Alonzo Hawk

Alonzo Hawk is a recurring villain in three Walt Disney movies: The Absent-Minded Professor (1961), Son of Flubber (1963), and Herbie Rides Again (1974). In the two earlier movies (the "Flubber" movies), his name is apparently Alonzo P. Hawk, while in the third movie his middle initial has become an A., but the similarities in character leave little doubt that it is the same Hawk. Portrayed in all three films by Keenan Wynn, Hawk is a greedy, underhanded banker/financier who tries to take advantage of the films' protagonists, usually by financial leverage. Invariably, Hawk gets his comeuppance by the end of the story.^[1]

Keenan Wynn played similar characters in two other Disney films. In Snowball Express (1972) he was shady banker Martin Ridgeway. In The Shaggy D.A. (1976) he was John Slade, who shares many similarities with the first appearance of Hawk in The Absent-Minded Professor. It is unclear why the latter did not reuse the Hawk name since Wynn is clearly playing the same character.

A Hawk-inspired character appeared in the Disney animated pilot Fluppy Dogs (1986), the rich and greedy rare animal collector J.J. Wagstaff. Again, it is unclear why Hawk was just not reused.

In Flubber, a remake of The Absent-Minded Professor, Hawk is replaced by the character of Chester Hoenicker (played by Raymond J. Barry) as the film's main antagonist.

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