Ernest Truex

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Ernest Truex

Born	September 19, 1889(1889-09-19) Kansas City, Missouri
Died	September 26, 1973 (aged 84) Fallbrook, California
Occupation	Stage, film, television actor
Spouse(s)	Julia Mills Mary Jane Barrett Sylvia Field (1937-1973)

Ernest Truex (September 19, 1889, Kansas City, Missouri – June 26, 1973, Fallbrook, California) was an American actor of stage and film. He started acting at age five and was toured through Missouri at age nine as "The Child Wonder in Scenes from Shakespeare".

His Broadway debut came in 1908 and he performed in several David Belasco plays and portrayed the titled role in the 1915 musical Very Good Eddie. He made his film debut in 1913, but did not work in film full time for another twenty years. He tended to play "milquetoast" characters and in The Warrior's Husband he played a "nance".

In later life he became known for playing elderly men on television in works like Mr. Peepers and had the main role in the Kick the Can episode of Rod Serling's original The Twilight Zone. In another Twilight Zone episode, What You Need, he played a traveling peddler who just happened to have what people needed to buy.

He also starred in the first season (1958 – 1959) of CBS's The Ann Sothern Show as the manager of the swank Bartley House hotel in New York City. He was succeeded as the hotel chief after twenty-three episodes by Don Porter, playing the role of James Devery, whom Sothern's character, Katy O'Connor, married in the series finale.

[edit] Marriages

A widower, he married stage actress Mary Jane Barrett, appearing with her in New York in such plays as The Third Little Show, (1931), The Hook-Up (1935) and Fredericka (1937). They had one child. In 1934, Truex directed, co-produced and starred in the play Sing and Whistle, which co-starred actress Sylvia Field who would later become his third wife upon his divorce from Mary Jane Barrett. They had three children, one of whom, Barry Truex, would go on to have an acting career of his own.

Sylvia Field Truex (b. 28 February 1901, Massachusetts – d. 31 July 1998, Fallbrook, California^[1]), although she had a long career, was best-known for her role as "Mrs. Wilson" on the television series Dennis the Menace.