Franklin Pangborn

Franklin Pangborn (January 23, 1889 – July 20, 1958) was an American comedic character actor famous for playing small but memorable roles with comic flair. He appeared in many Preston Sturges movies as well as the W. C. Fields films International House, The Bank Dick, and Never Give a Sucker an Even Break. For his contributions to motion pictures, Pangborn received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1500 Vine Street on February 8, 1960.[1][2]

Franklin Pangborn
Screenshot of trailer for
Topper Takes a Trip, 1939
Born(1889-01-23)January 23, 1889
Newark, New Jersey, U.S.
DiedJuly 20, 1958(1958-07-20) (aged 69)
Laguna Beach, California, U.S.
OccupationActor
Years active1910–1958

Early years

Pangborn was born in Newark, New Jersey.[3] During World War I, he served for 14 months with the 312th Infantry in Europe.[3]

Career

An encounter with actress Mildred Holland when he was 17 led to Pangborn's first professional acting experience. He was working for an insurance company when she learned about his ambitions for acting and offered him an extra's position with her company at $12 per week, initially during his two weeks' vacation. That opportunity grew into four years' touring with Holland and her troupe. Following that, he acted in Jessie Bonstelle's stock company.[3]

In the early 1930s, Pangborn worked in short subjects for Mack Sennett, Hal Roach, Universal Pictures, Columbia Pictures, and Pathé Exchange, almost always in support of the leading players. (For example, he played a befuddled photographer opposite "Spanky" McFarland in the Our Gang short subject Wild Poses.) He also appeared in scores of feature films in small roles, cameos, and recurring gags.

Pangborn played essentially the same character: prissy, polite, elegant, highly energetic, often officious, fastidious, somewhat nervous, prone to becoming flustered but essentially upbeat, and with immediately recognizable high-speed, patter-type speech. He typically played an officious desk clerk in a hotel, a self-important musician, a fastidious headwaiter, an enthusiastic birdwatcher, and the like, and was usually put in a situation of frustration or flustered by the antics of others.

Pangborn's screen character often was considered a gay stereotype, although such a topic was too sensitive in his day to be discussed overtly in dialogue. A rare exception occurred in International House, filmed before the Hays Office fully censored filmmaking, and was notable for several risqué references (by 1933 standards). In one scene, Professor Quail, played by W.C. Fields, has just landed his autogyro on the roof of the titular hotel in the Chinese city of Wuhu, but he does not know where he is. Pangborn plays the hotel manager:

  • Professor Quail: Hey! Where am I?
  • Woman: Wu-Hu.
  • Professor Quail: Woo-Hoo to you sweetheart! Hey Charlie! Where am I?
  • Pangborn: WU-HU!
  • (Fields then removes the flower from his lapel) Professor Quail: Don't let the posy fool ya!

Pangborn was an effective foil for many major comedians, including Fields, Harold Lloyd, Olsen and Johnson, and The Ritz Brothers. He appeared regularly in comedies, including several directed by Preston Sturges, and in musicals of the 1940s. When movie roles became scarce, he worked in television, including The Red Skelton Show (in which he played a murderous bandit) and a This Is Your Life tribute to Mack Sennett, his old boss. Pangborn was briefly the announcer on Jack Paar's The Tonight Show in 1957, but was fired after the first few weeks for a lack of "spontaneous enthusiasm" and replaced by Hugh Downs.

Pangborn's final public performance came as a supporting player in The Red Skelton Show episode for April 22, 1958.[4]

Personal life

Pangborn lived in Laguna Beach, California in a house with his mother and his "occasional boyfriend", according to William Mann in Behind the Screen.[5] He died on July 20, 1958.[6]

Selected filmography
All feature films are listed below. Many short films, however, are missing.
gollark: That doesn't sound very useful unless you somehow also have access to some traffic lights.
gollark: I assume they don't let you remotely pilot arbitrary cars, so…?
gollark: What are "traffic controller thingies"?
gollark: Anyway, you can read it here: https://osmarks.net/p3.html#4-4
gollark: I can't see a way to make it do that without donator commands, sad!

References
  1. "Franklin Pangborn | Hollywood Walk of Fame". www.walkoffame.com. Retrieved June 27, 2016.
  2. "Franklin Pangborn". latimes.com. Retrieved June 27, 2016.
  3. "Darling and Dandy of Screen Colony". The Boston Globe. Massachusetts, Boston. May 20, 1939. p. 14. Retrieved October 23, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. Franklin Pangborn's last performance, on The Red Skelton Show, April 22, 1958
  5. Mann, William J. (October 11, 2001). Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood, 1910–1969. Viking. p. 133. ISBN 978-0-670-03017-0.
  6. "Obituary – Franklin Pangborn". Los Angeles Times. July 23, 1958. p. C12.

Further reading
  • Alistair, Rupert (2018). "Franklin Pangborn". The Name Below the Title : 65 Classic Movie Character Actors from Hollywood's Golden Age (softcover) (First ed.). Great Britain: Independently published. pp. 212–214. ISBN 978-1-7200-3837-5.
Media offices
Preceded by
Gene Rayburn		 The Tonight Show announcer
1957		 Succeeded by
Hugh Downs
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