Wallace Shawn

American character actor and playwright 'Wallace Shawn' (qv) has one of those fun, delightfully mischievously gnomish faces made for entertaining. Though he got out of the acting starting gate rather late, he quickly excelled film and TV while managing to turn himself into comedy egghead or loser types. 'Woody Allen' (qv)'s slightly threatened character in the movie _Manhattan (1979)_ (qv) amusingly describes Wallace's benign gent as "a homunculus", which may be a pretty fair description of this predominantly bald, wan, pucker-mouthed, butterball-framed, slightly lisping gent. Shawn made his movie debut at age 36 in Allen's heralded classic in a brief but telling scene as 'Diane Keaton' (qv)'s ex-husband.The 5'2" Jewish actor was born Wallace Michael Shawn into privilege on November 12, 1943 in New York City, as the son of Cecille (Lyon) (1906-2005), a journalist, and William Shawn (1907-1992), renowned and long-time editor of The New Yorker. His brother, 'Allen Shawn' (qv), went on to become a composer. Wallace was educated at both Harvard University, where he studied history, and Magdalen College, Oxford. Wallace initially taught English in India on a Fulbright scholarship, and then English, Latin and drama back in New York. However, a keen interest in writing and acting soon compelled him to leave his cushy position and pursue a stage career as both playwright and actor.During his distinguished career, Wallace churned out several plays. "Our Late Night", the first of his works to be performed, was awarded an off-Broadway Obie in 1975. This was followed by "A Thought in Three Parts" (1976);, "The Mandrake" (1977) (which he translated from the original Italian and made his acting debut), "Marie and Bruce" (1979), "Aunt Dan and Lemon" (1985) and "The Fever," for which he received his second Obie for "Best New Play" during the 1990-91 season.A popular supporting player of comedy and the occasional drama, Shawn's assorted kooks, creeps, brainiacs and schmucks possessed both endearing and unappetizing qualities. He earned his best early notices partnered with theatre director/actor 'Andre Gregory' (qv) in the unique 'Louis Malle' (qv)-directed film _My Dinner with Andre (1981)_ (qv). Shawn co-wrote the improvisatory, humanistic piece with brother Allan as the composer. Shawn and Gregory would collaborate again for Malle in another superb, original-concept film _Vanya on 42nd Street (1994)_ (qv).Among Shawn's offbeat films have been 'Bruce Paltrow' (qv)'s _A Little Sex (1982)_ (qv); 'James Ivory' (qv)'s _The Bostonians (1984)_ (qv); 'Stephen Frears' (qv)' _Prick Up Your Ears (1987)_ (qv); 'Rob Reiner' (qv)'s _The Princess Bride (1987)_ (qv); 'Alan Rudolph' (qv)'s _The Moderns (1988)_ (qv) and _Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994)_ (qv); and 'Paul Bartel' (qv)'s _Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills (1989)_ (qv). He also appeared in several other 'Woody Allen' (qv) offerings including _Radio Days (1987)_ (qv), _Shadows and Fog (1991)_ (qv), _The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001)_ (qv), _Melinda and Melinda (2004)_ (qv) and the title role in _Rifkin's Festival (2020)_ (qv).Since the 1990s, he has lent his vocal talents to a considerable number of animated pictures including _A Goofy Movie (1995)_ (qv), _Toy Story (1995)_ (qv) (and its sequels), _The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story (1998)_ (qv), _The Incredibles (2004)_ (qv), _Chicken Little (2005)_ (qv), _Happily N'Ever After (2006)_ (qv), _Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore (2010)_ (qv) and _Animal Crackers (2017)_ (qv). TV voices have included _The Pink Panther (1993)_ (qv), _The Lionhearts (1998)_ (qv), _Family Guy (1999)_ (qv), _Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness (2011)_ (qv), _The Stinky & Dirty Show (2015)_ (qv) and _The Bug Diaries (2019)_ (qv).Millennium films graced with Shawn's participation include _Southland Tales (2006)_ (qv), _Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (2008)_ (qv), _Jack and the Beanstalk (2009)_ (qv), _The Speed of Thought (2011)_ (qv) and _Vamps (2012)_ (qv). He co-starred as Halvard Solness and wrote the screen adaptation for Ibsen's classic play _A Master Builder (2013)_ (qv) co-starring 'Julie Hagerty' (qv), and went on to appear in _Don Peyote (2014)_ (qv), _Maggie's Plan (2015)_ (qv), _Robo-Dog (2015)_ (qv), _Drawing Home (2016)_ (qv), _Another Kind of Wedding (2017)_ (qv), _Book Club (2018)_ (qv) and _Marriage Story (2019)_ (qv).Over the decades, Shawn has scurried about effortlessly with a number of television guest appearances including "Taxi," "Homicide: Life on the Streets," "Ally McBeal," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," "Sex and the City," "Desperate Housewives," "The Daily Show," "The 7D," "Life in Pieces," "The Good Fight," "Mr. Robot" and "Search Party. He has also drummed up a few recurring roles for himself in the process, including _The Cosby Show (1984)_ (qv), _Murphy Brown (1988)_ (qv), _Clueless (1996)_ (qv) (based on the hit film _Clueless (1995)_ (qv), revisiting his teacher role), _Murphy Brown (1988)_ (qv), _Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993)_ (qv), _Crossing Jordan (2001)_ (qv), _The L Word (2004)_ (qv), _Gossip Girl (2007)_ (qv), _The Good Wife (2009)_ (qv), _Mozart in the Jungle (2014)_ (qv), and, more recently, as Dr. Sturgis in the comedy _Young Sheldon (2017)_ (qv).::Gary Brumburgh / [email protected]