead link]
  8. ^ Ranson, Jo (April 12, 1936). "Out of a Blue Sky". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. p. 34. Retrieved August 22, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  9. ^ "The Grouch Club". OTRRPedia. Old Time Radio Researchers Group. Retrieved August 23, 2015.
  10. ^ "New 'Grouch' Comedy". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. November 12, 1938. p. 20. Retrieved August 22, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  11. ^ Glickman, David (May 5, 1941). "Screenland Culls New Talent From Radio" (PDF). Broadcasting. Retrieved August 21, 2015.[permanent dead link]
  12. ^ Dunning, John (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio (Revised ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 150. ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3. Retrieved September 1, 2019.
  13. ^ "Arthur Q. Bryan, Comedy Master On 'Forever Ernest'". Harrisburg Telegraph. July 6, 1946. p. 17. Retrieved August 22, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  14. ^ "Behind the Microphone" (PDF). Broadcasting. October 1, 1936. p. 44. Retrieved August 23, 2015.[permanent dead link]
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