Requiem for a Heavyweight
Encyclopedia
Requiem for a Heavyweight was a teleplay written by Rod Serling
and produced for the live television
show Playhouse 90
on 11 October 1956. Six years later, it was adapted as a 1962 feature film
starring Anthony Quinn
, Jackie Gleason
and Mickey Rooney
.
The teleplay won a Peabody Award
, the first given to an individual script, and helped establish Serling's reputation. The broadcast was directed by Ralph Nelson
and is generally considered one of the finest examples of live television drama in the United States, as well as being Serling
's personal favorite of his own work. Nelson and Serling won Emmy Awards for their work.
portrays Harlan "Mountain" McClintock, a once-promising but now washed-up boxer
who faces the end of his career after he is savagely defeated by a younger boxer. Keenan Wynn
portrays McClintock's manager Maish; Keenan's father Ed
plays McClintock's cut man, Army.
McClintock is suffering from Dementia pugilistica
or "punch drunk syndrome" -- brain damage caused by his career. A fight doctor refuses to certify McClintock for further boxing, saying that another rough match could blind or even kill him. Boxing is all McClintock has ever known, and he's both terrified of trying something new, and intensely loyal to Maish, who has nurtured him from his youth. Maish has troubles of his own, however: he owes money to the Mafia
and tried to raise funds by betting that McClintock would be knocked out early (instead, by gamely and bravely taking a beating and refusing to go down, McClintock cost Maish a fortune).
Kim Hunter
portrayed Grace Carney, an employment agency worker who tries to help the boxer make a transition to a new career. Maish persuades the boxer to turn to professional wrestling
, though McClintock is proud that he never had a fixed fight and is uncomfortable with the staged, predetermined wrestling match.
Army disapproves of Maish's plans and refuses to be a part of them. Just before he's scheduled to go into the wrestling ring in a humiliating mountain man
costume, McClintock learns of Maish's betting against him, and parts ways with his manager and mentor. Though he feels that boxing can ruin men's lives, Maish finds another promising young boxer to train. McClintock takes a chance on working with children at summer camp.
Because Serling and Palance were both experienced boxers, they brought a level of authenticity to Requiem for a Heavyweight, although there was very little boxing depicted in the broadcast. Requiem for a Heavyweight was the beginning of what became one of the new medium's most successful creative teams, writer Rod Serling and director Ralph Nelson.
... Harlan 'Mountain' McClintock
Keenan Wynn
... Maish
Kim Hunter
... Grace Carney
Ed Wynn
... Army
Joe Abdullah ... Fight Announcer
Max Baer ... Mike
Eddie Cantor
... Host
Ted Christy ... Wrestler
Karl 'Killer' Davis ... Wrestler
Ned Glass
... Bartender
Young Jack Johnson ... Champ
Lyn Osborn ... Photographer
Ivan Rasputin ... Wrestler
Frank Richards ... Fighter in Bar
Max Rosenbloom ... Steve
in the United Kingdom
screened a version of the play in their regular Sunday Night Theatre anthology strand on March 31, 1957. Sean Connery
, five years before portraying James Bond
, starred as McClintock, while Alvin Rakoff
produced and, with Serling's approval, also wrote some new material to cover costume changes that took place during commercial breaks on US television, but could not do so on the non-commercial BBC
. Co-starring with Connery were Warren Mitchell
and Rakoff's future wife Jacqueline Hill
, who had recommended Connery for the leading part. Michael Caine
was featured in a small role in a new scene written by Rakoff.
This production was reviewed in The Times
newspaper the following day, which gave it a generally positive assessment, with some reservations. "It is unfortunate that Mr. Serling has allowed a saccharine romance to intrude into this self-sufficient and wholly masculine situation. Otherwise his touch is sure. Although physically miscast as the fighter, Mr. Sean Connery played with a shambling and inarticulate charm that almost made the love affair credible."
Ton Van Duinhoven ... Manager
Jan Blasser ... Verzorger
also directed a movie
version in 1962 with Anthony Quinn
in the role originated by Jack Palance
, Jackie Gleason
and Mickey Rooney
in the parts portrayed on television by Keenan Wynn
and his father Ed Wynn
, and social worker Grace Miller was portrayed by Julie Harris
.
