Biography

Edward Everett Horton

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It seemed like Edward Everett Horton appeared in just about every Hollywood comedy made in the 1930s. He was always the perfect counterpart to the great gentlemen and protagonists of the films. Horton was born in Brooklyn, New York City, to Isabella S. (Diack) and Edward Everett Horton, a compositor for the NY Times. His maternal grandparents were Scottish and his father was of English and German ancestry. Like many of his contemporaries, Horton came to the movies from the theatre, where he debuted in 1906. He made his film debut in 1922. Unlike many of his silent-film colleagues, however, Horton had no problems in adapting to the sound, despite--or perhaps because of--his crackling voice. From 1932 to 1938 he worked often with Ernst Lubitsch, and later with Frank Capra. He has appeared in more than 120 films, in addition to a large body of work on TV, among which was the befuddled Hekawi medicine man Roaring Chicken on the western comedy F Troop (1965).
- IMDb mini biography by: Volker Boehm

Beginning in 1959 through 1964, he narrated the "Fractured Fairy Tales" segment as well as playing multiple characters in various supporting features of the The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show .
He owned an estate in Encino on Amestoy Avenue that he named "Belly Acres".
Like Zasu Pitts, Horton excelled in comedy and specialized in the fretful, woebegone "Nervous Nellie" types. The duo were the only actors who could utter the simple words "Oh, dear!" and make it sound like it was the end of the world.
Diagnosed with cancer, he was hospitalized at Glens Falls, New York, for several weeks before returning to his San Fernando, California, home, where he died at the age of 84.
His father, Edward Everett Horton, Sr., had English and German ancestry, and his mother, Isabella S. (Diack), was born in Matanzas, Cuba, to Scottish parents. He was the eldest of four children; George, Winter Davis, and Hannahbelle were his siblings. The family remained close throughout their lives. Edward's mother lived with him until she died at the age of 101. His brothers and sister also spent their later years residing at his Encino estate.

[at the suggestion of retirement, c. 1966, aged 80] Dear Lord! I would go right out of my mind.
[on Rita Hayworth] She was so sweet and hard-working. She asked me to watch her work out her dance routines and go over her lines with her. I'd tell her little things and she'd whisper, "Don't tell the director, please." She was so modest and affectionate.
[on Douglas Sirk] He was delightful and ambitious and so well-informed.
I have my own little kingdom. I do the scavenger parts no one else wants and I get well paid for it.