Rolfe Sedan (January 20 1896 - September 16 1982) was an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
character actorA character actor is one who predominantly plays a particular type of role rather than leading ones. Character actor roles can range from bit parts to secondary leads...
.
Born
Rolfe Edward Sedan in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
, his mother was a
Broadway theatreBroadway Theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, is the theatre associated with the 40 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City...
fashion designer and his father a
symphonyA symphony is an extended musical composition, scored almost always for orchestra. "Symphony" does not necessarily imply a specific form though most are composed according to the sonata principle...
conductorConducting is the act of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. Orchestras, choirs, concert bands and other musical ensembles often have conductors.-Nomenclature:...
.
He started out in show business as a nightclub and
vaudevilleVaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
performer and began acting in
East CoastThe East Coast of the United States, also known as the "Eastern Seaboard" or "Atlantic Seaboard", refers to the easternmost coastal states in the central and northern United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada...
theatreTheatre is a branch of the performing arts. While any performance may be considered theatre, as a performing art, it focuses almost exclusively on live performers creating a self contained drama. A performance qualifies as dramatic by creating a representational illusion...
. Sedan debuted on Broadway in 1916 and appeared in his first motion picture for Metro Pictures Corporation in 1921.
He went on to be a prolific character actor and is probably best remembered by movie buffs as the hotel manager in 1939's
NinotchkaNinotchka is a 1939 American film made for Metro Goldwyn Mayer by producer and director Ernst Lubitsch which stars Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas. Ninotchka is Greta Garbo's first full comedy, and her penultimate film. It is one of the first American movies which, under cover of humorous light...
starring
Greta GarboGreta Garbo was a Swedish actress during Hollywood's silent film period and part of its Golden Age....
.
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Rolfe Sedan (January 20 1896 - September 16 1982) was an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
character actorA character actor is one who predominantly plays a particular type of role rather than leading ones. Character actor roles can range from bit parts to secondary leads...
.
Born
Rolfe Edward Sedan in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
, his mother was a
Broadway theatreBroadway Theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, is the theatre associated with the 40 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City...
fashion designer and his father a
symphonyA symphony is an extended musical composition, scored almost always for orchestra. "Symphony" does not necessarily imply a specific form though most are composed according to the sonata principle...
conductorConducting is the act of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. Orchestras, choirs, concert bands and other musical ensembles often have conductors.-Nomenclature:...
.
He started out in show business as a nightclub and
vaudevilleVaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
performer and began acting in
East CoastThe East Coast of the United States, also known as the "Eastern Seaboard" or "Atlantic Seaboard", refers to the easternmost coastal states in the central and northern United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada...
theatreTheatre is a branch of the performing arts. While any performance may be considered theatre, as a performing art, it focuses almost exclusively on live performers creating a self contained drama. A performance qualifies as dramatic by creating a representational illusion...
. Sedan debuted on Broadway in 1916 and appeared in his first motion picture for Metro Pictures Corporation in 1921.
He went on to be a prolific character actor and is probably best remembered by movie buffs as the hotel manager in 1939's
NinotchkaNinotchka is a 1939 American film made for Metro Goldwyn Mayer by producer and director Ernst Lubitsch which stars Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas. Ninotchka is Greta Garbo's first full comedy, and her penultimate film. It is one of the first American movies which, under cover of humorous light...
starring
Greta GarboGreta Garbo was a Swedish actress during Hollywood's silent film period and part of its Golden Age....
. In that same year, he appeared in an uncredited role as a Balloon Ascensionist in
The Wizard of OzThe Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical / fantasy film directed mainly by Victor Fleming from a script by Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, Edgar Allan Woolf, and others and based on the 1900 children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum...
. He returned to do several different shows on Broadway during the first half of the 1940s and in the 1950s began doing guest roles on various
televisionTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
shows. He was also seen as the train conductor in the film
Young FrankensteinYoung Frankenstein is a 1974 comedy film directed by Mel Brooks, starring Gene Wilder as the title character. Teri Garr, Cloris Leachman, Marty Feldman, Peter Boyle, Madeline Kahn, Kenneth Mars, and Gene Hackman also star...
. Rolfe Sedan remained active throughout a career that spanned more almost six decades.
Sedan died in 1982 in Pacific Palisades, California from heart problems at age 86. He was entombed in
Hollywood Forever CemeteryHollywood Forever Cemetery is at 6000 Santa Monica Boulevard in the Hollywooddistrict of Los Angeles, California. It is adjacent to the north wall, or back, of Paramount Studios, who, with RKO Studios, bought by 1920. The Beth Olam Cemetery in the southwestern section of the cemetery is for...
.
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