Walter Pidgeon

Pidgeon was born in Saint John, New Brunswick, the son of Hannah (née Sanborn), a housewife, and Caleb Burpee Pidgeon, a haberdasher.^[4]

Pidgeon received his formal education in local schools and at the University of New Brunswick, where he studied law and drama. His university education was interrupted by World War I, when he volunteered with the 65th Battery as a lieutenant in the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery. He never saw action, and some sources indicate that he was severely injured in an accident when he was crushed between two gun carriages and spent 17 months in a military hospital.^[1] His medical records suggest that his active service was ended by a hernia.^[5]

Following the war, he moved to Boston, Massachusetts, where he worked as a bank runner, at the same time studying voice at the Boston Conservatory.^[6]

While he was performing in amateur theatricals in Boston, Pidgeon was hired by producer, actress and singer Elsie Janis, who was seeking a male singer for her revue. Pidgeon moved to New York City in 1923, where he was interviewed by E.E. Clive, a British producer working on Broadway. Pidgeon made his featured Broadway debut in Janis' 1925 revue Puzzles of 1925.^[1] Clive was producing You Never Can Tell, and he cast Pidgeon in a supporting role despite Pidgeon's lack of theatrical experience.

Pidgeon's success created a rift with Janis, causing Pidgeon's dismissal and his move to Hollywood.^[1] His first role was in the silent film Mannequin (1925). Discouraged with the quality of the roles assigned to him, Pidgeon returned to New York in 1928 to resume his stage career.^[1] With the advent of sound films, Pidgeon starred in the musicals Bride of the Regiment (1930), Sweet Kitty Bellairs (1930), Viennese Nights (1930) and Kiss Me Again (1931). In 1935, he appeared on Broadway in Something Gay, Night of January 16th and There's Wisdom in Women.

Pidgeon returned to film in 1937 as a dramatic actor in Saratoga (1937), The Girl of the Golden West (1938) and Dark Command (1940).^[1]

In 1941, Pidgeon starred in the Academy Award-winning Best Picture How Green Was My Valley (1941). He starred with Greer Garson in Blossoms in the Dust (1941), Mrs. Miniver (1942) (for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor) and its sequel, The Miniver Story (1950). He was also nominated for Madame Curie (1943), again with Garson. His partnership with Garson continued throughout the 1940s and into the 1950s with Mrs. Parkington (1944), Julia Misbehaves (1948), That Forsyte Woman (1949) and Scandal at Scourie (1953). He also starred as Chip Collyer in the comedy Week-End at the Waldorf (1945) and later as Colonel Michael S. 'Hooky' Nicobar in The Red Danube (1949).

Although he continued to make films, including The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), Executive Suite (1954) and Forbidden Planet (1956), by the mid-1950s Pidgeon returned to work on Broadway after a 20-year absence. He was featured in the musical Take Me Along with Jackie Gleason and received a Tony Award nomination. He continued making films, playing Admiral Harriman Nelson in 1961's Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, James Haggin in Walt Disney's Big Red (1962) and the Senate majority leader in Otto Preminger's Advise & Consent. His role as Florenz Ziegfeld in Funny Girl (1968) was well-received and he played Casey, James Coburn's sidekick, in Harry in Your Pocket (1973).

Pidgeon guest-starred on the episode "King of the Valley" of Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, which aired on November 26, 1959. His other television credits included Rawhide ("The Reunion", 1962). Breaking Point, The F.B.I., Marcus Welby, M.D. and Gibbsville. In 1963 he guest-starred as corporate attorney Sherman Hatfield in the final of four special episodes of Perry Mason while Raymond Burr was recovering from surgery. In 1965, he played the king in Rodgers and Hammerstein's CBS television production of Cinderella, starring Lesley Ann Warren. Pidgeon retired from acting in 1977.

A Republican, Pidgeon joined celebrity Republicans in 1944 at a rally in the Los Angeles Coliseum arranged by David O. Selznick to support the Dewey−Bricker ticket and governor Earl Warren of California, who was Dewey's running mate in 1948. The gathering drew 93,000, with Cecil B. DeMille as the master of ceremonies and short speeches by Hedda Hopper and Walt Disney.^[7]

In 1919, Pidgeon wed Edna Muriel Pickles, who died during the birth of their daughter Edna (1921–1978).^[8] In 1931, Pidgeon married his secretary Ruth Walker, to whom he remained married until his death.^[9]

Pidgeon became a United States citizen on December 24, 1943.^[10]

Pidgeon died on September 25, 1984, in Santa Monica, California, following a series of strokes.^[11]

Pidgeon has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6414 Hollywood Boulevard in California.