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38-403: Wallace Maynard Cox (December 6, 1924 – February 15, 1973) was an American actor. He began his career as a standup comedian and then played the title character of the popular early U.S. television series Mister Peepers from 1952 to 1955. He also appeared as a character actor in over 20 films and dozens of television episodes. Cox was the voice of the animated canine superhero Underdog in

76-463: A Thief . Cox made several appearances on Here's Lucy , as well as The Beverly Hillbillies , Lost in Space , I Spy , and evening talk shows. He played a pickpocket in an episode of Car 54, Where Are You? . He also appeared on The Twilight Zone , season five, episode number 140, titled " From Agnes—With Love ". He played character roles in more than 20 motion pictures and worked frequently as

114-549: A guest-star in television drama, comedy, and variety series in the 1960s and early 1970s. These include a supporting role in 20th Century Fox ´s unfinished film Something's Got to Give (1962), Marilyn Monroe 's last film. He was cast as a down-on-his-luck prospector seeking a better life for his family in an episode of Alias Smith and Jones , a Western comedy; and in Up Your Teddy Bear (aka Mother ) (1970), he starred with Julie Newmar . His television and screen persona

152-602: A high-pitched version of "The Drunkard Song" (" There is a Tavern in the Town ") punctuated by eccentric yodels . "Wallace Cox" earned a big hand that night, but lost by a narrow margin to The Chordettes ; yet he made enough of a hit to record his radio routine for an RCA Victor single. The "Dufo" routine ("What a Crazy Guy") was paired with "Tavern in the Town." He appeared in Broadway musical reviews, night clubs, and early television comedy-variety programs between 1949 and 1951, including

190-468: A hopscotch grid chalked on a sidewalk, and thinking himself alone, plays the game with abandon, only to discover that his girlfriend Nancy has been silently watching the entire time. The principal's dithering wife, Mrs. Gurney, played by Marion Lorne, is kind and gracious, but absentminded. In one episode, Peepers injures his finger with a hammer, and Mrs. Gurney solicitously bandages his finger to at least five times its actual size. After Mrs. Gurney leaves

228-403: A man trying to improve his physique, an expert on relaxation methods, a man practicing techniques that allowed him to change from a wallflower to a social hit, and a man learning to dance. The program attracted an audience of 60 million viewers. Forty years after the broadcast, television critic Tom Shales recalled it as both "a landmark in television" and "a milestone in the cultural life of

266-454: A novel, Mr. Peepers (1955), based on scripts from the televised adventures of the character. David Swift created the show and wrote for it, along with Jim Fritzell . Fred Coe was the producer, and Hal Keith was the director. Bernie Green was the music director. Reportedly 102 of the 127 episode Kinescopes of Mister Peepers survive. RetroTV aired episodes of the show on Wednesday mornings, but as of 2021, no longer does. In 2005,

304-587: A small shop, and entertaining at parties doing comedy monologues. These led to regular performances at nightclubs, including the Village Vanguard , beginning in December 1948. He became Brando's roommate, and his friend encouraged Cox to study acting with Stella Adler . In 1949, Cox appeared on the CBS network-radio show Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts , to the great amusement of host Godfrey. The first half of his act

342-595: A writer in the Style section in 1972, was named chief television critic in July 1977, and was appointed TV editor in June 1979. His reviews were syndicated in newspapers nationwide. By 2006, his combined income from his salary and his syndication earnings neared $ 400,000 a year. Shales was known for his withering putdowns of shows he disliked, and was nicknamed "Terrible Tom" and "the Terror of

380-421: Is also reported to have kept Cox's ashes in his bedroom and conversed with them nightly. Their close friendship was the subject of rumors. Brando told a journalist: "If Wally had been a woman, I would have married him and we would have lived happily ever after." Writer-editor Beauregard Houston-Montgomery said that while under the influence of marijuana, Brando told him that Cox had been the love of his life. Cox

418-683: The Underdog TV series . Cox was born on December 6, 1924, in Detroit, Michigan. When he was 10, he moved with his divorced mother (mystery author Eleanor Blake) and a younger sister to Evanston, Illinois , where he became close friends with another child in the neighborhood, Marlon Brando . His family moved several times, including a move to New York City, and Cox graduated from Denby High School after they returned to Detroit. During World War II, Cox and his family returned to New York City, where he attended City College of New York . He spent four months in

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456-512: The United States Army . According to the accounts of a fellow enlisted soldier, Cox adopted odd behaviors while undergoing basic training at Camp Wolters , Texas, such as putting on a uniform and full pack to pick flowers on Sundays, to receive a discharge from the Army. After his discharge he attended New York University . He supported his invalid mother and sister by making and selling jewelry in

494-589: The '50s". In 1959, Cox was featured in the guest-starring title role in "The Vincent Eaglewood Story" on NBC's Western series Wagon Train . He played a prominent supporting role as Preacher Goodman in Spencer's Mountain (1963), a Navy sonar operator in The Bedford Incident (1964), and a drug-addicted doctor opposite Marlon Brando in the World War II suspense film Morituri (1965). Other roles included