Cassius Clay (later known as "Muhammed Ali") appears as Quinn's opponent in a boxing match at the beginning of the movie, a memorable sequence filmed with the camera providing Quinn's point of view as the unstoppable Clay rapidly punches directly at the movie audience. Afterward, Maish is confronted by bookies who threaten his life if he fails to repay the bet he just lost on the fight.
The film version is somewhat darker in its plotline than the original teleplay. Mountain Rivera (Quinn) is to interview for a counselor position at a children's camp, but Maish takes him to a bar where they both get drunk, hoping that Mountain will forget about the job interview. Army (Rooney) arrives at the bar to remind Mountain about the appointment, but he embarrasses himself at the hotel where the interview is to take place, behaving drunkenly in plain sight of the camp owners. Grace follows Mountain home to try to understand what went wrong, and though they are attracted to each other, Mountain's aggression scares Grace off. She confronts Maish in tears, condemning him for controlling Mountain and ruining his chance to make a new life for himself.
To pay off Maish's gambling debts, Mountain agrees to perform as Native American wrestling persona "Big Chief Mountain Rivera." Just prior to entering the ring for his first match, an overwhelming tide of humiliation sweeps over Mountain, causing him to change his mind. Maish blurts out that he bet against Mountain in the fight against Clay, and as Rivera attempts to leave the locker room, "Ma" Greeny and her thugs enter, threatening Maish. However, Mountain changes his mind and agrees to wrestle, thereby allowing "Ma" to be paid and saving Maish's life. In the epic final scene of the film, Mountain enters the ring amidst jeering ridicule to face "Haystacks Calhoun," a grappler from Arkansas billed at 601 lbs.
... Luis 'Mountain' Rivera
Jackie Gleason
... Maish Rennick
Mickey Rooney
... Army
Julie Harris
... Grace Miller
Stanley Adams
... Perelli (as Stan Adams)
Madame Spivy ... Ma Greeny
Cassius Clay ... Himself
Val Avery
... Young fighter's promoter
Herbie Faye
... Charlie, the Bartender
Jack Dempsey
... Himself
Haystacks Calhoun ... Himself
wrote and directed The Man in the Funny Suit
, a dramatic account of Keenan Wynn
's travails in helping his father, comedian Ed Wynn
, play such a serious role on live television in Requiem for a Heavyweight. Ed Wynn went on to play equally serious roles in The Great Man
and the 1959 film version of The Diary of Anne Frank. The Man in the Funny Suit was telecast as an installment of the Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse with Rod Serling
and Red Skelton
playing themselves, and it remains available for public viewing at the Paley Center for Media in New York City
and Los Angeles
.
... Keenan Wynn
Ed Wynn
... Ed Wynn
Rod Serling
... Rod Serling
Maxine Stuart ... Sharley Wynn
Ralph Nelson
... Ralph Nelson
Red Skelton
... Red Skelton
Bob Mathias
... Bob Mathias
William Roerick ... Martin Manulis
Max Rosenbloom ... Slapsie Maxie Rosenbloom
Seymour Berns ... Skelton's Director
Robin Blake ... Script Girl
Joey Faye ... Latecomer
Ned Glass ... Ed Wynn's Understudy
Charlene Glazer ... Secretary
Drew Handley ... Assistant Director
Robert H. Harris ... Technical Director
Richard Joy ... Announcer
Bill Walker ... Porter
Rod Serling
Rodman Edward "Rod" Serling was an American screenwriter, novelist, television producer, and narrator best known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his science fiction anthology TV series, The Twilight Zone. Serling was active in politics, both on and off the screen and helped form...
and produced for the live television
Live television
Live television refers to a television production broadcast in real-time, as events happen, in the present. From the early days of television until about 1958, live television was used heavily, except for filmed shows such as I Love Lucy and Gunsmoke. Video tape did not exist until 1957...
show Playhouse 90
Playhouse 90
Playhouse 90 is an American television anthology series that was telecast on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. It originated from CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California...
on 11 October 1956. Six years later, it was adapted as a 1962 feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
starring Anthony Quinn
Anthony Quinn
Antonio Rodolfo Quinn-Oaxaca , more commonly known as Anthony Quinn, was a Mexican American actor, as well as a painter and writer...
