Meredith was an American actor best-known for portraying The Pe
nguin in the television series Batman and Rocky Balboa's trainer Mickey Goldmill in the Rocky films. He was one of only two people to star in four episodes of The Twilight Zone.Meredith was born in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1994, Meredith published his autobiography, which he titled ‘So Far, So Good’. In the book he confessed that he suffered from violent mood swings which were caused by cyclothymia, a form of bipolar disorder. Meredith died of complications due to Alzheimer's disease and melanoma on September 9, 1997.
Meredith became known for playing The Penguin on the television series Batman. His role as the Penguin was so well-received that the show's writers always had a script featuring the Penguin ready whenever Meredith was available. He appeared on the show more times during its run than any other villain.
He developed his grunting Penguin laugh out of necessity. Meredith had given up smoking some 20-odd years earlier, but his character was required to smoke with a cigarette holder. The smoke would get caught in his throat and he would start coughing. Rather than constantly ruin takes in this matter, he developed the laugh to cover it up. "Actually, it was a pretty funny noise for a penguin to make," said Meredith. "I sounded more like a duck."
Meredith served in the US Army Air Forces in WW II, reaching the rank of captain. He was discharged in 1944 to work on the movie ‘The Story of GI Joe’. In his twilight years, he played Jack Lemmon's character's father in ‘Grumpy Old Men’ and its sequel, ‘Grumpier Old Men’. He was Academy Award-nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category for his roles in ‘The Day of the Locust’ and ‘Rocky’. Another notable role was as Goldie Hawn's landlord in’ Foul Play’.
While best known for his film work, Meredith was also an influential actor and director for the stage. He made his Broadway debut as Peter in Eva Le Gallienne's production of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and became a star in ‘Winterset’ which became his film debut the following year.
Because of his very liberal political views, he collided with Senator Joseph McCarthy and was blacklisted from films in the late 1950s. Meredith, one might say, got revenge on McCarthy by portraying Joseph Welch, the man who humiliated McCarthy on national television, in ‘Tail Gunner Joe’.
Meredith was also a distinguished theatre director, winning a Tony Award nomination for his 1974 Broadway staging of ‘Ulysses in Nighttown’. Meredith also shared a Special Tony Award with James Thurber for their collaboration on A Thurber Carnival (1960). For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Burgess has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6904 Hollywood Boulevard.
Personal Quotes
"I did 'Batman' for two reasons, one of which was the salary. The other was that, after the first few episodes, 'Batman' became the in-thing to do. Everybody...would either play a villain or appear as himself in that cameo showcase where a celebrity would poke his head through the window of a building that Batman and Robin were climbing... Actually, we didn't get as much money from the show as you might think, although we were paid decent money for the feature film version. The main impetus to continue appearing on 'Batman' - beyond the desire to get some TV work - was that it was fashionable."
"I was born a character actor. I was never really a leading man type."
"I'll just take amusement at being a paradox."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgess_Meredith
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0580565/
Editor’s Note
This guy was my favourite Batman character. His penguin is infinitely better than the creepy Danny De Vito version.
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