Wesley Addy

Wesley Addy
Addy in Time Table (1956)
Born	Robert Wesley Addy (1913-08-04)August 4, 1913 Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.
Died	December 31, 1996(1996-12-31) (aged 83) Danbury, Connecticut, U.S.
Other names	Wes Addy
Education	University of California, Los Angeles
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1935–1996
Spouse(s)	Celeste Holm ​ ​ (m. 1966)​

Robert Wesley Addy (August 4, 1913 – December 31, 1996) was an American actor of stage, television, and film.

Early years

Addy was born in Omaha, Nebraska, the son of Maren S. and John R. Addy. He was an economics major at the University of California, Los Angeles, and he served in the United States Army during World War II.

Career

Addy's debut in acting came at Martha's Vineyard when he performed in summer theater. He played many roles on the Broadway stage, including several Shakespearean ones, usually opposite actor Maurice Evans. After playing two roles in one of Evans's productions of Hamlet, he played Horatio opposite Evans's Hamlet in a 1953 Hallmark Hall of Fame television production of the work, the most prestigious American production of the play seen on television up to that time.

Also on television he played roles on The Edge of Night in the 1950s. He made two guest appearances on Perry Mason: Alton Brent in the 1962 episode, "The Case of the Weary Watchdog", and murderer Joachim DeVry in the 1966 episode, "The Case of the Tsarina's Tiara." Later, during the 1970s-1980s, he played publisher Bill Woodard on Ryan's Hope and patriarch Cabot Alden on the Agnes Nixon-Douglas Marland serial Loving. His television career also includes guest appearances on The Defenders, The Outer Limits, The Fugitive, Ironside, and The Rockford Files.

In motion pictures, Addy's career spanned four decades. Robert Aldrich used him as supporting actor in several pictures, such as Kiss Me Deadly (as Mickey Spillane's regular Mike Hammer character Lt. Pat Murphy), The Big Knife (both 1955), What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) and The Grissom Gang (1971). In 1976, Addy appeared in Paddy Chayefsky's Network, directed by Sidney Lumet. They would work together again in The Verdict, in which Addy played one of the individual defendants in Paul Newman's case against a hospital and two doctors for malpractice. Another of Addy's best-remembered roles was that of Lt. Commander Alvin Kramer, who unsuccessfully tries to warn American officials of the impending attack on Pearl Harbor in Tora! Tora! Tora!.

Death

Addy died at Danbury Hospital in Danbury, Connecticut. He was cremated at Ferncliff Cemetery.

Family

He was married to actress Celeste Holm from 1966 until his death. The couple lived at 88 Central Park West in Manhattan then in Washington Township, Morris County, New Jersey.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1951	The First Legion	Father John Fulton
1952	My Six Convicts	Bit Role	Uncredited
1955	Kiss Me Deadly	Lt. Pat Murphy
1955	The Big Knife	Horatio "Hank" Teagle
1956	Time Table	Dr. Paul Brucker
1957	The Garment Jungle	Mr. Paul
1959	Ten Seconds to Hell	Wolfgang Sulke
1962	What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?	Marty McDonald
1963	4 for Texas	Winthrop Trowbridge
1964	Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte	Sheriff Luke Standish
1966	Seconds	John
1966	Mister Buddwing	Dice Player #1
1966	The Rat Patrol	Col. Ulrich Leske
1970	Tora! Tora! Tora!	Lt. Cmdr. Alvin D. Kramer
1971	The Grissom Gang	John P. Blandish
1976	Network	Nelson Chaney
1979	The Europeans	Mr. Wentworth
1982	The Verdict	Dr. Towler
1984	The Bostonians	Dr. Tarrant
1995	A Modern Affair	Ed Rhodes
1996	Before and After	Judge Grady
1996	Harvest of Fire	Bishop Levi Lapp	(final film role)

External links

• Wesley Addy at IMDb 
• Wesley Addy at the Internet Broadway Database
• Wesley Addy at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Wesley Addy at AllMovie