Edward Platt
Forever and fondly remembered as Don Adams' foil on the popular Mel Brooks/Buck Henry spy series Get Smart (1965), character actor Ed Platt (also billed as Edward C. Platt) had been around for two decades prior to copping that rare comedy role. Born in Staten Island, New York, on Valentine's Day, 1916, he inherited an appreciation of music on his mother's side. He spent a part of his childhood in Kentucky and in upstate New York where he attended Northwood, a private school in Lake Placid, and was a member of the ski jump team. He majored in romantic languages at Princeton University but left a year later to study at the Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati after his thoughts turned to a possible operatic career. He later was accepted into Juilliard.
Instead of opera, however, Ed first became a band vocalist with Paul Whiteman and Orchestra. He then sang bass as part of the Mozart Opera Company in New York. With the Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company in 1942, he appeared in the operettas "The Mikado," "The Gondoliers" and "The Pirates of Penzance".
WWII interrupted his early career. Ed served as a radio operator with the army and would find himself on radio again in the post-war years where his deep, resonant voice proved ideal. A number of musical comedy roles also came his way again. In 1947, he made it to Broadway with the musical "Allegro." Star José Ferrer took an interest in Ed while they both were appearing in "The Shrike" on Broadway in 1952.
Around 1953, Edward moved to Texas to be near his brother and began anchoring the local news and kiddie birthday party show called "Uncle Eddie's Kiddie Party." Ferrer remembered Platt and invited him to Hollywood where Ferrer was starring in the film version of The Shrike (1955). Ed recreated his stage role. He also earned fine notices as James Dean's understanding juvenile officer in the classic film Rebel Without a Cause (1955).
This led to a plethora of film and TV support offers where the balding actor made fine use of his dark, rich voice, stern intensity and pragmatic air, portraying a slew of professional and shady types in crime yarns, soap dramas and war pictures -- everything from principals and prosecutors to mobsters and murderers.
After years of playing it serious, which included stints on the daytime drama General Hospital (1963), Ed finally was able to focus on comedy as "The Chief" to Don Adams klutzy secret agent on Get Smart (1965), a show that inevitably found a cult audience. Picking up a few occasional guest spots in its aftermath, he later tried producing.
Twice married and the father of four, Platt died on March 19, 1974. Death was attributed to a massive heart attack at the time. Years later his son revealed that his father, suffering from acute depression and undergoing severe financial pressures, committed suicide at his Santa Monica, California apartment.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.ne
Known For | Acting |
---|---|
Most Rating | 5.716 |
Birthday | 1916-02-14 |
Place of Birth | Staten Island, New York, USA |
Also Known As | Ed Platt, Edward C. Platt, Edward Cuthbert Platt, |
1959
North by Northwest
7.982/4129
Advertising man Roger Thornhill is mistaken for a spy, triggering a deadly cross-country chase.
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1955
Rebel Without a Cause
7.5/1622
After moving to a new town, troublemaking teen Jim Stark is supposed to have a clean slate, although being the new kid in town brings its own problems...
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1962
Cape Fear
7.437/579
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1960
Pollyanna
7/189
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1963
Black Zoo
5.6/8
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1957
Designing Woman
6.5/70
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1972
The Snoop Sisters
0/0
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1961
Atlantis: The Lost Continent
5.2/41
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1955
Cult of the Cobra
6/35
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1958
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6.7/55
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1956
Backlash
6.3/42
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Storm Center
6.4/18
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5.3/14
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1956
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6.9/228
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1956
The Steel Jungle
5.3/6
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1965
The Further Adventures of Gallegher
0/0
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1956
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6.2/12
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The Tattered Dress
5.6/16
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1959
Inside the Mafia
5/5
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1958
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0/0
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1959
The Rebel Set
2.8/12
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1957
The Helen Morgan Story
5.2/8
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1964
Bullet for a Badman
6.2/20
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1958
The Last of the Fast Guns
5.2/15
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1956
Reprisal!
7.2/6
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1958
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5.7/3
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1956
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3/2
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1958
Summer Love
5/3
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1957
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5/4
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1955
The Shrike
6/1
Film version of Joseph Kramm's Pulitzer Prize play, about a Broadway playwright driven to a nervous breakdown by his shrewish wife.
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1956
The Great Man
5.2/6
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1961
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0/0
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1963
A Ticklish Affair
5.7/6
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1959
Destination Space
4.2/4
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1960
Cash McCall
6/13
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1967
Get Smart: A Man Called Smart
0/0
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1949
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6.9/134
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1959
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6.5/27
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1956
Serenade
5.5/19
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1957
Oregon Passage
4.6/5
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1961
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5.3/9
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1956
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5.5/4
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1963
Johnny Shiloh
7.5/2
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1958
The Gift of Love
7.2/6
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1955
Sincerely Yours
5.8/6
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1961
The Fiercest Heart
5/2
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1956
The Proud Ones
6.4/32
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