Trivia

Beginning in 1959 through 1964, he narrated the "Fractured Fairy Tales" segment as well as playing multiple characters in various supporting features of the The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show .

He owned an estate in Encino on Amestoy Avenue that he named "Belly Acres".

Played the role of Professor Nick Potter in Holiday (1930) and again in the 1938 remake directed by George Cukor.

His father, Edward Everett Horton, Sr., had English and German ancestry, and his mother, Isabella S. (Diack), was born in Matanzas, Cuba, to Scottish parents. He was the eldest of four children; George, Winter Davis, and Hannahbelle were his siblings. The family remained close throughout their lives. Edward's mother lived with him until she died at the age of 101. His brothers and sister also spent their later years residing at his Encino estate.

Like Zasu Pitts, Horton excelled in comedy and specialized in the fretful, woebegone "Nervous Nellie" types. The duo were the only actors who could utter the simple words "Oh, dear!" and make it sound like it was the end of the world.

Diagnosed with cancer, he was hospitalized at Glens Falls, New York, for several weeks before returning to his San Fernando, California, home, where he died at the age of 84.

Appeared in a number of revivals of the comedy play "Springtime for Henry" beginning in the 1930s and extending into the 1960s. He played the part of the effete Henry Dewlip more than 3,000 times.

Interred at Forest Lawn, Glendale, CA., in the Whispering Pines section at the top of the hill.

Was in five Oscar Best Picture nominees: The Front Page (1931), The Gay Divorcee (1934), Top Hat (1935), Lost Horizon (1937) and Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941).

According to an in-depth article by Eve Golden in "Classic Images" magazine, Edward's longtime companion was actor Gavin Gordon, who was 15 years his junior. Not much was ever documented on the couple. They appeared in one movie together, Pocketful of Miracles (1961).

Studied business at both Polytechnic Institute and Columbia. At Columbia, however, he began acting in collegiate plays and that changed the direction of his life.

Contrary to some reports, he was not the grandson of namesake Edward Everett Hale, author of "The Man Without a Country.".

Joined a Gilbert and Sullivan stock company in 1907 on Staten Island and performed in several shows, including "The Mikado". He went on to join several theatre companies in the 1910s, including the Orpheum Players in Philadelphia, The Baker Stock Company in Oregon, and the Crescent Theatre in Brooklyn.

He appeared in five films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: The Front Page (1931), Trouble in Paradise (1932), Top Hat (1935), Lost Horizon (1937) and The Gang's All Here (1943).

In the 1920s he acted in and managed the Majestic Theater in Los Angeles with his brother and business manager, George.

Edward Everett Horton is mentioned in the Warner Bros. cartoon "Hare Trigger" (1945).

Biography in: "American National Biography". Supplement 1, pp. 281-283. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Tommy Bond was a regular on Horton's radio show in the 1930s.