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Bert Lahr

Highest Rated: 98% The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Lowest Rated: 98% The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Birthday: Aug 13, 1895

Birthplace: New York, New York, USA

One of the leading burlesque and vaudeville stars who went on to Broadway musical comedies, Bert Lahr had a film career highlighted by his delightful turn as the Cowardly Lion in the now-classic 1939 version of "The Wizard of Oz." Born to a German immigrant father in the Yorkville section of Manhattan, the precocious Lahr dropped out of school at age 15 and quickly found success with the Seven Frolics, a children's stage act. Altering his last name from Lahrheim to Lahr, he went on to a successful career as a burlesque comic (performing "Dutch" characters, replete with accent) and later in an act paired with his future wife Mercedes Delpino, eventually playing the Palace Theater in 1925. After debuting on Broadway in "Harry Delmar's Revels" in 1927, Lahr had his first major success in a stage musical playing the prize fighter hero of "Hold Everything" (1928-29). Several other musicals followed, notably "Flying High" (1930), Ziegfeld's "Hot-Cha!" (1932) and "The Show Is On" (1936), which teamed him with Beatrice Lillie in a show conceived and directed by Vincente Minnelli. Audiences loved Lahr's penchant for mugging. twisting his face into comic grotesques and ad-libbing hilarious quips. Often onstage, he would perform routines that became signature pieces, like his famous "Stop in the name of the fire house" routine.

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Highest rated movies

98% 89% The Wizard of Oz Watchlist
Henry the Ache
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Sing Your Worries Away
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88% Cops and Robbers
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Mr. Universe
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42% Ship Ahoy
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The Second Greatest Sex
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62% Just Around the Corner
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Flying High
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30% Rose Marie
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Filmography

Movies

Credit
No Score Yet 88% Cops and Robbers Unknown (Character) - 1965
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Second Greatest Sex Job McClure (Character) - 1956
No Score Yet 30% Rose Marie Barney McCorkle (Character) - 1954
No Score Yet No Score Yet Mr. Universe Joe Pulaski (Character) - 1951
No Score Yet No Score Yet Always Leave Them Laughing Eddie Eagen (Character) - 1949
No Score Yet 20% Meet the People The Commander (Character) - 1944
No Score Yet 42% Ship Ahoy Skip Owens (Character) - 1942
No Score Yet No Score Yet Sing Your Worries Away Clarence "Chow" Brewster (Character) - 1942
98% 89% The Wizard of Oz Zeke/Cowardly Lion (Character) $5.5M 1939
No Score Yet No Score Yet Zaza Cascart (Character) - 1939
No Score Yet 62% Just Around the Corner Gus (Character) - 1938
No Score Yet No Score Yet Merry-Go-Round of 1938 Bert (Character) - 1937
No Score Yet No Score Yet Love and Hisses Sugar Boles (Character) - 1937
No Score Yet No Score Yet Henry the Ache King Henry VIII (Character) - 1934
No Score Yet No Score Yet Flying High Rusty (Character) - 1931

TV

Credit
No Score Yet No Score Yet What's My Line? Guest 1951 1956 1963-1964
No Score Yet No Score Yet Startime Unknown (Character) 1960
No Score Yet No Score Yet G.E. Theater Mr. O'Malley (Character) 1959