, Jackie Gleason
Jackie Gleason
Jackie Gleason was an American comedian, actor and musician. He was known for his brash visual and verbal comedy style, especially by his character Ralph Kramden on The Honeymooners, a situation-comedy television series. His most noted film roles were as Minnesota Fats in the drama film The...
and Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award...
.
The teleplay won a Peabody Award
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...
, the first given to an individual script, and helped establish Serling's reputation. The broadcast was directed by Ralph Nelson
Ralph Nelson
Ralph Nelson was an American movie and television director, producer, writer, and actor.-Life and career:...
and is generally considered one of the finest examples of live television drama in the United States, as well as being Serling
Rod Serling
Rodman Edward "Rod" Serling was an American screenwriter, novelist, television producer, and narrator best known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his science fiction anthology TV series, The Twilight Zone. Serling was active in politics, both on and off the screen and helped form...
's personal favorite of his own work. Nelson and Serling won Emmy Awards for their work.
American television version
Jack PalanceJack Palance
Jack Palance , was an American actor. During half a century of film and television appearances, Palance was nominated for three Academy Awards, all as Best Actor in a Supporting Role, winning in 1991 for his role in City Slickers.-Early life:Palance, one of five children, was born Volodymyr...
portrays Harlan "Mountain" McClintock, a once-promising but now washed-up boxer
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
who faces the end of his career after he is savagely defeated by a younger boxer. Keenan Wynn
Keenan Wynn
Keenan Wynn was an American character actor. His bristling mustache and expressive face were his stock in trade, and though he rarely had a lead role, he got prominent billing in most of his film and TV parts....
portrays McClintock's manager Maish; Keenan's father Ed
Ed Wynn
Ed Wynn was a popular American comedian and actor noted for his Perfect Fool comedy character, his pioneering radio show of the 1930s, and his later career as a dramatic actor....
plays McClintock's cut man, Army.
McClintock is suffering from Dementia pugilistica
Dementia pugilistica
Dementia pugilistica is a type of neurodegenerative disease or dementia, which may affect amateur or professional boxers as well as athletes in other sports who suffer concussions...
or "punch drunk syndrome" -- brain damage caused by his career. A fight doctor refuses to certify McClintock for further boxing, saying that another rough match could blind or even kill him. Boxing is all McClintock has ever known, and he's both terrified of trying something new, and intensely loyal to Maish, who has nurtured him from his youth. Maish has troubles of his own, however: he owes money to the Mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
and tried to raise funds by betting that McClintock would be knocked out early (instead, by gamely and bravely taking a beating and refusing to go down, McClintock cost Maish a fortune).
Kim Hunter
Kim Hunter
Kim Hunter was an American film, theatre, and television actress. She won both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, each as Best Supporting Actress, for her performance as Stella Kowalski in the 1951 film A Streetcar Named Desire...
portrayed Grace Carney, an employment agency worker who tries to help the boxer make a transition to a new career. Maish persuades the boxer to turn to professional wrestling
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
, though McClintock is proud that he never had a fixed fight and is uncomfortable with the staged, predetermined wrestling match.
Army disapproves of Maish's plans and refuses to be a part of them. Just before he's scheduled to go into the wrestling ring in a humiliating mountain man
Mountain man
Mountain men were trappers and explorers who roamed the North American Rocky Mountains from about 1810 through the 1880s where they were instrumental in opening up the various Emigrant Trails allowing Americans in the east to settle the new territories of the far west by organized wagon trains...
costume, McClintock learns of Maish's betting against him, and parts ways with his manager and mentor. Though he feels that boxing can ruin men's lives, Maish finds another promising young boxer to train. McClintock takes a chance on working with children at summer camp.
Because Serling and Palance were both experienced boxers, they brought a level of authenticity to Requiem for a Heavyweight, although there was very little boxing depicted in the broadcast. Requiem for a Heavyweight was the beginning of what became one of the new medium's most successful creative teams, writer Rod Serling and director Ralph Nelson.
Cast
Jack PalanceJack Palance
Jack Palance , was an American actor. During half a century of film and television appearances, Palance was nominated for three Academy Awards, all as Best Actor in a Supporting Role, winning in 1991 for his role in City Slickers.-Early life:Palance, one of five children, was born Volodymyr...
