Wally Cox

Served in the United States Army during World War II.

Wallace Maynard “Wally” Cox was born in Detroit on December 6, 1924, and spent parts of his childhood in Evanston, Illinois and New York City, where he became a close lifelong friend of Marlon Brando; he graduated from Denby High School in Detroit, attended City College of New York, served briefly (about four months) in the United States Army during World War II, and after his discharge studied at

New York University while supporting his invalid mother and sister by making and selling jewelry and performing comedy monologues in nightclubs—work that led to radio and early television appearances and ultimately to his breakout starring role as the mild-mannered Robinson J. Peepers on the live television sitcom Mister Peepers (1952–1955).

TV_&_Movies

No note indicates TV Series

  • Search (1973)
  • The Night Strangler (1973) TV Movie
  • Once Upon a Mattress (1972) TV Movie
  • Magic Carpet (1972) TV Movie
  • The Odd Couple (1972)
  • Here’s Lucy (1969–1972) 4 episodes
  • Alias Smith and Jones (1971)
  • McMillan & Wife (1971)
  • Night Gallery (1971)
  • The Barefoot Executive (1971) Movie
  • The Red Skelton Hour (1971)
  • The Magical World of Disney (1970) 2 episodes
  • The Boatniks (1970) Movie
  • The Cockeyed Cowboys of Calico County (1970) Movie
  • It Takes a Thief (1968-1970) 2 episodes
  • Up Your Teddy Bear (1970) Movie
  • The Young Country (1970) TV Movie
  • Quarantined (1970) TV Movie
  • Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In (1970)
  • The Bill Cosby Show (1969)
  • Love, American Style (1969)
  • That’s Life (1969)
  • Bonanza (1967–1968) 2 episodes
  • Silent Treatment (1968) Movie
  • The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band (1968) Movie
  • Get Smart (1967)
  • Vacation Playhouse (1967)
  • A Guide for the Married Man (1967)
  • The Monkees (1967)
  • I Spy (1967)
  • Ironside (1967) TV Movie
  • Underdog (1964-1967) (voice) 119 episodes
  • The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. (1966)
  • The Jean Arthur Show (1966)
  • Lost in Space (1966)
  • Mission: Impossible (1966)
  • The Beverly Hillbillies (1966) 2 episodes
  • Mister Roberts (1966)
  • The Dick Van Dyke Show (1966)
  • The Bedford Incident (1965) Movie
  • Morituri (1965) Movie
  • Burke’s Law (1963-1965) 2 episodes
  • The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1964) Movie
  • Invitation to Ohio (1964) Short
  • Valentine’s Day (1964)
  • Fate Is the Hunter (1964) Movie
  • The Twilight Zone (1964)
  • The Lucy Show (1963)
  • 77 Sunset Strip (1963) 2 episodes
  • Spencer’s Mountain (1963) Movie
  • Something’s Got to Give (1962) Short
  • Follow the Sun (1962)
  • Car 54, Where Are You? (1961)
  • State Fair (1962)
  • The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1961)
  • The Adventures of Hiram Holliday (1956–1961) 26 episodes
  • The Dinah Shore Chevy Show (1961)
  • The Chevy Show (1961)
  • Shirley Temple’s Storybook (1961)
  • The DuPont Show of the Month (1960)
  • Wagon Train (1959)
  • The Frank Sinatra Show (1958)
  • Matinee Theatre (1957–1958) 2 episodes
  • The Loretta Young Show (1958)
  • Kraft Theatre (1957)
  • The United States Steel Hour (1955–1956) 2 episodes
  • Babes in Toyland (1955) TV Movie
  • Max Liebman Spectaculars (1955)
  • Mister Peepers (1952–1955) 112 episodes
  • General Electric Theater (1955)
  • NBC Television Opera Theatre (1955)
  • Producers’ Showcase (1955)
  • The Milton Berle Show (1953)
  • The Gulf Playhouse (1953)
  • Newsstand Theatre (1952)
  • Goodyear Playhouse (1951–1952) 2 episodes
  • Starlight Theatre (1951)
  • Suspense (1950–1951) 2 episodes
  • Danger (1951)
  • The Ford Theatre Hour (1951)
  • Fireside Theatre (1949)

Known for a small, bespectacled, high-pitched, diffident comic persona that contrasted with his off-screen athleticism and adventurous streak, Cox parlayed his television success into a long career as a character actor in film and television, guesting on many popular series, appearing in features such as

Spencer’s Mountain and The Barefoot Executive and supplying the voice of the animated hero Underdog; he also wrote books including Mister Peepers: A Sort of Novel and My Life as a Small Boy, and his stage, radio and nightclub work in the late 1940s and early 1950s helped establish him as a distinctive presence in early television comedy. His personal life included three marriages (to Marilyn Gennaro, Milagros Tirado and, lastly, Patricia Tiernan), and at the time of his death he was survived by his third wife and two children;

he and Brando remained unusually close friends throughout their lives, and Brando famously attended Cox’s wake and later kept Cox’s ashes among those of friends. Cox received industry recognition in the form of Emmy nominations in the early 1950s for his television work (including nominations in 1953 and 1954),

but he did not accumulate a long list of major awards. Wally Cox was found dead of a heart attack caused by a coronary occlusion in his Bel Air home on Thursday, February 15, 1973, at age 48; initial reports said he wished no funeral and that his ashes were to be scattered, and later accounts report his ashes were intermingled with those of Marlon Brando and others.

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Author: Doyle

I was born in Atlanta, moved to Alpharetta at 4, lived there for 53 years and moved to Decatur in 2016. I've worked at such places as Richway, North Fulton Medical Center, Management Science America (Computer Tech/Project Manager) and Stacy's Compounding Pharmacy (Pharmacy Tech).

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