Name Charles Butterworth Years active 1926-1944 | Occupation Stage and film actor Other names Charlie Butterworth Role Actor | |
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Spouse Ethel Kenyon (m. 1932–1939) Resting place St. Joseph Valley Parkway, South Bend Movies Love Me Tonight, Forsaking All Others, Second Chorus, Swing High - Swing Low, Magnificent Obsession Similar People W S Van Dyke, Joseph Santley, A Edward Sutherland, H C Potter, Roy Del Ruth | ||
Cause of death automobile accident | ||
Charles butterworth actor
Charles Edward Butterworth (July 26, 1896 – June 13, 1946) was an American actor specializing in comedy roles, often in musicals. Butterworth's distinct voice was the inspiration for the Cap'n Crunch commercials from the Jay Ward studio. Voice actor Daws Butler based Cap'n Crunch on the voice of Butterworth.
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Early life
Butterworth was born to a physician in South Bend, Indiana. He graduated from University of Notre Dame with a law degree.
Career
After graduating, Butterworth became a newspaper reporter in South Bend and subsequently Chicago.
One of Butterworth's more memorable film roles was in the Irving Berlin musical This is the Army (1943) as the bugle-playing Private Eddie Dibble. He generally was a supporting actor, though he had top billing in We Went to College (1936), played the title role in Baby Face Harrington (1935), and shared top billing (as the Sultan) with Ann Corio in The Sultan's Daughter (1944). In his obituary, he is described as "characterizing the man who could not make up his mind".
He is credited with the quip "Why don't you slip out of those wet clothes and into a dry martini?" from Every Day's a Holiday. In Forsaking All Others, when Clark Gable, quoting Benjamin Franklin, said, "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise," Butterworth replied, "Ever take a good look at a milkman?"
Death
Butterworth was killed in an automobile accident on June 13, 1946, when he lost control of his car on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles and crashed. He died en route to the hospital.
Legacy
For his contribution to the motion picture industry he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7030 Hollywood Blvd.