--- name: "Charles Winninger" canonical: "https://film.one/person/charles-winninger" roles: ["Actor"] born: "25 May 1884" died: "27 January 1969" reviewed_on_fi1m: 2 average_fi1m_score: 71 average_as: "actor" average_over: 2 updated: "2026-09-19T23:20:24.930016+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Charles Winninger Actor. Born 25 May 1884 in Athens, Wisconsin, USA. Died 27 January 1969. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 25 May 1884, Athens, Wisconsin, USA - **Died:** 27 January 1969 - **Active:** 1936–1945 - **Also known as:** Charlie Winninger, Charles J. Winninger - **Average Fi1m score:** 71, as actor, over 2 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1930s 72 (1), 1940s 70 (1) - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Winninger, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2080114, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0935415/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/83474 ## Fi1m on Charles Winninger > Charles Winninger played fathers the way other actors played villains: as a life's work. Bewildered, fussing, easily flattered and impossible to dislike, he made the parent the best thing in a run of films built around somebody younger. Watch Charles Winninger with an animal. In *State Fair* (1945) his Abel Frake fusses over Blue Boy in the pen the way a man fusses over a relative in hospital, checking his appetite, talking to him quietly, taking offence on his behalf. Nobody has told Abel this is funny, and Winninger does not tell us either. He played this sort of man for most of his time in pictures, the father at the edge of a story about somebody younger, and again and again he is the part of the film that holds. He came to it late and from a long way off. He was a child in a family vaudeville troupe, made his Broadway debut in 1910, and in 1927 originated Cap'n Andy Hawks in *Show Boat*, a part he played again in the 1932 revival and the 1936 film, and which fixed the public's idea of him as the jovial riverboat captain for good. Sound films took him in the early 1930s as a character actor in comedies and musicals. He was Deanna Durbin's father three times and Judy Garland's twice, and he was the sheriff Washington Dimsdale in *Destry Rides Again* (1939). His only lead came in 1953, for John Ford, as Judge Priest in *The Sun Shines Bright*; his last film was in 1960. He does not play for sympathy. In *Three Smart Girls* (1936), Henry Koster's first American film, Judson Craig is a fool who has not noticed he is one, bewildered by his own daughters and flattered by his fiancée, and Winninger keeps him funny without letting him become pitiable. The vaudeville shows in the timing; he gets his laughs on the reaction, not the line. We went in expecting to watch Durbin, who was fourteen and the reason the film exists, and found we had spent half our attention on her father, because every time the plot creaked he was the one on screen behaving like a person. He is best with a partner who sees through him. Fay Bainter's Melissa in *State Fair* watches her husband with a patience that has plainly lasted thirty years, and Winninger's fussing is funnier for being watched. Alice Brady does the same job from the other side in *Three Smart Girls*, as a woman who has done the arithmetic on Judson Craig. The limit is that he is always the same man, and the films around him are often thin; both of ours are sunny and slight, one of them directed without much curiosity, and he is the reliable thing in them rather than the surprising one. Start with *Three Smart Girls*, then *State Fair*, in the afternoon, where it belongs. Do not expect him to change. Expect him, in nearly every film, to be the person you would rather have sat next to. ## Biography Charles Winninger was an American stage and film actor. He began his career in vaudeville and made his Broadway debut in 1910. His most prominent stage role was as Cap'n Andy Hawks in the original 1927 production of *Show Boat*, which he reprised in the 1932 revival and the 1936 film adaptation. In films he appeared in *Night Nurse* (1931), *Nothing Sacred* (1937), *Destry Rides Again* (1939), *Babes in Arms* (1939), *Ziegfeld Girl* (1941) and *State Fair* (1945) as Abel Frake. