Alan Young

North Shields, Tyne-and-Wear, Northumberland, England, UK

Biography

Alan Young (born Angus Young; November 19, 1919 – May 19, 2016) was an English-Canadian-American actor, comedian, radio and television host, whom TV Guide called "the Charlie Chaplin of television". Young was born in North Shields, Northumberland, England, to Scottish parents. He suffered from severe asthma as a child, which kept him bedridden for long periods of time. During this time, he developed a love of radio, and began performing on local radio stations in his teens. In 1941, Young moved to the United States, where he continued his radio career. He also began appearing in television shows, and in 1950, he won an Emmy Award for Best Actor for his role in the sitcom The Alan Young Show. Young's most famous role was as Wilbur Post in the television comedy Mister Ed (1961–1966). The show was about a man who could talk to his talking horse, and it was a huge success, running for five seasons. Young's performance in the show earned him another Emmy Award nomination. After Mister Ed, Young continued to work in television and film. He also provided the voice of Scrooge McDuck for Disney from 1974 until his death in 2016. Young was a versatile actor who was equally adept at comedy and drama. He was also a talented musician, and released several albums of music. Young was married three times and had four children. He died in 2016 at the age of 96.

Movies

Matinee Theater is an American anthology series that aired on NBC during the Golden Age of Television, from 1955 to 1958. The series, which ran daily in the afternoon, was frequently live. It was produced by Albert McCleery, Darrell Ross, George Cahan and Frank Price with executive producer George Lowther. McCleery had previously produced the live series Cameo Theatre which introduced to television the concept of theater-in-the-round, TV plays staged with minimal sets. Jim Buckley of the Pewter Plough Playhouse recalled: When Al McCleery got back to the States, he originated a most ambitious theatrical TV series for NBC called Matinee Theater: to televise five different stage plays per week live, airing around noon in order to promote color TV to the American housewife as she labored over her ironing. Al was the producer. He hired five directors and five art directors. Richard Bennett, one of our first early presidents of the Pewter Plough Corporation, was one of the directors and I was one of the art directors and, as soon as we were through televising one play, we had lunch and then met to plan next week’s show. That was over 50 years ago, and I’m trying to think; I believe the TV art director is his own set decorator —yes, of course! It had to be, since one of McCleery’s chief claims to favor with the producers was his elimination of the setting per se and simply decorating the scene with a minimum of props. It took a bit of ingenuity.

More info
Matinee Theater
1955