Eddie Foy Jr.
| Eddie Foy Jr. | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Edwin Fitzgerald Jr. February 4, 1905 New Rochelle, New York USA |
| Died |
July 15, 1983 (aged 78) Woodland Hills, California USA |
| Occupation | character actor |
| Years active | 1915–77 |
| Spouse(s) | First married to Barbara Newberry (divorced). Then Anna Marie McKenney (Mac Foy) |
| Parent(s) | 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.
Biography
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).
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, 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.
Foy died of pancreatic cancer in Woodland Hills, California on July 15, 1983. He is buried alongside his father and siblings in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in New Rochelle, New York.
Selected filmography
- Frontier Marshal (1939)
- Lillian Russell (1940)
- Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
- Joan of Ozark (1942)
- Wilson (1944)
- The Farmer Takes a Wife (1953)
- The Pajama Game (1957)
- Bells Are Ringing (1960)
- Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961)
- 30 Is a Dangerous Age, Cynthia (1968)
- Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976)
References
- ↑ Hal Erickson, Eddie Foy, Jr. Biography, AllMovie.com
External links
- Eddie Foy Jr. at the Internet Broadway Database
- Eddie Foy Jr. at the Internet Movie Database
- Eddie Foy Jr. at Find a Grave
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