David Wayne

This article is about the actor. For the singer, see David Wayne (singer).

David Wayne
from the trailer for Adam's Rib (1949)
Born	Wayne James McMeekan (1914-01-30)January 30, 1914 Traverse City, Michigan, U.S.
Died	February 9, 1995(1995-02-09) (aged 81) Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1938–1994
Spouse	Jane Gordon (1941-1993; her death; 2 children)

David Wayne (January 30, 1914 – February 9, 1995) was an American actor with a career spanning nearly 50 years.

Early life and career

Wayne was born Wayne James McMeekan in Traverse City, Michigan, the son of Helen Matilda (née Mason) and John David McMeekan. He grew up in Bloomingdale, Michigan. Wayne's first major Broadway role was Og the leprechaun in Finian's Rainbow, for which he won the Theatre World Award and the first ever Tony for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. While appearing in the play, he and co-star Albert Sharpe were recruited by producer David O. Selznick to play Irish characters in the film Portrait of Jennie (1948).

He was awarded a second Tony for Best Actor in a Play for The Teahouse of the August Moon and was nominated as Best Actor in a Musical for The Happy Time. He originated the role of Ensign Pulver in the classic stage comedy Mister Roberts and also appeared in Say, Darling, After the Fall, and Incident at Vichy.

Movies and television

In films, Wayne most often was cast as a supporting player, such as the charming cad opposite Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn in Adam's Rib (1949). He portrayed the child killer, originally played by Peter Lorre, in the remake of M (1951), a chance to see him in a rare leading role, even rarer as an evil character. He costarred in The Tender Trap (1955) with Frank Sinatra, Debbie Reynolds, and Celeste Holm.

Wayne also appeared in four films with Marilyn Monroe (more than any other actor): As Young as You Feel (1951), We're Not Married (1952), O. Henry's Full House (1952) (although he was not in the same scene as Monroe), and How to Marry a Millionaire (1953).

Wayne appeared in the late 1950s on ABC's The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom and the Twilight Zone episode Escape Clause. He starred as Darius Woodley in two 1961 episodes of NBC's The Outlaws television series with Barton MacLane. Wayne was also noted for his portrayal of Dr. Charles Dutton in the 1971 film version of Michael Crichton's The Andromeda Strain. He also played the Mad Hatter, one of the recurring villains in the 1960s TV series Batman. In 1964, he guest-starred in the series finale, "Pay Now, Die Later", of CBS's drama, Mr. Broadway, starring Craig Stevens as public relations specialist Mike Bell. In the story line, Wayne's character, the wealthy John Zeck, hires Bell to prepare Zeck's obituary before his death.

In the 1960s, Wayne was a radio host on NBC's magazine program Monitor.

Wayne appeared as Uncle Timothy Jamison in the NBC sitcom, The Brian Keith Show. He co-starred with Jim Hutton in the 1970s television series Ellery Queen (as Queen's widowed father). From 1978 to 1979, Wayne played Digger Barnes on the CBS hit drama Dallas. He left that show to star in the television series House Calls with Lynn Redgrave and later Sharon Gless in the role of Dr. Weatherby, Keenan Wynn replaced him as Digger Barnes. He played "Big Daddy" -- Blanche's father on The Golden Girls -- after the death in 1986 of Murray Hamilton, the first actor to play that part.

In 1975, Wayne starred on Gunsmoke in the episode "I have Promises to Keep" as a controversial reverend who brought a church to Indian territory with ambitions of a school. The episode addresses many emotions of the post Civil War period where the horrors of the Indian wars were fresh. Met with a vengeful townspeople the reverend is confronted by an unsupportive town. While coming back from delivering a prisoner in a nearby town, US Deputy Marshal Festus Hagen (played by Ken Curtis) gets involved and defends the reverend's mission. Wayne is in a lead role in this episode, considered one of his best performances.

Wayne died in Santa Monica, California in 1995, at age 81.

