Served in the US Army Air Corps during World War II and held the rank of captain by 1945. He returned to acting after the war, in plays that included The Playboy of the Western World (194647), Major Barbara (195657), and I Was Dancing (1964). Later, he made his big-screen debut as playing an uncredited role in the 1935 film The Scoundrel. Biography, Drama, War, Approved Len Goodman 's Dancing with the Stars family is paying their respects. Privately, he was an avid environmentalist who complained about a neighbor cutting down a favorite tree to build a tennis court next to his home. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, the youngest of three children, in the late 1920s, he drifted to New York City, where he had numerous jobs including selling vacuum cleaners, clerking at Macy's, and working as a runner on Wall Street. Obituary: Burgess Meredith | The Independent | The Independent It proved an all too true assessment of Merediths film and TV work. A Unified Theory of the "Rocky" Movies | The New Yorker In 1929 he became an unpaid apprentice with Eva Le Galliennes Civic Repertory Company in New York City. In 2017, Stallone shared a photo of himself with Meredith on Facebook, stating, "I love this guy and miss him very much.". "I will miss him terribly, as will everyone who was ever fortunate enough to know him.". Try again later. Film critic Anthony Slide, in recalling Gibbs praise in an article he wrote for the anthology Actors and Actresses, noted that Gibbs was, of course, talking of Meredith, the stage performer. Comedy, Musical, Romance, Approved (January 8, 1951 - September 9, 1997) (his death, 2 children), (January 10, 1936 - July 19, 1938) (divorced), (July 25, 1932 - August 20, 1935) (divorced), View agent, publicist, legal and company contact details on IMDbPro. I was never really a leading man type. Robert Hudson Walker Cause of Death, Age of Death, and Other Facts! Story Of G.I. Robert Gist Cause of Death, Age of Death, and Other Facts! Meredith also directed the films The Man on the Eiffel Tower (1950) and The Yin and Yang of Mr. Go (1978), the latter of which he wrote. He won multiple Emmy Awards and was nominated for two Academy Awards. Oliver Burgess Meredith was born on November 16, 1907, in Cleveland, Ohio, to Ida Burgess and Dr William George Meredith.