Meredith dies at 88

By RICHARD NATALE

Actor Burgess Meredith, whose wide-ranging career on stage, TV and screen spanned seven decades but who was best known as trainer Mickey in the "Rocky" films and the villainous Penguin in the "Batman" TV series, died Wednesday at his home in Malibu. He was 88.

Though his career as a leading man was brief, he made lasting impressions, such as when he re-created his stage role in his film debut in Maxwell Anderson's "Winterset" (1937). Other highlights included the classic 1939 version of John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" with Lon Chaney Jr.; the 1945 "The Story of G.I. Joe"; "Day of the Locust" in 1975; and 1976's "Rocky," for which he received back-to-back supporting actor Oscar nominations.

He won an Emmy for "Tail Gunner Joe," a 1977 docudrama about Joseph McCarthy. TV fans also remember him for a classic episode of "The Twilight Zone," titled "Time Enough at Last." In the 1959 half-hour, he played a bookworm who survives a nuclear holocaust and is delighted he'll be able to read books without interruption --- until he breaks his glasses.

Meredith directed two films: "The Man on the Eiffel Tower" in 1949 and "James Joyce's Women" in 1985. He also directed for the stage, including the Broadway productions "A Thurber Carnival" in 1960 and "Midgie Purvis" starring Tallulah Bankhead in 1961.

Ohio roots

Oliver Burgess Meredith was born Nov. 16, 1908, in Cleveland, Ohio, and at the age of 11 won a scholarship to vocally train with the Paulist Choir in New York. But his parents, devout Methodists, objected and he went instead to the choir of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. He basically worked his way through Amherst College.

After leaving Amherst in 1928, through a letter of introduction, he became an apprentice in Eva LeGallienne's Civic Repertory Co. He worked in her company, as well as in stock, until 1932, when he made his Broadway debut in a short-lived production of "The Threepenny Opera." He also appeared as the Doormouse in LeGallienne's memorable production of "Alice in Wonderland."

His first good Broadway notices came from "Little Ol' Boy" in 1933, though the play lasted only nine days. It did, however, lead him to a longrunning radio serial, "Red Davis," for the Beechnut Co.

After several flops came the comedy "She Loves Me Not," which ran for the better part of a year and earned him a handy $350 a week. Working with director Guthrie McClintick, he appeared in 1934 opposite Katherine Cornell in "The Barrets of Wimpole Street" and "Flowers of the Forest." In the late '30s he was widely praised for his Prince Hal starring with Orson Welles in "Falstaff" for the Mercury Theater.

McClintick also directed "Winterset" (written for the actor and based on the Sacco & Vanzetti case) and "High Tor," two Maxwell Anderson successes in a row for Meredith. He also starred in Anderson's "The Star Wagon."

After making his film debut, he had lead roles in "Of Mice and Men" in 1939, "Idiot's Delight," "There Goes the Groom," Ernst Lubitsch's "That Uncertain Feeling" and "Tom, Dick and Harry" in 1941.

After service in the Army Air Corps, he starred as war correspondent Ernie Pyle in "The Story of G.I. Joe," in 1945, and wrote, starred and produced Jean Renoir's "Diary of a Chambermaid," starring his then wife, Paulette Goddard. But after directing and starring in "The Man on the Eiffel Tower" in 1949, he stayed on in Europe.

In 1956 he produced the documentary "Alexander Calder," but except for "Joe Butterfly" in 1957, his acting career in film did not resume until the '60s in a series of Otto Preminger vehicles including "Advise and Consent" (1962), "The Cardinal" (1963), "In Harm's Way" (1965), "Hurry Sundown" (1967), "Skiddoo" and "Such Good Friends" (1971).

He kept busy directing for Broadway, and appearing in "Teahouse of the August Moon," "Lilliom," "Playboy of the Western World" and "The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker," and a concert tour titled "An Evening With Burgess Meredith."

Despite having received vocal training, it was only in the late 1970s that he would get a chance to sing professionally --- in the TV special "Puff the Magic Dragon."

Villainous Penguin in 'Batman'

Between 1966 and '68 he was memorably over-the-top as the villainous Penguin on the "Batman" TV series. Other TV acting stints include the miniseries "How the West Was Won."

By then he was an established character actor, standing out --- and often hamming it up --- in small roles in films, such as "Madame X" in 1965, "A Big Hand for the Little Lady," "The Torture Garden," "MacKenna's Gold," "There Was a Crooked Man" and "Day of the Locust."

After his second Oscar nom for the 1976 "Rocky," he appeared in three of the four sequels to the film. He also appeared in "The Hindenberg," "The Manitou," "Foul Play" and "Burnt Offerings."

Through the 1980s, he popped up in "True Confessions," "Twilight Zone --- The Movie" (after several stints on the TV series), "Santa Claus," Jean-Luc Godard's 1987 "King Lear" and "Mr. North" (1988). He also appeared in "State of Grace" (1990), the 1993 comedy "Grumpy Old Men" and its 1995 sequel, "Grumpier Old Men," highlighted by the outtakes over the end credits in which Meredith breaks up his co-stars with his off-color ad libs.

Meredith was married four times: to Helen Derby, actresses Margaret Perry and Goddard, and dancer Kaja Sundsten.

He is survived by his wife, Sundsten, a son, Jonathan, and daughter, Tala.