Ernest Truex
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- September 18, 1889
- Died
- June 26, 1973 (aged 83)
- Birthplace
- Kansas City, Missouri, USA
Biography
The ultimate milquetoast and ineffectual boss in comedy outings, meek character actor Ernest Truex was a small (5'3"), adenoidal, very well-dressed fellow, a popular avuncular type in later years who enjoyed a seven-decade-long career. He was born September 19, 1889, in Kansas City, Missouri, the son of a physician. Raised in Rich Hill, Missouri, he was actually trained in acting by one of his father's actor/patients (in exchange for mounting medical bills). An acting prodigy, Truex performed Shakespeare as a small child and was at one time dubbed "The Youngest Hamlet" by promoters (the five-year-old actually played the "ghost" of Hamlet). Upon his parents' separation when Ernest was nine, he and his mother toured the West in a show billed as "The Child Entertainers," in which the young talent recited everything from "Othello" to "Romeo and Juliet." Making appearances in stock and vaudeville, he took his first Broadway bow as a teenager with "Wildfire" starring Lillian Russell in 1908, and continued in the same vein with "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm" (1910) and "Very Good Eddie" (1915), which also featured his first wife, actress Julia Mills. In 1913, he appeared on Broadway with Mary Pickford in the popular play "A Good Little Devil." That same year Truex made his film debut with Pickford in Caprice (1913), then appeared with her in the film version of A Good Little Devil (1914). With his film career now off and running, he found a fairly comfortable niche for himself as mild-mannered, mischievous heroes in comedy capers. He played the title role in Artie, the Millionaire Kid (1916), as well as the protagonist in Come on In (1918) and Good-Bye, Bill (1918), not to mention a number of humorous shorts. His last silent film, Six Cylinder Love (1923) as Gilbert Sterling, came from an earlier Broadway success. Truex continued to rack up a strong body of stage work in the late 1920s and early 1930s. His first wife had died around this time and 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). In 1934 Truex directed, co-produced, and starred in the play "Sing and Whistle" which co-starred Sylvia Field. She would later become his third wife upon his divorce from Ms. Barrett, and came into her own in later years as the kindly Mrs. Wilson on the Dennis the Menace (1959) sitcom. With his first wife Julia Mills he had two children, Philip and James. With his second wife Mary Jane Barrett he had one child, Barry Truex. All three of his sons went into acting for the first decade of their adult lives. Philip and James Truex were mainly theatre actors but Barry Truex also had substantial roles in movies. Barry Truex's best known role was as the young Benny Goodman in The Benny Goodman Story (1956)
Known For
Photos
Filmography
Fluffy
Movie · as Claridge
Petticoat Junction
TV · as Oliver Fenton, Tony Allison · 1 ep
Grindl
TV · 1 ep
Hazel
TV · as Robert Dunlap · 1 ep
Pete and Gladys
TV · 5 eps
The Tom Ewell Show
TV · 1 ep
The Twilight Zone
TV · as Pedott, Charles Whitley · 1 ep
Dennis the Menace
TV · 1 ep
The DuPont Show with June Allyson
TV · as Daniel · 1 ep
Twilight for the Gods
Movie · as Rev. Butterfield
The Ann Sothern Show
TV · as Jason McCauley · 2 eps
All Mine to Give
Movie · as Doctor Delbert
If You Knew Elizabeth
Movie · as Uncle John
The Leather Saint
Movie · as Father Ritchie
Our Town
Movie · as Dr. Gibbs
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
TV · as Howard Rutherford, Wilkens · 1 ep
The Millionaire
TV · as Andrew Sterling · 1 ep
Matinee Theater
TV · 1 ep
Kraft Television Theatre: Alice in Wonderland
Movie · as White Knight
Climax!