... Harlan 'Mountain' McClintock
Keenan Wynn
Keenan Wynn
Keenan Wynn was an American character actor. His bristling mustache and expressive face were his stock in trade, and though he rarely had a lead role, he got prominent billing in most of his film and TV parts....
... Maish
Kim Hunter
Kim Hunter
Kim Hunter was an American film, theatre, and television actress. She won both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, each as Best Supporting Actress, for her performance as Stella Kowalski in the 1951 film A Streetcar Named Desire...
... Grace Carney
Ed Wynn
Ed Wynn
Ed Wynn was a popular American comedian and actor noted for his Perfect Fool comedy character, his pioneering radio show of the 1930s, and his later career as a dramatic actor....
... Army
Joe Abdullah ... Fight Announcer
Max Baer ... Mike
Eddie Cantor
Eddie Cantor
Eddie Cantor was an American "illustrated song" performer, comedian, dancer, singer, actor and songwriter...
... Host
Ted Christy ... Wrestler
Karl 'Killer' Davis ... Wrestler
Ned Glass
Ned Glass
Ned Glass was an American character actor who appeared in more than eighty films and on television more than one hundred times, frequently playing nervous, cowardly or weasely characters...
... Bartender
Young Jack Johnson ... Champ
Lyn Osborn ... Photographer
Ivan Rasputin ... Wrestler
Frank Richards ... Fighter in Bar
Max Rosenbloom ... Steve
British television version
BBC TelevisionBBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
screened a version of the play in their regular Sunday Night Theatre anthology strand on March 31, 1957. Sean Connery
Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
, five years before portraying James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
, starred as McClintock, while Alvin Rakoff
Alvin Rakoff
Alvin Rakoff is a Canadian film and television director who has spent the bulk of his career in England and directed more than 100 high profile television plays, as well as a dozen feature films and numerous stage productions...
produced and, with Serling's approval, also wrote some new material to cover costume changes that took place during commercial breaks on US television, but could not do so on the non-commercial BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
. Co-starring with Connery were Warren Mitchell
Warren Mitchell
Warren Mitchell is an English actor who rose to initial prominence in the role of bigoted cockney Alf Garnett in the BBC television sitcom Till Death Us Do Part , and its sequels Till Death... and In Sickness and in Health , all of which were written by Johnny Speight...
and Rakoff's future wife Jacqueline Hill
Jacqueline Hill
Jacqueline Hill was a British actress known for her role as Barbara Wright in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. As the history teacher of the Doctor's granddaughter, Susan Foreman, Barbara Wright was the first of the companions to appear in the show in 1963, with Hill speaking...
, who had recommended Connery for the leading part. Michael Caine
Michael Caine
Sir Michael Caine, CBE is an English actor. He won Academy Awards for best supporting actor in both Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules ....
was featured in a small role in a new scene written by Rakoff.
This production was reviewed in The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
newspaper the following day, which gave it a generally positive assessment, with some reservations. "It is unfortunate that Mr. Serling has allowed a saccharine romance to intrude into this self-sufficient and wholly masculine situation. Otherwise his touch is sure. Although physically miscast as the fighter, Mr. Sean Connery played with a shambling and inarticulate charm that almost made the love affair credible."
Dutch television version
In 1959 Dutch television adapted the story as Requiem voor een zwaargewicht.Cast
Ko Van Dijk ... MalloyTon Van Duinhoven ... Manager
Jan Blasser ... Verzorger
Film version
Ralph NelsonRalph Nelson
Ralph Nelson was an American movie and television director, producer, writer, and actor.-Life and career:...
also directed a movie
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
version in 1962 with Anthony Quinn
Anthony Quinn
Antonio Rodolfo Quinn-Oaxaca , more commonly known as Anthony Quinn, was a Mexican American actor, as well as a painter and writer...
in the role originated by Jack Palance
Jack Palance
Jack Palance , was an American actor. During half a century of film and television appearances, Palance was nominated for three Academy Awards, all as Best Actor in a Supporting Role, winning in 1991 for his role in City Slickers.-Early life:Palance, one of five children, was born Volodymyr...
