Arthur William Matthew Carney (November 4, 1918 â€" November 9, 2003)
was an Oscar-winning American actor in film, stage, television and
radio. He is best known for playing Ed Norton opposite Jackie
Gleason's Ralph Kramden in the 1950s sitcom The Honeymooners, and for
his surprising Academy Award for Best Actor win for his role in Paul
Mazursky's Harry and Tonto (1974).Carney, the youngest of six sons
(his brothers were Jack, Ned, Robert, Fred, and Phil), was born in
Mount Vernon, New York, the son of Helen (née Farrell) and Edward
Michael Carney, who was a newspaper man and publicist. His family was
Irish American and Catholic. He attended A.B. Davis High School.Carney
was drafted into the United States Army as an infantryman and machine
gun crewman during World War II. During the Battle of Normandy serving
in the 28th Infantry Division, he was wounded in the leg by shrapnel
and walked with a limp for the rest of his life. As a result of the
injury, his right leg was ¾-inch shorter than his left.Carney was a
comic singer with the Horace Heidt orchestra, which was heard often on
radio during the 1930s, notably on the hugely successful Pot o' Gold,
the first big-money giveaway show in 1939â€"41. Carney's film career
began with an uncredited role in Pot o' Gold (1941), the radio
program's spin-off feature film, playing a member of Heidt's band.
Carney, a gifted mimic, worked steadily in radio during the 1940s,
playing character roles and impersonating celebrities such as
President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. He can be seen
impersonating FDR in a 1937 promotional film for Stewart-Warner
refrigerators that is preserved by the Library of Congress and
available on YouTube as well as during his appearance as a Mystery
Guest on What's My Line also available on YouTube. In 1941 he was the
house comic on the big band remote series, Matinee at Meadowbrook.
was an Oscar-winning American actor in film, stage, television and
radio. He is best known for playing Ed Norton opposite Jackie
Gleason's Ralph Kramden in the 1950s sitcom The Honeymooners, and for
his surprising Academy Award for Best Actor win for his role in Paul
Mazursky's Harry and Tonto (1974).Carney, the youngest of six sons
(his brothers were Jack, Ned, Robert, Fred, and Phil), was born in
Mount Vernon, New York, the son of Helen (née Farrell) and Edward
Michael Carney, who was a newspaper man and publicist. His family was
Irish American and Catholic. He attended A.B. Davis High School.Carney
was drafted into the United States Army as an infantryman and machine
gun crewman during World War II. During the Battle of Normandy serving
in the 28th Infantry Division, he was wounded in the leg by shrapnel
and walked with a limp for the rest of his life. As a result of the
injury, his right leg was ¾-inch shorter than his left.Carney was a
comic singer with the Horace Heidt orchestra, which was heard often on
radio during the 1930s, notably on the hugely successful Pot o' Gold,
the first big-money giveaway show in 1939â€"41. Carney's film career
began with an uncredited role in Pot o' Gold (1941), the radio
program's spin-off feature film, playing a member of Heidt's band.
Carney, a gifted mimic, worked steadily in radio during the 1940s,
playing character roles and impersonating celebrities such as
President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. He can be seen
impersonating FDR in a 1937 promotional film for Stewart-Warner
refrigerators that is preserved by the Library of Congress and
available on YouTube as well as during his appearance as a Mystery
Guest on What's My Line also available on YouTube. In 1941 he was the
house comic on the big band remote series, Matinee at Meadowbrook.
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