Roy Atwell
| Roy Atwell | |
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Roy Atwell as the radio "professor of backward speech", 1940.
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| Born | John Leroy Atwell May 2, 1878 Syracuse, New York, United States |
| Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. New York City, New York, United States |
| Resting place | Evergreen Cemetery in Cazenovia, New York |
| Occupation | Actor, comedian, composer |
| Years active | 1914–1947 |
| Spouse(s) | Blanche West (1907–?) (divorced) Dorothy Young (1913–16) (divorced) Ethel Smith (1916–36) (divorced) |
| Parent(s) | Joseph Addison Atwell (father) |
John Leroy "Roy" Atwell[1](May 2, 1878 – February 6, 1962) was an American actor, comedian, and composer. He was educated at the Sargent School of Acting, and appeared in 34 films between 1914 and 1947. He is probably famous for his voice performance as Doc the Head Dwarf in Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. As well as his film work, he appeared in several Broadway productions, including The Little Missus, The Mimic World, Oh, My Dear!, The Firefly, and How's Your Health? He was a member of the Fortune Gallo's San Carlo Opera Company, and joined ASCAP in 1957. He composed the popular song Some Little Bug is Going to Find You. He was married three times, to Blanche West (1907-?), Dorothy Young (1913–1916), and Ethel Smith (1916–1936). Roy Atwell, son of Joseph Addison Atwell, is a direct descendant of Joseph Atwell (1754–1834), a revolutionary war soldier who in 1792 purchased land in the military tract in New York State that was then the frontier and built a house ("Atwell's Corners") in what today is known as Pompey Hollow south of Syracuse, New York, near Cazenovia. He wrote the words to a song, "When a Piece of Toast Climbs Your Bedpost with a Cigar."
When Atwell began working on Broadway, he had a role in which he was to deliver the following line: "It is spring and all the little birds are twittering in the tree tops." Being new and somewhat on edge, what Atwell actually did say was: "Tis ting and the twits are birdering in the tree flops." Atwell fully expected to be fired, but the misdelivered line drew a big laugh from the audience and he was asked to repeat it the next night. His unwitting comedic success caused Atwell to make the change from being a dramatic actor to becoming a comedian.[2]
Filmography
- 1947: Where There's Life (Salesman)
- 1946: Gentleman Joe Palooka
- 1946: People Are Funny (Mr. Pippensiegal)
- 1942: The Fleet's In (Arthur Sidney)
- 1937: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Doc)
- 1937: Behind the Mike (Vale)
- 1937: Varsity Show (Prof. Washburn)
- 1936: The Harvester (Jake Eben)
- 1933: Crashing the Gate
- 1926: The Outsider (Jerry Sidon)
- 1923: Souls for Sale (Arthur Tirrey)
- 1922: Red Hot Romance (Jim Conwell)
- 1922: Don't Get Personal (Horace Kane)
- 1922: Grand Larceny (Harkness Boyd)
- 1922: South of Suva (Marmaduke Grubb)
- 1922: The Heart Specialist
External links
- Some Little Bug Is Going to Find You 1915 on the Internet Archive
- Roy Atwell at Find a Grave
- Roy Atwell at the Internet Movie Database
- Site dedicated to Roy Atwell
References
- ↑ The New York Times
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
