Art Carney

Arthur William Matthew Carney was born on November 4, 1918, in Mount Vernon, New York, the youngest of six sons of Helen Farrell Carney and Edward Michael Carney, a newspaperman and publicist. His brothers were Jack, Ned, Robert, Fred, and Phil. Raised in an Irish American Catholic household, Carney attended A.B. Davis High School. He was drafted into the United States Army in 1943, serving as an infantryman and machine gun crewman in the 28th Infantry Division during World War II. At the Battle of Normandy, shrapnel struck his leg, leaving him with a permanent limp and a right leg three-quarters of an inch shorter than his left. He received the Purple Heart, the American Campaign Medal, the European–African–Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal before being discharged as a private in 1945.

Carney's professional career began in radio, where he sang with the Horace Heidt orchestra, which appeared on the giveaway program Pot o' Gold from 1939 to 1941. His screen debut came with an uncredited role in the 1941 film adaptation of that program, playing a member of Heidt's band. Throughout the 1940s he worked steadily in radio as a character actor and celebrity impressionist, impersonating figures including President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. A 1937 promotional film for Stewart-Warner refrigerators in which he impersonated Roosevelt is preserved by the Library of Congress. Among his radio roles were Billy Oldham on Joe and Ethel Turp in 1943, a character on The Henry Morgan Show from 1946 to 1947, and Montague's father on The Magnificent Montague from 1950 to 1951. He also appeared on Casey, Crime Photographer and Gang Busters, and served as house comic on the big band series Matinee at Meadowbrook in 1941.

Television brought Carney his most enduring fame. On both the radio and television versions of The Morey Amsterdam Show from 1948 to 1950, he played Charlie the doorman, a character known for the catchphrase "Ya know what I mean?" In 1950, Jackie Gleason cast him on Cavalcade of Stars, initially as Clem Finch, the mild-mannered foil to Gleason's lunchroom loudmouth Charlie Bratten. The two developed strong comedic chemistry, and Gleason brought Carney into the domestic comedy sketches that became The Honeymooners. Carney's portrayal of sewer worker Ed Norton, opposite Gleason's bus driver Ralph Kramden, in the sitcom's 1955–1956 run earned him lasting recognition. He was nominated for seven Emmy Awards and won six. Between his collaborations with Gleason, Carney guest-starred on programs including The Dinah Shore Chevy Show and appeared four times as a mystery guest on What's My Line, arriving in character as Ed Norton for his first visit. He hosted his own NBC television variety show from 1959 to 1960. In 1958, he starred in the ABC children's special Art Carney Meets Peter and the Wolf, which combined an original story with a marionette presentation by the Bil Baird Marionettes of Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, with additional Prokofiev music set to lyrics by Ogden Nash. The special aired twice in repeat. Carney also played an alcoholic department store Santa Claus in the Twilight Zone Christmas episode "The Night of the Meek," and portrayed the villain the Archer in two 1966 episodes of the Batman television series. In 1970, he appeared in The Great Santa Claus Switch, a Muppets television special, playing both Santa Claus and the kidnapper Cosmo Scam. He starred as Police Chief Paul Lanigan in the 1976 television film Lanigan's Rabbi and the subsequent short-lived series of the same name, which aired in 1977 as part of the NBC Sunday Mystery Movie lineup. In 1978, he appeared in the Star Wars Holiday Special as Trader Saun Dann, a Rebel Alliance member who helps Chewbacca and his family evade an Imperial blockade.

Carney's Broadway career spanned from 1957 to 1971 and encompassed a range of productions. His stage credits include the drama The Rope Dancers, as well as Flora, The Red Menace, Winners, The Odd Couple, and The Prisoner of Second Avenue. His performance in The Odd Couple earned him a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Play in 1969.

His film work brought him the industry's highest recognition. In Harry and Tonto (1974), Carney played Harry Coombes, an elderly man who travels cross-country with his pet cat. The role earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor, presented to him by Glenda Jackson at the 47th Academy Awards on April 8, 1975, with fellow nominees that year including Albert Finney, Dustin Hoffman, Jack Nicholson, and Al Pacino. He also received a Golden Globe Award for the performance. Subsequent film roles included The Late Show (1977), House Calls (1978), in which he co-starred with presenter Glenda Jackson, Going in Style (1979), Firestarter (1984), The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984), and Last Action Hero (1993).

In the 1950s, Carney recorded extensively for Columbia Records, releasing comedy and children's novelty songs as well as character recordings such as "The Song of the Sewer," performed as Ed Norton, and a jazz-inflected spoken-word rendition of "'Twas the Night Before Christmas." He also narrated a version of The Wizard of Oz for Golden Records, with Mitch Miller and his chorus performing four songs from the 1939 film. Carney identified playing the piano as his first love during an appearance on The Tonight Show. He died on November 9, 2003, five days after his eighty-fifth birthday.