Rolfe Sedan
Rolfe Sedan | |
---|---|
Born |
Edward Sedan January 20, 1896 New York City, New York, U.S. |
Died |
September 15, 1982 86) Pacific Palisades, California, U.S. | (aged
Resting place | Hollywood Forever Cemetery |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1916–1979 |
Spouse(s) | Beulah Lucille Fox (?-?) daughter |
Rolfe Sedan (January 20, 1896 – September 15, 1982[1]) was an American character actor, best known for appearing in bit parts portraying clerks, train conductors, postmen, waiters etc.
Early life
Born Edward Sedan in New York City, his mother was a Broadway theatre fashion designer and his father a symphony conductor.
Career
He began his career in show business as a nightclub and vaudeville performer and began acting in East Coast theatre. Sedan debuted on Broadway in 1916 and appeared in his first motion picture for Metro Pictures Corporation in 1921.
He became a prolific character actor and is probably best remembered by movie buffs as the hotel manager in Ninotchka (1939) starring Greta Garbo. Around the same time, he appeared in an uncredited role as the Emerald City's Balloon Ascensionist in The Wizard of Oz (also 1939). He returned to Broadway, performing in several different shows during the first half of the 1940s and in the 1950s began a sequence of guest roles in television series such as The Jack Benny Show. His most frequent TV work came from recurring roles as put-upon mail carriers (25 episodes as Mr. Beasley on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show; 4 episodes as Mr. Briggs on The Addams Family). He was also seen as the train conductor in the film Young Frankenstein (1974). Rolfe Sedan remained active throughout a career that spanned more than six decades.[2]
Death
Sedan died in 1982 in Pacific Palisades, California from heart problems at age 86.
Partial filmography
- Sporting Youth (1924)
- My Old Dutch (1926)
- The Adorable Cheat (1928)
- Show People (1928)
- One Hysterical Night (1929)
- Devil on Deck (1932)
- The Thin Man (1934)
- I'll Give a Million (1938)
- Everything Happens at Night (1939)
- The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939)
- Ninotchka (1939)
- The Wizard of Oz (1939) (uncredited)
- Law of the Tropics (1941)
- Young Frankenstein (1974)
- The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington (1977)
References
- ↑ "Obituary - Rolfe Sedan". Toledo Blade. September 23, 1982. Retrieved August 16, 2011.
- ↑ "TV postman Sedan". The Montreal Gazette. September 23, 1982. Retrieved August 16, 2011.
External links
- Rolfe Sedan at the Internet Broadway Database
- Rolfe Sedan on IMDb
- Rolfe Sedan as a sales clerk on YouTube