| Edward Gallagher | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1873 San Francisco |
| Died | March 28, 1929 |
| Occupation | Stage actor |
Edward Gallagher (1873 – March 28, 1929[1]) was a vaudeville actor and half of the act Gallagher and Shean. Their story was told in an animated movie Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Shean (1931)[2] by Max Fleischer and Dave Fleischer who also created Koko the Clown and Betty Boop. Gallagher and Shean also reportedly made an early sound film at the Theodore Case studio in Auburn, New York in 1925.[3]
Born in San Francisco, he made a name for himself in vaudeville, Gallagher with Al Shean to create the act Gallagher and Shean. While the act was successful, the men apparently did not like each other much.
Gallagher first performed with Shean in 1912, but the men broke up in 1914, not performing again until 1920. This latter time, they stayed together until 1925. They had a featured part in the 1922 Ziegfeld Follies, earning a salary of US$1500 a week.
Gallagher suffered a nervous breakdown and entered the Rivercrest Sanitarium in Astoria, Queens, where he died. The final years of his life saw problems with his fourth wife, actress Anna Luther; stress, and alcoholism.
Helen Gallagher, his third wife, a former Ziegfeld girl and Jack Solomon launched what would become Gallagher's Steak House in November 1927. She would marry Solomon after Gallagher's death.