John Alexander
John Alexander
Portly, penguin-shaped actor John Alexander was brought to Hollywood in 1941 to recreate the stage role of Teddy Brewster in Frank Capra's film version of Arsenic and Old Lace. Alexander entered the comedy-movie hall of fame in this role of a demented, middle-aged fellow who imagined himself to be Teddy Roosevelt, and who frequently disrupted his household by yelling "CHAAAARGE!" and rushing up "San Juan Hill" (aka the staircase). Alexander would repeat the Teddy Brewster role in later stage and TV revivals of Arsenic for the rest of his career; he also occasionally played the real Teddy Roosevelt in such films as Fancy Pants (1950). Outside of his Roosevelt impersonations, Alexander was memorable as one of Bette Davis' earnest suitor in Mrs. Skeffington (1947), and as minstrel impresario Lew Dockstader in The Jolson Story (1946). Before his retirement in the mid-1960s, John Alexander appeared in several Broadway plays and musicals, and was an occasional guest star on such Manhattan-filmed TV series as Car 54, Where Are You? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Filmography of John Alexander:
- The Jolson Story with Larry Parks , Evelyn Keyes , William Demarest , Bill Goodwin , Ludwig Donath , Ernest Cossart , Scotty Beckett , William Forrest , Ann E. Todd , Edwin Maxwell , Emmett Vogan , Lillian Bond , Eugene Borden , Franklin Farnum , Eddie Fetherstone , Sam Harris , Al Jolson , Charles Jordan , Eddie Kane , Edward Keane , Arthur Loft , George Magrill , Harry T. Shannon , Pierre Watkin , Eric Wilton , Will Wright , Fred F. Sears , Michael Lally
- Mr. Skeffington with Bette Davis , Claude Rains , Walter Abel , George Coulouris , Jerome Cowan , Robert Shayne , Dorothy Peterson , Peter Whitney , Halliwell Hobbes , Walter Kingsford , Harry C. Bradley , Ann Codee , Joe Devlin , Ann Doran , Bess Flowers , William Forrest , Saul Gorss , Creighton Hale , Matt McHugh , Ghislaine "Gigi" Perreau , Cyril Ring , Erskine Sanford , Minerva Urecal , Crane Whitley , Richard Erdman , Mary Field
- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn with Dorothy McGuire , Joan Blondell , James Dunn , Lloyd Nolan , Peggy Ann Garner , Ted Donaldson , James Gleason , Ruth Nelson , John Farrell MacDonald , George H. Melford , Mae Marsh , Alec Craig , Charles Halton , Al Bridge , Virginia Brissac , George Meader , Erskine Sanford , Francis Pierlot , Teddy Infur , Harry Seymour , Robert Strange , Nicholas Ray
- Fancy Pants with Bob Hope , Lucille Ball , Bruce Cabot , Eric Blore , Norma Varden , Chester Conklin , Edgar Dearing , Sam Harris , Percy Helton , Olaf Hytten , Robert F. Kortman , Ida Moore , Almira Sessions , Ethel Wales
- Winchester '73 with James Stewart , Shelley Winters , Dan Duryea , Charles Drake , Rock Hudson , Millard Mitchell , Tony Curtis , John McIntire , Jay C. Flippen , Steve Brodie , James Millican , Abner Biberman , James Best , Edmund Cobb , Steven Darrell , John Doucette , Ethan Laidlaw , Ted Mapes , Bud Osborne , Chuck Roberson , Forrest Taylor , Ray Teal , Guy Wilkerson , Chief Yowlachie
John Alexander Trivia
