Movie Musings: Disney and More

Disney’s Greatest Pairs: Part 2

Ed Wynn and his son, Keenan Wynn, were another one of many talented pairs, frequently hired by the Walt Disney Studios, though this time from the same family! They appeared opposite each other in The Absent-Minded Professor (1961) and its sequel Son of Flubber (1963), and acted individually in a number of other special Disney films. In every film that he made for Disney, Keenan always played the arrogant, yet at the same time lovable, main antagonist. Besides playing Alonzo P. Hawk in “Flubber 1 and 2,” he starred as Martin Ridgeway in Snowball Express (1972), reprised his role as Alonzo Hawk a second time for Herbie Rides Again (1974), the sequel to The Love Bug (1968), and played Mr. John Slade in The Shaggy D.A. (1976), the sequel to The Shaggy Dog (1959).

While Keenan always played the villain, Ed would play the lovable, supporting clown/uncle/fatherly figure. He made his Disney debut as the voice of the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland (1951). He starred as the Toymaker in Babes in Toyland (1961), released the same year as “Flubber 1” where he played the Fire Chief. He also played A.J. Allen in “Flubber 2.” What followed after that role was arguably, his most popular one: Mary Poppins’s laughing Uncle Albert in Mary Poppins (1964). He portrayed Mr. Hofstedder the jeweler the following year in That Darn Cat! (1965) and made his final Disney appearance in The Gnome-Mobile (1967), released on July 19th, 1967. That film was released a year after his death on June 19th, 1966, and interestingly, Walt Disney’s own death followed 6 months later on December 15th, 1966. In addition to each of these films, Ed was also a character in the Disneyland production, The Golden Horseshoe Revue (1955).

Before making Disney movies, Ed emboldened his son to become an actor, and they both starred together in the Playhouse 90 television production of Rod Serling’s Requiem for a Heavyweight (1956). Ed had seriously been considering retiring at this time, but the production was well-received, and Keenan encouraged his father to not retire and to simply alter his career. Keenan also assisted his father in overcoming a divorce, nervous breakdown and career collapse as well, all of which was happening around the time of this production. Father and son remained close until Ed’s death,  and Keenan’s death came 20 years after his father, on October 14th, 1986.

Keenan and Ed Wynn might not have been quite as popular a pair as Tommy Kirk and Kevin Corcoran were as onscreen brothers, but the Wynns did know how to play humorous characters whether they were good or evil. The fact that they could do that served as a very redeeming quality for each of the films that they made for they Disney studios.