Joseph Cawthorn

Joseph Bridger Cawthorn (March 29, 1868 – January 21, 1949) was an American stage and film comic actor.

Biography Born on March 29, 1868, in New York City to a minstrel-show family, Cawthorn started out in show business as a child, debuting at Robinson's Music Hall in New York in 1872. He appeared in minstrel shows and vaudeville as a "Dutch" comic, employing a thick German dialect. He later worked in British music halls and American touring companies.

Cawthorn made his Broadway debut in 1895, 1897 and embarked on a long career lasting over two decades. His first success was playing Boris in Victor Herbert's 1898 operetta The Fortune Teller. Other notable Broadway roles included the title character in Mother Goose (1903) and inventor Dr. Pill in the fantasy musical Little Nemo (1908). In the latter, he was called upon to ad lib to buy time during one performance while a problem backstage was dealt with. As "the scene called for him to describe imaginary animals he had hunted", he invented the "whiffenpoof" on the spot.

Cawthorn died on January 21, 1949, at age 80, in Beverly Hills, California. He is buried in Hollywood Forever cemetery.

Complete filmography

The Secret Studio (1927) - Pa Merton Two Girls Wanted (1927) - Philip Hancock Very Confidential (1927) - Donald Allen Silk Legs (1927) - Ezra Fulton Hold Em' Yale (1928) - Professor George Bradbury Speakeasy (1929) - Yokel Street Girl (1929) - Keppel - Cafe Owner The Taming of the Shrew (1929) - Gremio Jazz Heaven (1929) - Herman Kemple Dance Hall (1929) - Bremmer Dixiana (1930) - Cornelius Van Horn - Carl's Father The Princess and the Plumber (1930) - Merkl Kiki (1931) - Alfred Rapp A Tailor Made Man (1931) - Huber The Runaround (1931) - Lou Peach O'Reno (1931) - Joe Bruno White Zombie (1932) - Dr. Bruner Love Me Tonight (1932) - Dr. Armand de Fontinac They Call It Sin (1932) - Mr. Hollister Men Are Such Fools (1932) - Werner Whistling in the Dark (1933) - Otto Barfuss Grand Slam (1933) - Alex Alexandrovitch (uncredited) Blondie Johnson (1933) - Jewelry Store Manager Made on Broadway (1933) - Maxie Schultz Best of Enemies (1933) - Gus Schneider Broken Dreams (1933) - Pop Cold Turkey (1933 short) The Cat and the Fiddle (1934) - Rudy Lazy River (1934) - Mr. Julius Ambrose Glamour (1934) - Ibsen Twenty Million Sweethearts (1934) - Herbert Brokman The Last Gentleman (1934) - Dr. Wilson Housewife (1934) - Krueger The Human Side (1934) - Fritz Speigal Young and Beautiful (1934) - Herman Cline Music in the Air (1934) - Hans Uppman Sweet Adeline (1934) - Oscar Schmidt Maybe It's Love (1935) - Adolph Sr. Sweet Music (1935) - Sidney Selzer Naughty Marietta (1935) - Herr Schuman Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935) - Schultz Smart Girl (1935) - Karl Krausemeyer Bright Lights (1935) - Oscar Schlemmer Page Miss Glory (1935) - Mr.Freischutz Harmony Lane (1935) - Professor Henry Kleber Freshman Love (1936) - Wilson, Sr. The Great Ziegfeld (1936) - Dr. Ziegfeld Brides Are Like That (1936) - Fred Schultz One Rainy Afternoon (1936) - Monsieur Pelerin Hot Money (1936) - Max Dourfuss Crime Over London (1936) - Mr. Sherwood / Reilly Lillian Russell (1940) - Leopold Damrosch Scatterbrain (1940) - Nicholas Raptis So Ends Our Night (1941) - Leopold Potzloch The Postman Didn't Ring (1942) - Silas Harwood