TV · as Uncle William · 1 ep
Inner Sanctum
TV · 1 ep
Father Knows Best
TV · as Grampa · 1 ep
Jamie
TV · as Grandpa McHummer · 23 eps
Cameo Theatre
TV · 40 eps
Lux Video Theatre
TV · as Barkley Cooper, Aloysius P. McKeever · 1 ep
Suspense
TV · as George Thomas · 1 ep
The Girl from Manhattan
Movie · as Homer Purdy
On an Island with You
Movie · as (uncredited)
Studio One
TV · as Martin Bristol · 1 ep
The Philco Television Playhouse
TV · 2 eps
The Ford Theatre Hour
TV · as Dan Dorgan · 2 eps
Always Together
Movie · as Timothy J. Bull
Kraft Television Theatre
TV · as White Knight · 1 ep
Night in Paradise
Movie · as Scribe
Life with Blondie
Movie · as Theodor Glassby
Pan-Americana
Movie · as Uncle Rudy
Men in Her Diary
Movie · as Vernon Williams
Club Havana
Movie · as Willy Kingston
Chip Off the Old Block
Movie · as Henry McHugh
Her Primitive Man
Movie · as Uncle Hubert
This Is the Army
Movie · as Soldier's Father (uncredited)
Fired Wife
Movie · as Willie Wilson
True to Life
Movie · as Oscar Elkins
Rhythm of the Islands
Movie · as Mr. Holton
Sleepy Lagoon
Movie · as Dudley Joyner
Private Buckaroo
Movie · as Col. Elias Weatherford
Star Spangled Rhythm
Movie · as Murgatroyd
The Affairs of Martha
Movie · as Llewellyn Castle
Don't Get Personal
Movie · as Jules Kinsey
Twin Beds
Movie · as Larky
You're Telling Me
Movie · as Charles Handley
Tillie the Toiler
Movie · as George Winkler
Unexpected Uncle
Movie · as Wilkins
We Go Fast
Movie · as Harold Bruggins
The Gay Vagabond
Movie · as A.J. Wilber
His Girl Friday
Movie · as Bensinger
Christmas in July
Movie · as Mr. Baxter
Calling All Husbands
Movie · as Homer Trippe
Little Orvie
Movie · as Frank Stone
Lillian Russell
Movie · as Charles K. Leonard
Dance, Girl, Dance
Movie · as Bailey #1
Adventure in Diamonds
Movie · as Toutasche
It's a Wonderful World
Movie · as Willie Heyward
Slightly Honorable
Movie · as P. Hemingway Collins
These Glamour Girls
Movie · as Alumnus
Island of Lost Men
Movie · as Frobenius
Bachelor Mother
Movie · as Investigator
The Under-Pup
Movie · as Mr. Binns
Ambush
Movie · as Mr. Gibbs
Little Accident
Movie · as Tabby Morgan
The Adventures of Marco Polo
Movie · as Binguccio
Start Cheering
Movie · as Blodgett
Swing That Cheer
Movie · as Professor Peabody
Freshman Year
Movie · as Professor Peabody
Swing, Sister, Swing
Movie · as Prof. L. Orlando Beebee
Mama Runs Wild
Movie · as Ernest Summers
Everybody Dance
Movie · as Wilbur Spurgeon
The Expectant Father
Movie
Dog-gone Babies
Movie
Gentlemen of the Bar
Movie
His Lucky Day
Movie
Whistling in the Dark
Movie · as Wallace Porter
Mr. Adam
Movie · as Adam
The Warrior's Husband
Movie · as Sapiens
Get That Venus
Movie · as Tom Wilson
Six Cylinder Love
Movie · as Gilbert Sterling
Oh, You Women!
Movie · as Abraham Lincoln Jones
Come on In
Movie · as Ernest Short
Good-Bye, Bill
Movie · as Teddy Swift
Artie, the Millionaire Kid
Movie · as Artie Hamilton
An American Citizen
Movie · as Mercury
A Good Little Devil
Movie · as Charles MacLance - a Good Little Devil
The Bomb Boy
Movie · as Jimmie - the Messenger Boy
Caprice
Movie · as Wally Henderson