Filmography

Features:

• Portrait of Jennie (1948)
• Adam's Rib (1949)
• The Reformer and the Redhead (1950)
• Stella (1950)
• My Blue Heaven (1950)
• Up Front (1951)
• M (1951)
• As Young as You Feel (1951)
• With a Song in My Heart (1952)
• Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie (1952)
• We're Not Married! (1952)
• O. Henry's Full House (1952)
• The I Don't Care Girl (1953)
• Tonight We Sing (1953)
• Down Among the Sheltering Palms (1953)
• How to Marry a Millionaire (1953)
• Hell and High Water (1954)
• The Tender Trap (1955)
• The Naked Hills (1956)
• The Three Faces of Eve (1957)
• The Sad Sack (1957)
• The Last Angry Man (1959)
• The Big Gamble (1961)
• The Andromeda Strain (1971)
• The African Elephant (1971) (documentary) (narrator)
• Huckleberry Finn (1974)
• The Front Page (1974)
• Tubby the Tuba (1975) (voice)
• The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975)
• A Place to Be (1979) (documentary) (narrator)
• The Prize Fighter (1979)
• Finders Keepers (1984)
• The Survivalist (1987)
• The Fence (1994)

Short Subjects:

• Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Awards (1951)
• Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Night Life (1952)
• Anatomy of an Accident (1961)
• John F. Kennedy: 1917-1963 (1979) (narrator)

Television Work

• Great Catherine (1948)
• Norby (1955) (canceled after 13 episodes)
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents (One More Mile to Go)(1957)
• The Strawberry Blonde (1959)
• Kings of Broadway (1962) (unsold pilot)
• Cowboy and the Tiger (1963) (unsold pilot)
• Lamp At Midnight (1966)
• Batman (1966) as The Mad Hatter, guest villain
• Arsenic and Old Lace (1969)
• The Boy Who Stole the Elephant (1970)
• Mooch Goes to Hollywood (1971)
• The Good Life (1971-1972)
• The Catcher (1972)
• The Dark Side (1972) (unsold pilot)
• Return of the Big Cat (1974)
• Hawaii Five-O (30,000 Rooms and I Have the Key) (1974)
• It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman (1975)
• Ellery Queen (1975-1976)
• Once an Eagle (1976) (miniseries)
• In the Glitter Palace (1977)
• Black Beauty (1978) (miniseries)
• Loose Change (1978) (miniseries)
• Murder at the Mardi Gras (1978)
• The Gift of Love (1978)
• The Girls in the Office (1979)
• An American Christmas Carol (1979)
• House Calls (1979-1982)
• Poker Alice (1987, based on the frontier gambler Poker Alice, with Elizabeth Taylor in the starring role)

Stage Appearances

• As You Like It (1935) (Cleveland)
• Escape This Night (April 22 - May 1938) (Broadway)
• Dance Night (October 14-16, 1938) (Broadway)
• The American Way (January 21 - September 23, 1939) (Broadway)
• The Scene of the Crime (March 28 - April 4, 1940) (Broadway)
• The Merry Widow (Revival) (August 4, 1943 - May 6, 1944) (Broadway)
• Peepshow (February 3 - February 26, 1944) (Broadway)
• Park Avenue (November 4, 1946 - January 4, 1947) (Broadway)
• Finian's Rainbow (January 10, 1947 - October 2, 1948) (Broadway) (replaced by Philip Truex in February 1948)
• Mister Roberts (February 18, 1948 - January 6, 1951) (Broadway) (replaced by Larry Blyden in 1950)
• The Teahouse of the August Moon (October 15, 1953 - March 24, 1956) (Broadway) (replaced by Burgess Meredith in 1954)
• The Ponder Heart (February 16 - June 23, 1956) (Broadway)
• The Loud Red Patrick (October 3 - December 22, 1956) (Broadway)
• Say, Darling (April 3, 1958 - January 17, 1959) (Broadway) (replaced by Eddie Albert in 1959)
• Send Me No Flowers (December 5, 1960 - January 7, 1961) (Broadway)
• Venus at Large (April 12-14, 1962) (Broadway)
• Too True to Be Good (Revival) (March 12 - June 1, 1963) (Broadway)
• After the Fall (January 23, 1964 - May 29, 1965) (ANTA Washington Square Theatre)
• Marco Millions (February 20 - June 18, 1964) (ANTA Washington Square Theatre)
• But For Whom Charlie (March 12 - July 2, 1964) (ANTA Washington Square Theatre)
• Incident At Vichy (December 3, 1964 - May 7, 1965) (ANTA Washington Square Theatre)
• The Yearling (December 10-11, 1965) (Broadway)
• The Happy Time (January 18 - September 28, 1968) (Broadway)

External links

• David Wayne at Find a Grave
• David Wayne at the Internet Movie Database
• David Wayne at the Internet Broadway Database
• David Wayne at AllRovi
• David Wayne as The Mad Hatter