532-593: The April 18th episode, and the couple wed on the May 30, 1954, show. The marriage episode was one of the major television events of 1954. The American TV magazine TV Guide used the picture of the couple's television wedding on its cover page. Mister Peepers was aired live , on stage before an audience at the New Century Theatre , 932 7th Avenue, New York City—preserved in the form of 16 mm kinescopes . Wally Cox

570-628: The Chicago Film Critics Association, described him as setting a standard with writing that was "incredibly funny, creative, inventive and smart" and with a style more akin to a barroom discussion with readers than a lecture. In 1988, Shales received the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism for his work at The Washington Post , including his coverage of the Robert Bork Supreme Court nomination hearings. From 1998 to 1999, he

608-712: The Tube". His blunt style could polarize; Forbes Media Guide Five Hundred, 1994 wrote: "Forget the middle ground, Shales either loves it or hates it – and his reviews of TV shows and personalities are often unabashed paroxysms of that love or hate.... Like the medium he covers, Shales turns out fast-paced and amusing fare that often lacks depth". His influence was such that shows he panned would sometimes include unflattering references to him as inside jokes. Shales called such barbs "a TV critic's only shot at immortality". His influence also extended to other critics. Daily Herald film critic Dann Gire who founded and served as president of

646-399: The cast included Tony Randall as history teacher Harvey Weskit; Georgiann Johnson as Harvey's wife, Marge; Patricia Benoit as school nurse Nancy Remington; Marion Lorne as oft-confused English teacher Mrs. Gurney; Jack Warden as athletic coach Frank Whip; and Ernest Truex and Sylvia Field as Nancy's parents. The series began as a live summer replacement for Ford Festival , and

684-479: The first 26 episodes of Mister Peepers , which had been preserved by the UCLA Film and Television Archive , were released on DVD by S'more Entertainment. In November 2008, the second boxed set of Mister Peepers was released by S'more Entertainment. The tagline at the bottom of the box reads: "America's Favorite Science Teacher, Underdog and All-Round Nice Guy." The Underdog comment coyly references Cox's later role as

722-557: The first season and part of the second season, from March 1953 to November 1953. Tom Shales Thomas William Shales (November 3, 1944 – January 13, 2024) was an American writer and television critic. He was a television critic for The Washington Post from 1977 to 2010, for which he received the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1988. Shales also wrote a column for the television news trade publication NewsPro , published by Crain Communications . Thomas William Shales

760-433: The hero of a series, The Adventures of Hiram Holliday , based on a series of short stories by Paul Gallico and co-starring with Ainslie Pryor . He was a regular occupant of the upper left square on the television game show Hollywood Squares , and voiced the animated cartoon character Underdog . He also was a guest on the game show What's My Line? and on the pilot episodes of Mission: Impossible and It Takes

798-588: The late 1940s, $ 75/wk at New York's Village Vanguard, then $ 125 at the Blue Angel; $ 250/wk in Broadway's "Dance Me a Song" revue in 1950, then the Persian Room for $ 500/wk. The eight-year pact he signed with NBC in late 1952 paid him $ 100,000 for 1953. In 1953, Cox's comedy sketches were featured in The Ford 50th Anniversary Show , a program that was broadcast live on both NBC and CBS . Cox's four sketches consisted of

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836-432: The locker door, commenting that he has to keep the door closed so that they will not all fall out. Patricia Benoit, as Nancy Remington, is Peepers' love interest, although for a time, she seems unaware of his attraction to her. By February 1954, though, the couple's romance had progressed to the point of Mr. Peepers presenting Nancy with a photograph of himself, inscribed "Scientifically yours, Robinson". Peepers proposed on

874-414: The newspaper. From 2012 to 2014, he wrote a column for RogerEbert.com . Shales published four books, including two he co-wrote with James Andrew Miller . In 2002, Shales and Miller published Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live , which covers the history of the sketch-comedy variety show, and provides a behind-the-scenes look at its stars and production process. The book

912-615: The paper's movie critic. Shales's first professional job was with radio station WRMN / WRMN-FM in Elgin at the age of 18. He served as the station's disc jockey, local news reporter, writer and announcer, on both the AM and FM bands. He later worked with Voice of America as a producer of broadcasts to the Far East. Shales worked as entertainment editor at the D.C. Examiner , a tabloid newspaper, from 1968 to 1971. He joined The Washington Post as

950-478: The room, Peepers tells Nancy that the wrong finger had been bandaged. Tony Randall played history teacher Harvey Weskit. Popular and confident Weskit becomes the best friend of timid, bespectacled Peepers. In one episode, Weskit points out a packet of unopened love letters that women have sent him, complaining that he is always getting them. He begins to look inside Peepers' locker to see the stack of similar letters he expects to find there, and Peepers quickly closes

