‘Rocky’s Burgess Meredith: An Appreciation
So much more than just Mickey and the Penguin
by Henry Hanks
“I was born a character actor. I was never really a leading man type”. –Burgess Meredith
40 years ago this month, Rocky hit the big screen and Sylvester Stallone became a household name. The feel-good boxing movie — which would go on to win Best Picture — would, however, be a much lesser pearl without the grit of Burgess Meredith’s Mickey, the gruff, ex-fighter who trains Rocky , in body and mind, for the big fight.
Meredith, who was 69 when Rocky was released, earned a “Best Actor in a Support Role” Oscar nomination for the role, his second and final such honor after a film career that stretched back to the 1930s. That nomination was part of a late-arriving wave of appreciation that broke towards the tail end of his extraordinary career as a character actor in Hollywood. Here’s a look at five of this beloved actor’s best roles.
Rocky (1976)
Mickey, a retired boxer, after first dismissing Rocky, comes to see his potential and won’t give up on him. His enthusiasm and attitude exemplify the message that if someone believes in you and you believe in yourself, you can accomplish anything.
Even though (spoiler alert) Rocky doesn’t win the fight in the end, the fact that he even got to fight for the heavyweight championship (and that he found love with Adrian) is victory enough.
In many ways, Mickey gets the ball rolling for Rocky — who was working as an enforcer for a loan shark — to follow his dreams. Audiences fell in love with the character, which is a big reason why Meredith received his second consecutive Oscar nomination for it.
The Day of the Locust (1975)
Meredith’s first nomination came in a movie that couldn’t have been more different from Rocky. John Schlesinger’s Day of the Locust is an often surreal tale of Hollywood dreams lost set in the 1930s. Meredith’s character, Harry Greener, is one of those dreamers, a man who no longer performs in vaudeville—which was dying out at that time, just as “talking pictures” were taking off—but uses those same talents as a door-to-door salesman, performing to charm potential customers. Even in this small role, Meredith stood out with his enthusiastic, buoyant performance.
Stream John Schlesinger’s ‘Midnight Cowboy’ on Tribeca Shortlist now.
Advise and Consent (1962)
Another memorable supporting role for Meredith in a film with a large cast. This political drama was directed by Otto Preminger and featured Henry Fonda and Charles Laughton, in his final screen role. Meredith had a small but pivotal role as a witness whose testimony drives the plot of the film.
His character, Herbert Gelman, testifies before a Senate committee and alleges that the man nominated for Secretary of State had communist ties. The role must have had personal significance to Meredith. He faced similar accusations in real life, and was put on the infamous blacklist, along with other artists and filmmakers, after an investigation by the House Un-American Activities Committee.
Meredith won the National Board of Review’s award that year for Best Supporting Actor, his only notable award or nomination in the decades before Locust and Rocky.
Stream Otto Preminger’s courtroom classic, ‘Anatomy of a Murder,’ on Tribeca Shortlist now.
Of Mice and Men (1939)
This role was Meredith’s big break, a rare leading role, playing George in the film based on the classic novel. He starred alongside Lon Chaney, Jr., who was considered Hollywood royalty. It was a testament to Meredith’s skills as an actor that he got the role so early in his career. Variety praised both this production and his performance, noting, “[T]he players have been excellently selected. Burgess Meredith is capital as George.” [Ed. note: Capital!]
The film was nominated for the Outstanding Production Academy Award, the 1940s equivalent of Best Picture. It lost out to a little film called Gone with the Wind, as did 1939’s The Wizard of Oz.
Batman (1966–68)
For many fans, Meredith will always be known as the Penguin, a role he was seemingly born to play. Meredith and Cesar Romero were among the veteran “Special Guest Villains” enlisted twice weekly as foils for the caped crusaders in the wildly popular campy TV series. “I waddled like a penguin, which seemed rather obvious to do. The touch I liked was that peculiar penguin-like quack I use in my lines,” he once said of the role.
The Bat himself, Adam West, forged a friendship with Meredith and even spoke at his funeral in 1997. “I loved Burgess Meredith, what he did with Penguin,” West said in 2008. “He was never crude or vulgar, and so funny, comedic and elegant, that to me, he really filled that costume — beautifully.” Audiences loved him too, and he defined the character for generations, at least until Danny DeVito took on the role in 1992’s Batman Returns.
Over seven decades, Meredith had a long and varied television and film career, from the memorable Twilight Zone episode, “Time Enough at Last” to the oldest elf in Santa Claus: The Movie, to the grumpiest and oldest of all the men in the Grumpy Old Men films. He even tried his hand at directing, with The Man on the Eiffel Tower and The Yin and the Yang of Mr. Go.
No matter what role he was tackling, you knew you were in for a treat when you saw him show up onscreen, and 40 years later, he remains one of the biggest reasons Rocky was such a sleeper success.
Watch Burgess Meredith shine in Rocky on Tribeca Shortlist now.
