Quick Facts
Biography
Walter Catlett (February 4, 1889 – November 14, 1960) was an American actor. He made a career of playing excitable, meddlesome, temperamental, and officious blowhards.
Career
Catlett was born in San Francisco, California. He started out in vaudeville, teaming up with Hobart Cavanaugh at some point, with a detour for a while in opera, before breaking into acting.
He started on stage in 1906 and made his Broadway debut in either The Prince of Pilsen (1911) or So Long Letty (1916). His first film appearance was in 1912, but then he went back to stage and did not return to films until 1929. He performed in operettas and musicals, including The Ziegfeld Follies of 1917, the original production of the Jerome Kern musical Sally (1920) and the Gershwins' Lady Be Good (1924). In the last, he introduced the song "Oh, Lady Be Good!"
Catlett made a handful of silent film appearances, but his film career did not catch on until the advent of talking pictures allowed moviegoers to experience his full comic repertoire. Three of his most remembered roles were as the theatre manager driven to distraction by James Cagney's character in Yankee Doodle Dandy, the local constable who throws the entire cast in jail and winds up there himself in the Howard Hawks' classic screwball comedy Bringing Up Baby, and as Morrow, the drunken poet in the restaurant who "knows when [he's] been a skunk" and takes Longfellow Deeds on a "bender" in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. The New York Times film critic Mordaunt Hall wrote that "This clever comedian runs away with the acting laurels" in Big City Blues (1932). He played John Barsad in the 1935 David O. Selznick production of A Tale of Two Cities, starring Ronald Colman. He also provided the uncredited voice of J. Worthington Foulfellow (a.k.a. Honest John) the Fox in the 1940 Disney animated film Pinocchio. In the 1950s, he appeared in films like Here Comes the Groom, Friendly Persuasion and Beau James, as well as Disney's TV series Davy Crockett.
Death
Walter Catlett died of a stroke on November 14, 1960 in Woodland Hills, California.
He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on the 1700 block of Vine Street.
Partial filmography
- Second Youth (1924) as John McNab
- Summer Bachelors (1926) as Bachelor No. 1
- The Music Master (1927) as Medicine Show Barker
- Why Leave Home? (1929) as Elmer
- Married in Hollywood (1929) as Joe Glitner
- Happy Days (1929) as End Man - Minstrel Show
- Let's Go Places (1930) as Rex Wardell
- The Big Party (1930) as Mr. Goldfarb
- Her Golden Calf (1930) as Master of Ceremonies
- The Florodora Girl (1930) as De Boer
- The Front Page (1931) as Murphy
- Honeymoon Trio (1931, short) as The Nuisance
- One Quiet Night (1931, short)
- Platinum Blonde (1931) as Bingy
- Maker of Men (1931) as McNeil
- Cock of the Air (1932) as Col. Wallace
- Sky Devils (1932) as Master of Ceremonies - Canteen Show (uncredited)
- The Expert (1932) as Al
- It's Tough to Be Famous (1932) as Joseph Craig 'Joe' Chapin
- Back Street (1932) as Bakeless
- Okay, America! (1932) as City Editor aka 'Lucille'
- Big City Blues (1932) as Cousin 'Gibby' Gibboney
- Rain (1932) as Quartermaster Bates
- The Sport Parade (1932) as 'Shifty' Morrison
- Rockabye (1932) as Jimmy Dunn
- Olsen's Big Moment (1933) as Robert Brewster III
- Private Jones (1933) as Spivey
- Mama Loves Papa (1933) as Tom Walker
- Arizona to Broadway (1933) as Ned Flynn
- Only Yesterday (1933) as Barnes (uncredited)
- So This Is Harris! (1933, Oscar-winning short) as Himself
- Unknown Blonde (1934) as Publicity Man
- The Captain Hates the Sea (1934) as Joe Silvers
- Lightning Strikes Twice (1934) as Gus
- Every Night at Eight (1935) as Master of Ceremonies
- The Affair of Susan (1935) as Gilbert
- A Tale of Two Cities (1935) as Barsad
- Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) as Morrow, the Poet