, Jackie Gleason
Jackie Gleason
Jackie Gleason was an American comedian, actor and musician. He was known for his brash visual and verbal comedy style, especially by his character Ralph Kramden on The Honeymooners, a situation-comedy television series. His most noted film roles were as Minnesota Fats in the drama film The...
and Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award...
in the parts portrayed on television by Keenan Wynn
Keenan Wynn
Keenan Wynn was an American character actor. His bristling mustache and expressive face were his stock in trade, and though he rarely had a lead role, he got prominent billing in most of his film and TV parts....
and his father Ed Wynn
Ed Wynn
Ed Wynn was a popular American comedian and actor noted for his Perfect Fool comedy character, his pioneering radio show of the 1930s, and his later career as a dramatic actor....
, and social worker Grace Miller was portrayed by Julie Harris
Julie Harris
Julia Ann "Julie" Harris is an American stage, screen, and television actress. She has won five Tony Awards, three Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award, and was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1994, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts. She is a member of the American Theatre Hall of Fame...
.
Cassius Clay (later known as "Muhammed Ali") appears as Quinn's opponent in a boxing match at the beginning of the movie, a memorable sequence filmed with the camera providing Quinn's point of view as the unstoppable Clay rapidly punches directly at the movie audience. Afterward, Maish is confronted by bookies who threaten his life if he fails to repay the bet he just lost on the fight.
The film version is somewhat darker in its plotline than the original teleplay. Mountain Rivera (Quinn) is to interview for a counselor position at a children's camp, but Maish takes him to a bar where they both get drunk, hoping that Mountain will forget about the job interview. Army (Rooney) arrives at the bar to remind Mountain about the appointment, but he embarrasses himself at the hotel where the interview is to take place, behaving drunkenly in plain sight of the camp owners. Grace follows Mountain home to try to understand what went wrong, and though they are attracted to each other, Mountain's aggression scares Grace off. She confronts Maish in tears, condemning him for controlling Mountain and ruining his chance to make a new life for himself.
To pay off Maish's gambling debts, Mountain agrees to perform as Native American wrestling persona "Big Chief Mountain Rivera." Just prior to entering the ring for his first match, an overwhelming tide of humiliation sweeps over Mountain, causing him to change his mind. Maish blurts out that he bet against Mountain in the fight against Clay, and as Rivera attempts to leave the locker room, "Ma" Greeny and her thugs enter, threatening Maish. However, Mountain changes his mind and agrees to wrestle, thereby allowing "Ma" to be paid and saving Maish's life. In the epic final scene of the film, Mountain enters the ring amidst jeering ridicule to face "Haystacks Calhoun," a grappler from Arkansas billed at 601 lbs.
Cast
Anthony QuinnAnthony Quinn
Antonio Rodolfo Quinn-Oaxaca , more commonly known as Anthony Quinn, was a Mexican American actor, as well as a painter and writer...
... Luis 'Mountain' Rivera
Jackie Gleason
Jackie Gleason
Jackie Gleason was an American comedian, actor and musician. He was known for his brash visual and verbal comedy style, especially by his character Ralph Kramden on The Honeymooners, a situation-comedy television series. His most noted film roles were as Minnesota Fats in the drama film The...
... Maish Rennick
Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award...
... Army
Julie Harris
Julie Harris
Julia Ann "Julie" Harris is an American stage, screen, and television actress. She has won five Tony Awards, three Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award, and was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1994, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts. She is a member of the American Theatre Hall of Fame...
... Grace Miller
Stanley Adams
Stanley Adams (actor)
Stanley Adams was an American actor and screenwriter.-Career:Born in New York City, Adams had his first film role in 1952, when he played the bartender in the movie version of Death of a Salesman...
... Perelli (as Stan Adams)
Madame Spivy ... Ma Greeny
Cassius Clay ... Himself
Val Avery
Val Avery
Val Avery was an American character actor who appeared in hundreds of movies and television shows since the 1950s. In a career that spanned 50 years, Avery appeared in over 100 films and had appearances in over 300 television series.-Early life:Avery was born in Philadelphia...
... Young fighter's promoter
Herbie Faye
Herbie Faye
Herbie Faye was an American actor who appeared in both of Phil Silvers's CBS television series, The Phil Silvers Show and The New Phil Silvers Show ....
