Dwight Weist | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Dwight Weist, Jr. January 16, 1910 Palo Alto, California, U.S. |
| Died | July 16, 1991 (aged 81) |
| Alma mater | Ohio Wesleyan University |
| Occupation(s) | Actor announcer |
| Years active | 1938-1987 |
| Spouse(s) | Elizabeth Maxwell (1935-?) Avery Hathaway (1956-?) |
Dwight Weist, Jr. (January 16, 1910 - July 16, 1991) was an actor and announcer in the era of old-time radio.
The son of Mr. and Mrs. Dwight W. Weist, [1] he was born in Palo Alto, California, but was raised in Scranton, Pennsylvania. [2] He attended Scranton's Central High School, where he participated in dramatics. [3] He was a 1931 [4] graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University, [2] where he participated in debate, [1] and he acted in the Cleveland Play House theater company. [2]
Weist debuted on radio in Columbus, Ohio, working as an announcer on WAIU [5] while he was a college student. [6] He also worked on WGBI in Scranton, relating instructions about playing bridge. [7]
Weist was called "the man of 1,000 voices," primarily as a result of his work on The March of Time . [2] His obituary in The New York Times explained, "Mr. Weist, who played Adolf Hitler and Franklin D. Roosevelt, among many others, received his nickname because of his ability to imitate a broad range of accents and ages." [2] Weist even made an adjustment in 1935 after Hitler had surgery to create a milder, more soothing vocal tone. Some of Weist's friends watched as he listened to a speech by Hitler and immediately afterward spoke in the newer tone himself. When he was assigned roles of people with whose voices he was unfamiliar, he listened to them in newsreels and on radio to develop his impersonations. [4]
His roles on radio programs included those shown in the table below.
| Program | Role |
|---|---|
| The Adventures of the Thin Man | Announcer [8] |
| The Aldrich Family | Announcer [8] |
| Big Town | Narrator Inspector Callahan [9] |
| Cavalcade of America | Narrator [5] |
| Forty-five Minutes From Hollywood | Impersonated leading film stars [4] |
| Grand Slam | Announcer [8] |
| Inner Sanctum Mystery | Announcer [5] |
| Mr. District Attorney | District attorney [10] |
| The Second Mrs. Burton | Stanley Burton [11] |
| The Shadow | Police Commissioner Weston [12] |
| Skippy | Announcer [4] |
| So Big | Announcer on East Coast broadcasts Narrator on West Coast broadcasts [13] |
| Stories America Loves | Announcer [14] |
| We, the People | Master of ceremonies [15] |
Weist also wrote scripts for radio programs, at least two of which were produced: "The Death of Adolph Hitler on The Kate Smith Hour and "Evening Call", produced by the Radio Guild. [5]
In the 1940s, Weist's voice was heard on Pathé newsreels in movie theaters. He also was heard in the film Zelig and was shown announcing the Pearl Harbor attack in Radio Days . [2] He narrated the short films State Trooper, about the Connecticut State Police, [16] and Here Come the Yanks, about the National War Fund. [17]
He was the voice of the character Adso (Christian Slater) as an old man, in the 1986 movie "The Name of the Rose".
He also played a role in the 1986 erotic romantic drama film 9½ Weeks. His character was a quiet painter, free artist very far from art business and lost in the NY exhibition of his paintings. Élisabeth (Kim Basinger) tries desperatly to make a connection as she feels lost in her life and closer to him than to anybody else at that moment. Without a word, a lot is said in their eyes contacts and the pushing crowd around making intimacy impossible.
On television, Weist was the announcer on Search for Tomorrow [18] and worked on Walter Cronkite's Sunday News Special and Guy Lombardo's Diamond Jubilee . [19]
In 1956, Weist and Bob Barron began the Weist-Barron School to teach commercial acting in New York City—an institution that has evolved into the Weist-Barron School of Television, as well as Weist-Barron-Ryan Acting Workshops and Weist-Barron-Hill Acting School, with campuses in New York City, Los Angeles and Atlantic City. [20] Weist taught there for 35 years. [2]
When Weist worked in New York City, he and his family lived on the shore of Lake Tomahawk in Orange County, New York, and he traveled to and from work by plane. He bought his first aircraft, a Fairchild, in 1940, before he learned how to fly. After World War II began, he sold the Fairchild to the government for use as a training plane. Later he bought a Seabee seaplane (manufactured by Republic Aircraft), which he moored at a dock near the family's home. The plane's 105 mph cruising speed enabled him to reach the city in 30 minutes, rather than the 140 minutes that driving typically required. [5]
In 1935, Weist married Elizabeth Maxwell, a registered nurse, in Manhattan. While at home, he often worked in his garden. He also had a workshop in New York City in which he worked on toys and other wooden products during time between radio programs. [5] After they divorced, he married Avery Hathaway on April 25, 1956. [19]
Weist died July 16, 1991, of a heart attack in Block Island, Rhode Island. He was 81. He was survived by three sisters, four sons, a daughter, and seven grandchildren. [2]
Edward Britt Husing was an American sports commentator. He was among the first to lay the groundwork for the structure and pace of modern sports reporting on radio and television.
