Richard Haydn

George Richard Haydn (March 10, 1905 – April 25, 1985) was a British actor.

Early life George Richard Haydon was born in 1905 in Camberwell, in the London Borough of Southwark. After working as a music hall entertainer and overseer of a Jamaican banana plantation, he joined a touring British theatre troupe,

Career Haydn was known for playing eccentric characters, such as Richard Rancyd (Miss Tatlock's Millions, 1948), Stanley Stayle (Dear Wife, 1949), and Claud Curdle (Mr. Music, 1950). Much of his stage delivery was done in a deliberate over-nasalised and over-enunciated manner.

Some of Haydn's notable performances include Professor Oddley in Ball of Fire (1941), Roger in No Time for Love (1943), the manservant Thomas Rogers in And Then There Were None (1945) - based on Agatha Christie's book of the same name - Emperor Franz Joseph in The Emperor Waltz (1948), the voice of the Caterpillar in Disney's Alice in Wonderland (1951), Baron Popoff in The Merry Widow (1952), and William Brown in Mutiny on the Bounty (1962). Haydn was acclaimed for his role in Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1965 film musical The Sound of Music, in which he played the Von Trapps' family friend Max Detweiler.

In the late 1940s, Haydn briefly worked as a film director, for the films Miss Tatlock's Millions (1948), Dear Wife (1949), and Mr. Music (1950). Haydn performed as the nosy neighbour and gossip in Sitting Pretty with Clifton Webb and Maureen O'Hara in 1948, using his over-nasal voice. He was Prof. Summerlee in 1960's The Lost World, and in the same year, played opposite Doris Day in Please Don't Eat the Daisies. and he was a regular on The Swan Soap Show, which featured George Burns and Gracie Allen. Haydn wrote one book, titled The Journal of Edwin Carp, in 1954. In the 1960 The Twilight Zone episode "A Thing About Machines", Hayden played Bartlett Finchley, a quirky, self-absorbed, technophobe who is confronted by every machine in his home.

Haydn reprised the role of Edwin Carp for a 1964 episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show which saluted several old-time radio performers. He also appeared as a Japanese businessman in a 1968 episode of Bewitched, a magician in a 1969 episode of Bonanza, and a butler in a 1973 episode of Love American Style. Haydn's last film role was as Gerhard Falkstein in Young Frankenstein (1974).

Death On April 25, 1985, Haydn died from a heart attack at his home in Pacific Palisades, California, at the age of 80. His body was donated to the University of California, Los Angeles.

Filmography

Film

Television Year Title Role Notes 1952 Schlitz Playhouse Episode: "A Quarter for Your Troubles" 1954 The Philco Television Playhouse Episode: "The King and Mrs. Candle" 1955 Producers' Showcase Episode: "The King and Mrs. Candle"1957Playhouse 90 Stephen Spettigue Episode: "Where's Charley?" Muche Episode: "Topaze"1958 The Accountant Episode: "Heart of Darkness" Shirley Temple's Storybook Prime Minister Episode: "The Emperor's New Clothes" 1959 Lux Playhouse Cedric Episode: "This Will Do Nicely"1960 General Electric Theater Chancellor Episode: "The Ugly Duckling" The Twilight Zone Bartlett Finchley Episode: "A Thing About Machines"1964 Burke's Law Julian Clarington Episode: "Who Killed Jason Shaw?" The Dick Van Dyke Show Edwin Carp Episode: "The Return of Edwin Carp" 1965 The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Mr. Hemingway Episode: "The Mad, Mad Tea Party Affair" 1966 Laredo Jonathon Pringle Episode: "A Very Small Assignment" 1967 ABC Stage 67 Whitey Episode: "The Wide Open Door" 1968 Bewitched Kenzu Mishimoto Episode: "A Majority of Two"1969 Bonanza Malcolm the Magnificent Episode: "The Lady and the Mountain Lion" It Takes a Thief Blanton Episode: "The Old Who Came in from the Spy" 1971 Lassie Henry Newton Episode: "The Flying Grandpa" 1972 McCloud Edwin Episode: "Fifth Man in a String Quartet" 1973 Love, American Style Edward Episode: "Love and the Impossible Gift"