Everything about Wallace Shawn totally explained
Wallace Shawn (born
November 12,
1943), sometimes credited as
Wally Shawn, is an
American actor and playwright. Regularly seen on
film and television, where he's usually cast as a comic
character actor, he's pursued a parallel career as a
playwright whose work is often dark, politically charged and
controversial.
Biography
Personal life
Shawn was born into a prominent Jewish family in
New York City, where he continues to reside. He is the son of
William Shawn, longtime
editor of
The New Yorker, and
journalist Cecille Shawn (
née Lyon); his brother
Allen is a
composer. Shawn attended
The Putney School, a private liberal arts high school in
Putney, Vermont, and graduated with a B.A. in history from
Harvard University. He studied
economics and
philosophy at
Oxford, originally intending to become a diplomat; he also traveled to
India as an English teacher, on a Fulbright program. Since 1979, he's made a living primarily as an actor.
Shawn's longtime companion is writer
Deborah Eisenberg.
Acting
Shawn's involvement with theater began in 1970 when he met
Andre Gregory, who has since directed several of his plays. As a stage actor, he's appeared mostly in his own plays and other projects with Gregory.
Shawn made his film debut in 1979, playing
Diane Keaton's ex-husband in
Woody Allen's
Manhattan. His best-known film roles include the evil Vizzini in the
fairy tale comedy The Princess Bride (1987) and debate teacher Mr. Hall in
Clueless (1995). His rare non-comic film roles include two collaborations with
Andre Gregory and
Louis Malle: the semi-autobiographical dialogue
My Dinner with Andre, and a combined production-and-backstage-drama of
Uncle Vanya titled
Vanya on 42nd Street.
Shawn frequently appears on television, where he's appeared in many genres and series. He has had recurring roles as the Ferengi
Grand Nagus Zek on, a comic ex-reporter on
Murphy Brown, the Huxtables' neighbor on
The Cosby Show, a psychiatrist on
Crossing Jordan, and
Marilu Henner's love interest on
Taxi. He is also a
voice actor for
animated films and
animated TV series, including
Toy Story,
Toy Story 2,
Monsters, Inc. (cameo appearance as Rex the Green Dinosaur), Gilbert Huph in
The Incredibles, and two episodes of
Family Guy (as Stewie's half-brother Bertram). Shawn also cameoed as the voice of Principal Fetchit in
Chicken Little and voiced the character of Munk in
Happily N'Ever After. His most recent role was a megalomaniacal industrialist in
Southland Tales.
In a DVD extra for
The Princess Bride, Shawn claimed (somewhat surprisingly, given his wide assortment of comedic film roles) that he lacks a sense of humor and played Vizzini in a way that seemed appropriate to him without actually getting the jokes.
Playwright
Shawn's early plays, such as
Marie and Bruce (1978), portrayed emotional and sexual conflicts in an
absurdist style, with language that was both lyrical and violent. In the conversations with
Andre Gregory that became
My Dinner with Andre, Shawn later referred to these plays as depicting "my interior life as a raging beast." Critical response was extremely polarized: some critics hailed Shawn as a major writer, while
John Simon called
Marie and Bruce "garbage" and described Shawn as "one of the worst and unsightliest actors in this city." His play
A Thought in Three Parts caused a minor uproar in London in 1977 when the production was investigated by a
vice squad and attacked in Parliament due to allegedly
pornographic content.
His later plays became more overtly political, drawing parallels between the psychology of his characters and the behavior of governments and social classes. Among the best-known of these are
Aunt Dan and Lemon (1985) and
The Designated Mourner (1997). Shawn's political work has invited controversy, as he often presents the audience with several contradictory points of view: in
Aunt Dan and Lemon, which Shawn described as a cautionary tale against
fascism, the character Lemon explained her neo-
Nazi beliefs with such conviction that some critics called the play effectively pro-fascist. The monologue
The Fever, originally created by Shawn to be performed for small audiences in apartments, was dismissed by some critics as "liberal guilt"; it describes a person who becomes sick while struggling to find a morally consistent way to live when faced with injustice, and harshly criticizes the record of the U.S. in supporting repressive
anti-communist regimes.
Three of Shawn's plays have been adapted into films:
The Designated Mourner (basically a film of
David Hare's stage production),
Marie and Bruce, and
The Fever. Oscar winner
Vanessa Redgrave stars in the film adaptation of
The Fever, which first aired on
HBO on
June 13,
2007.
Shawn has also written political commentary for
The Nation, and in 2004 he published the one-issue-only progressive political magazine
Final Edition, which features interviews with and articles by
Jonathan Schell,
Noam Chomsky,
Mark Strand, and Deborah Eisenberg.
Shawn is credited as translator of
Bertolt Brecht's The Threepenny Opera, which opened at Studio 54 in Manhattan on
March 25,
2006. He appears briefly in voiceover during "Song about the Futility of Human Endeavor."
Plays
Film and television roles
All That Jazz (dir. Bob Fosse, 1979) - Assistant insurance man
Manhattan (dir. Woody Allen, 1979) - Jeremiah
Atlantic City (dir. Louis Malle, 1980) - Walter
My Dinner with Andre (dir. Louis Malle 1981) - co-written with Andre Gregory
Crackers (dir. Louis Malle, 1984)
The Cosby Show (TV series; guest appearances 1987-91) - Jeffrey Engels
The Bostonians (dir. James Ivory, 1984)
The Hotel New Hampshire (1984) - Freud
Heaven Help Us (film) (1985)
The Princess Bride (1987; dir. Rob Reiner) - Vizzini
Radio Days (dir. Woody Allen, 1987) - Masked Avenger (radio-show character)
Prick Up Your Ears (dir. Stephen Frears, 1987) - John Lahr
The Moderns (dir. Alan Rudolph, 1988)
Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills (dir. Paul Bartel, 1989)
Mom and Dad Save The World (1992) - Sibor
Stargate SG1 - Appeared as character in Season 9 episode The Ties That Bind
(TV series, recurring role 1993-1999) - Grand Nagus Zek
The Pink Panther (1993 TV series) - The Little Man
Vanya on 42nd Street (dir. Louis Malle, 1994) - Uncle Vanya
The Meteor Man (1993) - Mr. Little
Just Like Dad (1995) - The dad
A Goofy Movie (1995) - voice of Principal Mazur
Toy Story (1995), Toy Story 2 (1999), and Toy Story 3 (2010) - voice of Rex
House Arrest (1996)-Victor 'Vic' Finley
Clueless (movie & TV series, 1996-97) - Mr. Hall
Vegas Vacation (dir. Stephen Kessler, 1997) - Marty
The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (dir. Woody Allen, 2001) - George Bond
Crossing Jordan (TV series, recurring role 2002- ) - Dr. Howard Stiles
The Haunted Mansion (dir. Rob Minkoff) 2003 - Ezra
The Incredibles (2004) - voice of Gilbert Huph, Bob Parr's boss
Melinda and Melinda (dir. Woody Allen, 2004) - Sy
Family Guy (TV series; two appearances) - voice of Bertram, Stewie's half-brother
Chicken Little (2005) - voice of Principal Fetchit
(2006) - voice of Purple Pirate Paul
Happily N'Ever After (2007) - voice of Munk
Southland Tales (dir. Richard Kelly, 2008) - Baron von Westphalen
The L Word (2008) - William Halsey
Toy Story 3 (2010) - Rex the DinosaurFurther Information
Get more info on 'Wallace Shawn'.
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