... Charlie, the Bartender
Jack Dempsey
Jack Dempsey
William Harrison "Jack" Dempsey was an American boxer who held the world heavyweight title from 1919 to 1926. Dempsey's aggressive style and exceptional punching power made him one of the most popular boxers in history. Many of his fights set financial and attendance records, including the first...
... Himself
Haystacks Calhoun ... Himself
The Man in the Funny Suit
In 1960, Ralph NelsonRalph Nelson
Ralph Nelson was an American movie and television director, producer, writer, and actor.-Life and career:...
wrote and directed The Man in the Funny Suit
The Man in the Funny Suit
The Man in the Funny Suit is a television drama detailing the agony endured by actor Keenan Wynn while helping his father, comedian Ed Wynn, play a serious role in the original television production of Rod Serling's Requiem for a Heavyweight....
, a dramatic account of Keenan Wynn
Keenan Wynn
Keenan Wynn was an American character actor. His bristling mustache and expressive face were his stock in trade, and though he rarely had a lead role, he got prominent billing in most of his film and TV parts....
's travails in helping his father, comedian Ed Wynn
Ed Wynn
Ed Wynn was a popular American comedian and actor noted for his Perfect Fool comedy character, his pioneering radio show of the 1930s, and his later career as a dramatic actor....
, play such a serious role on live television in Requiem for a Heavyweight. Ed Wynn went on to play equally serious roles in The Great Man
The Great Man
The Great Man is a 1956 drama film directed by José Ferrer and based on a novel by Al Morgan. It was loosely based on the controversial career of Arthur Godfrey, the beloved TV and radio host whose image had been tarnished by a number of cast firings and Godfrey's contentious battles with the...
and the 1959 film version of The Diary of Anne Frank. The Man in the Funny Suit was telecast as an installment of the Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse with Rod Serling
Rod Serling
Rodman Edward "Rod" Serling was an American screenwriter, novelist, television producer, and narrator best known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his science fiction anthology TV series, The Twilight Zone. Serling was active in politics, both on and off the screen and helped form...
and Red Skelton
Red Skelton
Richard Bernard "Red" Skelton was an American comedian who is best known as a top radio and television star from 1937 to 1971. Skelton's show business career began in his teens as a circus clown and went on to vaudeville, Broadway, films, radio, TV, night clubs and casinos, all while pursuing...
playing themselves, and it remains available for public viewing at the Paley Center for Media in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
.
Cast
Keenan WynnKeenan Wynn
Keenan Wynn was an American character actor. His bristling mustache and expressive face were his stock in trade, and though he rarely had a lead role, he got prominent billing in most of his film and TV parts....
... Keenan Wynn
Ed Wynn
Ed Wynn
Ed Wynn was a popular American comedian and actor noted for his Perfect Fool comedy character, his pioneering radio show of the 1930s, and his later career as a dramatic actor....
... Ed Wynn
Rod Serling
Rod Serling
Rodman Edward "Rod" Serling was an American screenwriter, novelist, television producer, and narrator best known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his science fiction anthology TV series, The Twilight Zone. Serling was active in politics, both on and off the screen and helped form...
... Rod Serling
Maxine Stuart ... Sharley Wynn
Ralph Nelson
Ralph Nelson
Ralph Nelson was an American movie and television director, producer, writer, and actor.-Life and career:...
... Ralph Nelson
Red Skelton
Red Skelton
Richard Bernard "Red" Skelton was an American comedian who is best known as a top radio and television star from 1937 to 1971. Skelton's show business career began in his teens as a circus clown and went on to vaudeville, Broadway, films, radio, TV, night clubs and casinos, all while pursuing...
... Red Skelton
Bob Mathias
Bob Mathias
Robert Bruce "Bob" Mathias was an American decathlete, two-time Olympic gold medalist, actor and United States Congressman representing the state of California.-Early life and athletic career:...
... Bob Mathias
William Roerick ... Martin Manulis
Max Rosenbloom ... Slapsie Maxie Rosenbloom
Seymour Berns ... Skelton's Director
Robin Blake ... Script Girl
Joey Faye ... Latecomer
Ned Glass ... Ed Wynn's Understudy
Charlene Glazer ... Secretary
Drew Handley ... Assistant Director
Robert H. Harris ... Technical Director
Richard Joy ... Announcer
Bill Walker ... Porter