Bert Lahr
Bert Lahr (* August 13, 1895 in Yorkville, Manhattan, New York City as Irving Lahr home; † 4 December 1967 in New York City ) was an American actor. Lahr became known as the "Lion " in The Wizard of Oz. For his performance in the Broadway musical Foxy 1964 he received a Tony Award for " Best Actor in a Musical ".
Life
Lahr made his debut in 1927 in Harry Delmar 's Revels on Broadway. He could with the musical Hold Everything The first big success! in 1928 / recorded 1929. In the 1930s, Lahr starred in productions such as Flying High in Ziegfeld's Hot - Cha! and on the side of Beatrice Lillie in The Show is on with. In 1939, he stepped to the side of Ethel Merman on in Du Barry Was a Lady.
His film career began in Lahr with a role he had played successfully on the stage. In the film version of the musical Flying High in 1931 Lahr mimed again the eccentric pilot Rusty Krause. 1939 Lahr played his most famous role, the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz. Smaller roles in film and television productions followed. In the 1950s, he played the role of Moonface Martin in a television version of Anything Goes.
In 1956 he played the tarragon in Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot at the Coconut Grove Playhouse in Miami, and later on Broadway.
Lahr was married twice. In 1929 he married Mercedes Delpino, the marriage was divorced in 1937. From 1940 until his death he was married to Mildred Schroeder, from this marriage came a son and a daughter out. Lahr died in 1967 during the filming of The Night They Raided Minsky's of pneumonia and was buried at the Union Field Cemetery in Queens. The missing at his death scenes of the movie were filmed finished with a double.
Lahr's son, the theater critic John Lahr published in 1969 under the title Notes on a Cowardly Lion, a biography of Bert Lahr.