Biography
Born on 4 February 1889 in San Francisco, California, USA, and passing away on 14 November 1960 in Woodland Hills, California, USA, Walter Catlett spent several years performing as a comedian in vaudeville before reaching Broadway, where his notable credit included the 1921 production Sally alongside Marilyn Miller. By the early 1920s he had launched an extended run as a comic actor in motion pictures and adjusted smoothly once sound arrived. His numerous screen roles during the 1930s, many within musicals, encompassed The Floradora Girl (A Story Of The Gay Nineties) (1930, starring Marion Davies), Platinum Blonde (1931, with Jean Harlow), Big City Blues (1932, with Joan Blondell), Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (1936, with Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur), On The Avenue (1937, with Madeleine Carroll, Dick Powell, Alice Faye, and many Irving Berlin songs), Bringing Up Baby (1938, with Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant), and Zaza (1939, with Claudette Colbert). In 1942 he appeared in the musical biopics My Gal Sal, centered on songwriter Paul Dresser, and Yankee Doodle Dandy, which recounted the life of George M. Cohan; another biographical entry arrived with 1949’s Look For The Silver Lining, devoted to Marilyn Miller. Additional 1940s work placed him in the Danny Kaye vehicles Up In Arms (1944) and The Inspector General (1949). He also featured in the light musicals Dancing In The Dark (1949, with William Powell and Betsy Drake) and Here Comes The Groom (1951, with Bing Crosby and Jane Wyman), followed in the later 1950s by Friendly Persuasion (1956) and Beau James (1957). Beyond his visible roles, Catlett supplied the voice of J. Worthingtom Foulfellow for Walt Disney’s animated feature Pinocchio (1940). Across nearly every one of these pictures he projected his fully realized screen character of an absent-minded blunderer.
Singles