- We Went to College (1936) as Senator Budger
- Follow Your Heart (1936) as Joe Sheldon
- Cain and Mabel (1936) as Jake Sherman
- Four Days' Wonder (1936) as Duffy
- Banjo on My Knee (1936) as Warfield Scott
- Sing Me a Love Song (1936) as Mr. Sprague (uncredited)
- I Loved a Soldier (1936)
- On the Avenue (1937) as Jake Dibble
- Love Is News (1937) as Eddie Johnson
- Wake Up and Live (1937) as Gus Avery
- Love Under Fire (1937) as Tip Conway
- Varsity Show (1937) as Professor Sylvester Biddle
- Danger – Love at Work (1937) as Uncle Alan
- Every Day's a Holiday (1937) as Nifty Bailey
- Come Up Riches (1937)
- Bringing Up Baby (1938) as Slocum
- Zaza (1938) as Marlardot
- Going Places (1938) as Franklin Dexter
- Exile Express (1939) as Gus
- Kid Nightingale (1939) as Skip Davis
- Pinocchio (1940) as Honest John Worthington Foulfellow (voice, uncredited)
- Half a Sinner (1940) as Station Attendant
- Pop Always Pays (1940) as Tommy Lane
- Comin' Round the Mountain (1940) as W.P.A. Clerk
- Spring Parade (1940) as Headwaiter
- The Quarterback (1940) as Tom
- Li'l Abner (1940) as Barber
- Remedy for Riches (1940) as Clem
- Honeymoon for Three (1941) as Waiter
- The Wild Man of Borneo (1941) as 'Doc' Skelby
- You're the One (1941) as Program Director
- Horror Island (1941) as Sergeant McGoon
- Million Dollar Baby (1941) as Mr. Simpson
- Hello, Sucker (1941) as G. Remington 'Max' Conway
- Bad Men of Missouri (1941) as Mr. Pettibone
- Manpower (1941) as Sidney Whipple
- Unfinished Business (1941) as Billy Ross
- Sing Another Chorus (1941) as Theodore Gateson
- It Started with Eve (1941) as Doctor Harvey
- Steel Against the Sky (1941) as Professor Rupert Sampson
- Wild Bill Hickok Rides (1942) as Sylvester W. Twigg
- Star Spangled Rhythm (1942) as Walter- 'Sweater, Sarong & Peekaboo Bang' Number
- My Gal Sal (1942) as Col. Truckee
- Syncopation (1942) as Spelvin
- Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) as Theatre Manager
- Maisie Gets Her Man (1942) as Jasper
- Give Out, Sisters (1942) as Gribble
- Between Us Girls (1942) as Desk Sergeant
- Heart of the Golden West (1942) as Colonel Silas Popen
- How's About It (1943) as Whipple
- They Got Me Covered (1943) as Hotel Manager
- Hit Parade of 1943 (1943) as J. MacClellan Davis
- Cowboy in Manhattan (1943) as Ace Robbins
- Get Going (1943) as Horace Doblem
- The West Side Kid (1943) as Ramsey Fensel
- Fired Wife (1943) as Judge Allen
- His Butler's Sister (1943) as Mortimer Kalb
- Up in Arms (1944) as Major Brock
- Hat Check Honey (1944) as Tim Martel
- Her Primitive Man (1944) as Hotel Clerk
- Lady, Let's Dance (1944) as Timber Applegate
- Pardon My Rhythm (1944) as O'Bannion
- Ghost Catchers (1944) as Colonel Breckinridge Marshall
- Three Is a Family (1944) as Barney Meeker
- My Gal Loves Music (1944) as Dr. Bilbo
- Hi, Beautiful (1944) as Gerald Bisbee
- Lake Placid Serenade (1944) as Carlton Webb
- The Man Who Walked Alone (1945) as Wiggins
- I Love a Bandleader (1945) as B. Templeton James
- Riverboat Rhythm (1946) as Colonel Jeffrey 'Smitty' Witherspoon
- Slightly Scandalous (1946) as Mr. Wright
- I'll Be Yours (1947) as Mr. Buckingham
- Are You with It? (1948) as Jason (Pop) Carter
- Mr. Reckless (1948) as Joel Hawkins
- The Boy with Green Hair (1948) as The King
- The Rainmaker (1949) as Mayor Colton
- Leave It to Henry (1949) as Mayor Colton
- Look for the Silver Lining (1949) as Himself
- Dancing in the Dark (1949) as Joe Brooks
- The Inspector General (1949) as Colonel Castine
- Father Makes Good (1950) as Mayor George Colton
- Father's Wild Game (1950) as Mayor George Colton
- Father Takes the Air (1951) as Mayor George Colton
- Here Comes the Groom (1951) as Mr. McGonigle
- Honeychile (1951) as Al Moore
- Davy Crockett and the River Pirates (1956) as Colonel Plug (archive footage)
- Friendly Persuasion (1956) as Professor Quigley
- The Gay Nineties (1956)
- Beau James (1957) as Gov. Alfred E. 'Al' Smith (final film role)