Irwin Corey
RETURN TO INDEX
Born Name:
Irwin Corey
Born Date: July 29, 1914
Born Place: New York City
Died Date: February 6, 2017
Died Place: New York City
Occupations: Actor, stand-up comedian, activist
Brief Biography: Irwin Corey was famously billed as "The World's Foremost Authority". Renowned for his improvisational "double-talk" style, Corey combined long, convoluted sentences with authentic but nonsensical vocabulary to satirize authority and pretension.
Key Highlights:
Life Span: Lived to 102, performing for nearly eight decades.
Signature Style: Dressed in a disheveled black swallowtail coat, string tie, and sneakers, he would wander the stage and start routines with "However...".
"The Professor": He was deemed a "cultural clown" and "Chaplin's tramp with a college education" by theatre critic Kenneth Tynan.
Early Life and Career:
Early Jobs: He worked as a button maker, rode the rails to California during the Depression, and became a featherweight Golden Gloves boxing champion.
Career Start: Began in 1938, writing and performing in the musical revue Pins and Needles.
The "Professor" Persona: Developed his signature act at San Francisco's hungry i nightclub in the 1950s and 60s.
Television, Film, and Stage:
TV Appearances: A frequent guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and The Steve Allen Show, where he was often chased off-stage with a giant but
terfly net. Broadway: Appeared in New Faces of 1943 and the cult musical Flahooley (1951).
Film Roles: Acted in Car Wash (1976), I'm Not Rappaport (1996), and Woody Allen's The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001).
Notable Moment: Accepted the 1974 National Book Award on behalf of the shy author Thomas Pynchon.
Political Activism and Later Years:
Political Beliefs: A staunch leftist, he was blacklisted in the 1950s and joked that the Communist Party wouldn't let him join because he was an anarchist.
Philanthropy: In his 90s, he was famously spotted in Manhattan panhandling to raise money for medical supplies for children in Cuba.
Born Date: July 29, 1914
Born Place: New York City
Died Date: February 6, 2017
Died Place: New York City
Occupations: Actor, stand-up comedian, activist
Brief Biography: Irwin Corey was famously billed as "The World's Foremost Authority". Renowned for his improvisational "double-talk" style, Corey combined long, convoluted sentences with authentic but nonsensical vocabulary to satirize authority and pretension.
Key Highlights:
Life Span: Lived to 102, performing for nearly eight decades.
Signature Style: Dressed in a disheveled black swallowtail coat, string tie, and sneakers, he would wander the stage and start routines with "However...".
"The Professor": He was deemed a "cultural clown" and "Chaplin's tramp with a college education" by theatre critic Kenneth Tynan.
Early Life and Career:
Early Jobs: He worked as a button maker, rode the rails to California during the Depression, and became a featherweight Golden Gloves boxing champion.
Career Start: Began in 1938, writing and performing in the musical revue Pins and Needles.
The "Professor" Persona: Developed his signature act at San Francisco's hungry i nightclub in the 1950s and 60s.
Television, Film, and Stage:
TV Appearances: A frequent guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and The Steve Allen Show, where he was often chased off-stage with a giant but
terfly net. Broadway: Appeared in New Faces of 1943 and the cult musical Flahooley (1951).
Film Roles: Acted in Car Wash (1976), I'm Not Rappaport (1996), and Woody Allen's The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001).
Notable Moment: Accepted the 1974 National Book Award on behalf of the shy author Thomas Pynchon.
Political Activism and Later Years:
Political Beliefs: A staunch leftist, he was blacklisted in the 1950s and joked that the Communist Party wouldn't let him join because he was an anarchist.
Philanthropy: In his 90s, he was famously spotted in Manhattan panhandling to raise money for medical supplies for children in Cuba.