Search Everything

Login

Send feeback or report a bug here

Send feeback or report a bug here

Joseph Cawthorn

Joseph Cawthorn

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Joseph Cawthorn (March 29, 1868, New York City, New York – January 21, 1949, Beverly Hills, California) was an American stage and film comic actor. Cawthorn started out in show business as a child, debuting at Robinson's Music Hall in his hometown of New York in 1872. He appeared in minstrel shows and vaudeville as a "Dutch" comic, employing a thick German dialect. He later worked in British music halls and American touring companies. Cawthorn made his Broadway debut in 1895, 1897 or 1898, and embarked on a long career lasting over two decades. His first success was playing Boris in Victor Herbert's 1898 operetta The Fortune Teller. Other notable Broadway roles included the title character in Mother Goose (1903) and inventor Dr. Pill in the fantasy musical Little Nemo (1908). In the latter, he was called upon to ad lib to buy time during one performance. As "the scene called for him to describe imaginary animals he had hunted", he invented the "whiffenpoof" on the spot. Yale students in the audience appropriated it for the name of their glee club. When his Broadway stardom waned, Cawthorn moved to Hollywood in 1927 and started a second prolific career, appearing in over 50 films, the last in 1942. He played Gremio in the first sound adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew in 1929, starring Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks; Schultz in Gold Diggers of 1935; and Florenz Ziegfeld's father in The Great Ziegfeld (1936). Cawthorn died peacefully on January 21, 1949. He was survived by his wife, actress Queenie Vassar.

Personal information

Birthday

1868-03-27

Birth Place

New York City, New York, USA

Movies and TV shows :

A Tailor-Made Man

A Tailor-Made Man

1931

0.0

Movie
Best of Enemies

Best of Enemies

1933

0.0

Movie
Blondie Johnson

Blondie Johnson

1933

6.1

Movie
Brides Are Like That

Brides Are Like That

1936

4.8

Movie
Bright Lights

Bright Lights

1935

4.5

Movie
Broken Dreams

Broken Dreams

1933

6.0

Movie
Crime Over London

Crime Over London

1936

6.0

Movie
Dance Hall

Dance Hall

1929

3.8

Movie
Dixiana

Dixiana

1930

5.0

Movie
Freshman Love

Freshman Love

1936

6.0

Movie
Gold Diggers of 1935

Gold Diggers of 1935

1935

6.4

Movie
Grand Slam

Grand Slam

1933

3.7

Movie
Harmony Lane

Harmony Lane

1935

3.5

Movie
Hold 'Em Yale

Hold 'Em Yale

1928

6.0

Movie
Hot Money

Hot Money

1936

4.0

Movie
Housewife

Housewife

1934

7.6

Movie
Jazz Heaven

Jazz Heaven

1929

5.0

Movie
Kiki

Kiki

1931

4.5

Movie
Lazy River

Lazy River

1934

7.0

Movie
Lillian Russell

Lillian Russell

1940

6.1

Movie
Love Me Tonight

Love Me Tonight

1932

6.6

Movie
Made on Broadway

Made on Broadway

1933

6.5

Movie
Maybe It's Love

Maybe It's Love

1935

6.0

Movie
Men Are Such Fools

Men Are Such Fools

1932

0.0

Movie
Music in the Air

Music in the Air

1934

4.8

Movie
Naughty Marietta

Naughty Marietta

1935

5.1

Movie
One Rainy Afternoon

One Rainy Afternoon

1936

4.6

Movie
Page Miss Glory

Page Miss Glory

1935

6.3

Movie
Peach-o-Reno

Peach-o-Reno

1931

6.0

Movie
Scatterbrain

Scatterbrain

1940

0.0

Movie
Silk Legs

Silk Legs

1927

0.0

Movie
Smart Girl

Smart Girl

1935

0.0

Movie
So Ends Our Night

So Ends Our Night

1941

6.0

Movie
Speakeasy

Speakeasy

1929

5.0

Movie
Street Girl

Street Girl

1929

5.8

Movie
Sweet Adeline

Sweet Adeline

1934

5.7

Movie
Sweet Music

Sweet Music

1935

5.7

Movie
The Great Ziegfeld

The Great Ziegfeld

1936

6.2

Movie
The Human Side

The Human Side

1934

0.0

Movie
The Last Gentleman

The Last Gentleman

1934

3.0

Movie
The Postman Didn't Ring

The Postman Didn't Ring

1942

0.0

Movie
The Princess and the Plumber

The Princess and the Plumber

1930

0.0

Movie
The Runaround

The Runaround

1931

7.0

Movie
The Taming of the Shrew

The Taming of the Shrew

1929

5.2

Movie
They Call It Sin

They Call It Sin

1932

5.8

Movie
Twenty Million Sweethearts

Twenty Million Sweethearts

1934

6.0

Movie
Two Girls Wanted

Two Girls Wanted

1927

0.0

Movie
Very Confidential

Very Confidential

1927

0.0

Movie
Whistling in the Dark

Whistling in the Dark

1933

5.6

Movie
White Zombie

White Zombie

1932

5.9

Movie
Young and Beautiful

Young and Beautiful

1934

4.5

Movie