988-672: The short-lived (January–April 1949) DuMont series The School House and CBS Television 's Faye Emerson's Wonderful Town . He appeared on the Goodyear Television Playhouse in 1951, starring in the comedy episode "The Copper" as the titular policeman. Series producer Fred Coe approached Cox about a starring role in a proposed live television sitcom, Mister Peepers , which he accepted. The show ran on NBC television for three years. During this time, he guest-starred on NBC's The Martha Raye Show . Billboard magazine chronicled Cox's spectacular rise in booking fees: in

1026-452: The voice of the title character in the Underdog cartoon. Mister Peepers began as a summer replacement series in 1952. The first DVD set, titled Mr. Peepers , contains the summer episodes, as well as those from October 1952 to March 1953 episodes of the first full season. The Mister Peepers - Season 2 DVD sets picks up where the first set left off, containing episodes from the remainder of

1064-430: The wiring in his own home.) While he maintained a meek onscreen persona, TV viewers did get a glimpse of Cox's physicality on an episode of I've Got a Secret , aired on May 11, 1960, in which he and host Garry Moore ran around the stage assembling furniture while the panel was blindfolded. On the May 15, 1974, installment of The Tonight Show , actor Robert Blake spoke of how much he missed his good friend Cox, who

1102-580: Was a frequent film critic for Morning Edition on National Public Radio . He was a guest co-host on the television show Roger Ebert & the Movies after the death of Gene Siskel . Shales was a member of the Peabody Awards Board of Jurors from 1991 to 1996. In 2006, Shales ceased to be a staff writer for the Post and went on contract, where he remained until 2010, when he was laid off entirely by

1140-424: Was a monologue in a slangy, almost-mumbled punk-kid characterization, telling listeners about his friend Dufo: "What a crazy guy." The gullible oaf Dufo would take any dares and fall for his gang's pranks time after time, and Cox would recount the awful consequences: "Sixteen stitches. What a crazy guy." Just as the studio audience had reached a peak of laughter, Cox suddenly switched gears, changed characters, and sang

1178-635: Was born in Elgin, Illinois , on November 3, 1944, to Clyde Shales (who had once been Elgin's mayor) and Hulda Shales, and graduated from Elgin High School in 1962. He attended Elgin Community College before transferring to American University in Washington, D.C., where he earned a degree in journalism and was editor-in-chief of the student newspaper, The Eagle , for the 1966–1967 academic year, as well as

Wally Cox - Misplaced Pages Continue

1216-413: Was described as being adventurous and athletic. A Democrat , Cox supported the campaign of Adlai Stevenson during the 1952 presidential election . Cox married three times—to Marilyn Gennaro, Milagros Tirado, and Patricia Tiernan. He was survived by his third wife and his two children. Cox and Brando remained close friends throughout Cox's life, and Brando appeared unannounced at Cox's wake. Brando

1254-675: Was found dead on February 15, 1973, in his home in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles; he was 48. According to the autopsy, Cox died of a heart attack caused by a coronary occlusion . Initial reports indicated that he wished to have no funeral and that his ashes be scattered at sea. A later report indicated his ashes were put in with those of Brando and another close friend, Sam Gilman , and scattered in Death Valley and Tahiti. Mister Peepers Wally Cox starred as Robinson J. Peepers, Jefferson City's junior high school science teacher. Others in

1292-508: Was probably originally a screen treatment for an unmade film intended to star Cox; and a children's book, The Tenth Life of Osiris Oakes . In a 1950s article on Cox's series Mister Peepers , Popular Science reported that Cox kept a small workshop in his dressing room. (Cox's Hollywood Squares colleague Peter Marshall recalled in his memoir Backstage with the Original Hollywood Square that Cox installed and maintained all

1330-502: Was re-released in 2015 to coincide with Saturday Night Live ' s 40th anniversary . The updated edition contained over 100 pages of new material. In 2011, Shales and Miller published their second book together, Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN , which chronicles the history of the network ESPN from its infancy in 1979 through 2010. In 2015, Focus Features optioned

1368-506: Was so popular that thousands wrote to NBC praising the series. When the Fall 1952 television season began, the filmed series Doc Corkle was so unpopular that additional scripts for Mr. Peepers were quickly written, and that series replaced Doc Corkle in October. The series often involved Peepers coping with misbehaving inanimate objects or embarrassing moments. In a typical scene, Peepers sees

1406-433: Was somewhat typecast by the role of the mild-mannered Peepers, but continued on to a long career in films and television. He later starred in a comedy/adventure series, The Adventures of Hiram Holliday , and is remembered as the voice of the cartoon superhero Underdog . He is best remembered by game-show fans as a regular panelist on The Hollywood Squares from 1966 until his death in 1973. He also wrote and published

1444-488: Was that of a shy, timid, but kind man who wore thick eyeglasses and spoke in a pedantic, high-pitched voice. Cox wrote a number of books, including Mister Peepers: A Sort of Novel , co-written with William Redfield , which was created by adapting several scripts from the television series; My Life as a Small Boy , an idealized depiction of his childhood; a parody and update of Horatio Alger in Ralph Makes Good , which

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