The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, often abbreviated to SWB RailRiders, are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. They are located in Moosic, Pennsylvania, in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area, and are named in reference to Northeastern Pennsylvania being home to the first trolley system in the United States. The RailRiders have played their home games at PNC Field since its opening in 1989.
Charita Bauer was an American soap opera radio and television actress.
William Warren Scranton was an American Republican Party politician and diplomat. Scranton served as the 38th governor of Pennsylvania from 1963 to 1967, and as United States Ambassador to the United Nations from 1976 to 1977. "Many who serve as governor today are still measured against Bill Scranton's leadership - some 50 years later," said former state Republican National Committeewoman Elsie Hillman when she learned of Scranton's death in 2013.
Mr. District Attorney is a radio crime drama produced by Samuel Bischoff that aired on NBC and ABC from April 3, 1939 to June 13, 1952. The series focused on a crusading district attorney initially known only as Mister District Attorney or Chief, and was later translated to television. On television, the attorney's name was Paul Garrett, and the radio version adopted the name in its final years when David Brian played the role. A key figure in the dramas was secretary Edith Miller.
WYOU is a television station licensed to Scranton, Pennsylvania, United States, serving as the CBS affiliate for Northeastern Pennsylvania. It is owned by Mission Broadcasting, which maintains a shared services agreement (SSA) with Nexstar Media Group, owner of Wilkes-Barre–licensed NBC affiliate WBRE-TV, for the provision of certain services. The two stations share studios on South Franklin Street in downtown Wilkes-Barre, with a news bureau and sales office in the Ritz Theater in downtown Scranton. WYOU's transmitter is located at the Penobscot Knob antenna farm near Mountain Top.
Ernest E. Chappell was an American radio announcer and actor, best remembered for his featured role in the late 1940s radio program Quiet, Please. The show ran from 1947 to 1949, and Quiet, Please was Chappell's major acting credit. His signature line was: "And so, until next week at this same time, I am quietly yours, Ernest Chappell."
Ruby Jean Dandridge was an American actress from the early 1900s through to the late 1950s. Dandridge is best known for her role on the radio show Amos 'n Andy, in which she played Sadie Blake and Harriet Crawford, and on radio's Judy Canova Show, in which she played Geranium. She is recognized for her role in the 1959 movie A Hole in the Head as Sally.
Gertrude Warner was an American voice talent who played multiple characters on radio productions during the Golden Age of Radio.
Norman Ernest Brokenshire, nicknamed "Sir Silken Speech", was a familiar radio voice in the 1940s, heard as an announcer on such programs as Theatre Guild on the Air. He was the first radio announcer to break from anonymity and use his name on the air.
Martin Bradshaw Flynn Jr. is an American politician. He is a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate and he previously served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Flynn is a member of the Democratic Party.
Nelson Case was an American radio and television announcer.
Skippy was an American children's radio serial based on the popularity of the comic strip Skippy. It was broadcast on CBS Radio from January 11, 1932 to March 29, 1935.
Alice Frost was an American actress. An inaugural member of Orson Welles's Mercury Theatre on radio and the stage, she later performed the role of Pamela North on the radio series Mr. and Mrs. North for nearly 10 years.
Staats Cotsworth was an American actor in old-time radio. He is perhaps best known for playing the title role in Casey, Crime Photographer.
Helen Claire was an actress on Broadway and in old-time radio.
Len Doyle was an American actor on stage and in old-time radio. He is perhaps best known for playing investigator Harrington on Mr. District Attorney on radio and television.
Catherine Virginia Verrill was a singer in the era of old-time radio and big bands. Her work included providing the off-screen singing voices for some female film stars.
The Second Mrs. Burton is an American radio soap opera, broadcast daily five days a week on CBS Radio from January 7, 1946, to November 25, 1960. It was the final serial broadcast on a national radio network, after The Right to Happiness, Ma Perkins, and Young Doctor Malone.
Howard Moorhead Claney was an American actor, an announcer on old-time radio, and a narrator of films.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
