Uruguayan postcard by CF. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Belgian collector card by Kwatta, Bois d'Haine, no. C. 225. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon in Blossoms in the Dust (Mervyn LeRoy, 1941).
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W 360. Photo: MGM. Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon in Mrs. Miniver (William Wyler, 1942).
No top billing or recognition in his musicals
Walter Davis Pidgeon was born in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, in 1897. Pidgeon was the son of Hannah (née Sanborn), a housewife, and Caleb Burpee Pidgeon, a haberdasher. Walter had a brother, Larry Pidgeon. Larry later suffered from yellow fever, caught while serving in the Pacific in WWII. Larry Pidgeon was the editorial editor of the Santa Barbara News-Press for many years. After graduating from school, Walter decided to study drama at the University of New Brunswick.
During World War I, 16-year-old Pidgeon ran off to join his brother, Don, in the Canadian Army. His young age was discovered, and he was sent back home. Walter eventually enlisted in the 65th Battery of the Royal Canadian Artillery. During training, he was crushed in an accident by two gun carriages at Camp Petawawa and also caught pneumonia. Pidgeon ended up having to spend 17 months in an army hospital in Toronto, having never been sent overseas. After the War was over, he moved to Boston to work at a brokerage house. His wages financed his studies at the New England Conservatory.
Pidgeon became a naturalised American citizen after living in the United States for a number of years. Fred Astaire heard the classically trained baritone singing at a party while appearing with an amateur company in Boston, and he got him an agent. Walter was more interested in acting, however, and in 1923, he joined British producer E.E. Clive's repertory stage company, where he worked on his craft. Thanks also to Astaire, Pidgeon auditioned for and became the singing partner for singer/entertainer Elsie Janis, and toured with her for six months. In 1925, Pidgeon made his debut on Broadway in Janis' revue 'Puzzles of 1925'. E.E. Clive was producing 'You Never Can Tell', and he cast Pidgeon in a supporting role despite Pidgeon's lack of theatrical experience.
Pidgeon's success created a rift between Janis and him, leading to Pidgeon's dismissal and his move to Hollywood. He made his silent film debut in Mannequin (James Cruze, 1926) starring Alice Joyce, followed by The Girl from Rio (Tom Terriss, 1927) with Carmel Myers. Discouraged with the quality of the roles he was getting, Pidgeon returned to New York in 1928 to resume his theatre career. With the advent of sound films, he starred in Universal's first all-talkie, Melody of Love (1928), and performed in early talking musicals for Warner Brothers, including Bride of the Regiment (John Francis Dillon, 1930), Sweet Kitty Bellairs (Alfred E. Green, 1930), Viennese Nights (Alan Crosland, 1930) and Kiss Me Again (William A. Seiter, 1931) with Edward Everett Horton. When Kiss Me Again was re-released, most of Pidgeon's songs were cut from the film.
Pidgeon never received top billing or recognition in his musicals. In 1935, he appeared onstage on Broadway in 'Something Gay', 'Night of January 16th', and 'There's Wisdom in Women'. He turned down the role of Gaylord Ravenal in the Universal remake of Show Boat (James Whale, 1936) because he did not want to be typecast in musicals. Pidgeon returned to film as a dramatic actor. MGM put him under contract, but mainly in 'the other man' roles, such as in Saratoga (Jack Conway, 1937) opposite Jean Harlow and Clark Gable and The Girl of the Golden West (Robert Z. Leonard, 1938) opposite Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. Donovan Webber at IMDb: "Although these two films were big successes, Pidgeon was overlooked for his contributions to them."
French postcard, nr. 850. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer. With Greer Garson.
Belgian collectors card by Kwatta, Bois d'Haine, no. C. 167. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon in Blossoms in the Dust (Mervyn LeRoy, 1941).
Belgian postcard by Les Editions d'Art L.A.B., Bruxelles, no. 2013. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon in Madame Curie (Mervyn LeRoy, 1943).
Belgian collector card by Kwatta, Bois d'Haine, no. C. 167. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon in Mrs. Parkington (Tay Garnett, 1944).
Co-starring with Greer Garson in seven films
In 1941, MGM lent Walter Pidgeon out to Fox, where he finally had top billing. Pidgeon played the leading role in How Green Was My Valley (John Ford, 1941) opposite Maureen O'Hara. When he returned to MGM, the studio tried to give him bigger roles. He was cast opposite Greer Garson in Blossoms in the Dust (Mervyn LeRoy, 1941. In the next years, he co-starred with Garson in seven films and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in 1943 for his role opposite Garson in Mrs Miniver (William Wyler, 1942) and a year later for their film Madame Curie (Mervyn LeRoy, 1943). He did not win any of the Oscar nominations, and Garson seemed to come up on top in their films.
Pidgeon remained with MGM through the mid-1950s, making films like the melodrama The Bad and the Beautiful (Vincente Minnelli, 1952) starring Lana Turner and Kirk Douglas, the drama Executive Suite (Robert Wise, 1954) starring William Holden, and the Sci-Fi classic Forbidden Planet (Fred M. Wilcox, 1956) with Anne Francis and Robbie the Robot. Between 1952 and 1957, the Republican Pidgeon was the President of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). According to the producer of Salt of the Earth (Herbert Biberman, 1954), Paul Jarrico, who had been blacklisted during the 'Red Scare' of the mid-1950s, Pidgeon tried to stop the production of this motion picture (which was being made by blacklistees) in his capacity as the president of the Screen Actors Guild, which had approved of the blacklisting.
Pidgeon returned to Broadway in 1956 and put his film career on hold. He was nominated for Broadway's 1960 Tony Award as Best Actor (Musical) for 'Take Me Along', an award that was won by his co-star Jackie Gleason. He returned to film for Irwin Allen's Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961). The film received mixed reviews from critics, but audiences made the film a popular success. Pidgeon appeared in such classic films as the political drama Advise & Consent (Otto Preminger, 1962) in an ensemble cast with Henry Fonda, and as Florenz Ziegfeld in the musical Funny Girl (William Wyler, 1968) starring Barbra Streisand.
Although he retired after his role as Casey, James Coburn's sidekick, in Harry in Your Pocket (Bruce Geller, 1973), his last film appearance was in the ensemble cast of Sextette (Ken Hughes, 1978), starring Mae West in her final film. He suffered from several strokes that eventually led to his death. Walter Pidgeon died in 1984 in Santa Monica, California, two days after his eighty-seventh birthday.
Pidgeon was married twice. He married his first wife, Edna (Muriel) Pickles, in 1919. Edna died in 1921 while giving birth to their daughter, whom Pidgeon also named Edna. His widowed mother, Hannah, moved out to California to help care for his daughter. She lived there for the next 38 years, dying at the age of 94. He married his second wife, Ruth Walker, in 1931. Ruth was his secretary before he married her. They remained together till his death in 1984. His daughter, Edna Pidgeon Atkins, worked at the Animation Department of MGM before marrying in 1947. She gave Walter two granddaughters, Pat and Pam.
Vintage postcard, no. 3302. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 248. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit., no. 2644. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W 371. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 872. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Sources: Donovan Webber (IMDb), Wikipedia (Dutch and English) and IMDb.
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