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 for his radio work. Winninger died on 27 January 1969. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (2) - *State Fair* (1945), Fi1m 70, as Abel Frake — [page](https://film.one/film/state-fair.md) - *Three Smart Girls* (1936), Fi1m 72, as Judson Craig — [page](https://film.one/film/three-smart-girls.md) ## Complete filmography (66) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Raymie* (1960), as R.J. Parsons - *The Miracle of the White Reindeer* (1960), as Zoo Keeper - *Las Vegas Shakedown* (1955), as Ernest Raff - *The Millionaire* (1955), series, as Terrence Costigan - *The Whistler* (1954), series, Actor - *Torpedo Alley* (1953), as Oliver J. Peabody - *Champ for a Day* (1953), as Pa Karlsen - *The Sun Shines Bright* (1953), as William Pittman Priest - *A Perilous Journey* (1953), as Captain Eph Allan - *I Love Lucy* (1951), series, as Barney Kurtz - *Schlitz Playhouse of Stars* (1951), series, as Captain Henry Coffin - *Father Is a Bachelor* (1950), as Professor Mordecai Ford - *Give My Regards to Broadway* (1948), as Albert Norwick - *The Inside Story* (1948), as Uncle Ed - *Something in the Wind* (1947), as Uncle Chester Read - *Living in a Big Way* (1947), as D. Rutherford Morgan - *Lover Come Back* (1946), as Pa Williams - *She Wouldn't Say Yes* (1945), as Doctor Lane - *State Fair* (1945), as Abel Frake — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/film/state-fair.md) - *Belle of the Yukon* (1944), as Pop Candless - *Sunday Dinner for a Soldier* (1944), as Dudley 'Granfeathers' Osborne - *Broadway Rhythm* (1944), as Sam Demming - *Flesh and Fantasy* (1943), as King Lamarr (segment 3) - *A Lady Takes a Chance* (1943), as Waco - *Hers to Hold* (1943), as Judson Craig - *Coney Island* (1943), as Finnigan - *Friendly Enemies* (1942), as Karl Pfeiffer - *Mr. Gardenia Jones* (1942), as John Jones - *My Life with Caroline* (1941), as Mr. Bliss - *The Get-Away* (1941), as Doctor Josiah Glass - *Ziegfeld Girl* (1941), as 'Pop' Gallagher - *Pot o' Gold* (1941), as Charles 'C.J.' Haskell - *Little Nellie Kelly* (1940), as Michael Noonan - *My Love Came Back* (1940), as Julius Malette - *Beyond Tomorrow* (1940), as Michael O'Brien - *If I Had My Way* (1940), as Joe Johnson - *Barricade* (1939), as Samuel J. Cady - *Destry Rides Again* (1939), as Washington Dimsdale - *Babes in Arms* (1939), as Joe Moran - *Three Smart Girls Grow Up* (1939), as Judson Craig - *Hard to Get* (1938), as Benjamin B. Richards - *Goodbye Broadway* (1938), as Pat Malloy - *You're a Sweetheart* (1937), as Cherokee Charlie - *Every Day's a Holiday* (1937), as Van Reighle Van Pelter Van Doon - *Nothing Sacred* (1937), as Dr. Enoch Downer - *You Can't Have Everything* (1937), as Sam Gordon - *The Go-Getter* (1937), as Cappy Ricks - *Woman Chases Man* (1937), as B.J. Nolan - *Café Metropole* (1937), as Joseph Ridgeway - *Three Smart Girls* (1936), as Judson Craig — Fi1m 72, [page](https://film.one/film/three-smart-girls.md) - *White Fang* (1936), as Doc McFane - *Show Boat* (1936), as Cap'n Andy Hawkes - *Social Register* (1934), as Jonesie - *Husband's Holiday* (1931), as Mr. Reid - *Flying High* (1931), as Dr. Brown - *The Sin of Madelon Claudet* (1931), as Photographer - *Night Nurse* (1931), as Dr. Bell - *Children of Dreams* (1931), as Dr. Joe Thompson - *God's Gift to Women* (1931), as John Churchill - *Gun Smoke* (1931), as Tack Gillup - *The Bad Sister* (1931), as Mr. Madison - *Fighting Caravans* (1931), as Marshall - *Soup to Nuts* (1930), as Otto Schmidt - *Summer Bachelors* (1926), as Preston Smith - *The Canadian* (1926), as Pop Tyson - *Pied Piper Malone* (1924), as Louie - The Barber ## Gallery - ![Charles Winninger, stage actor Subjects: actors (1909)](https://film.one/media/person/1226793/gallery-72a9dcc2f419.jpg) Charles Winninger, stage actor Subjects: actors (1909) — Powell, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Charles_Winninger%2C_stage_actor_%28SAYRE_10318%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Photo of actor Charles Winninger.](https://film.one/media/person/1226793/gallery-829c39d7210e.jpg) Photo of actor Charles Winninger. — Columbia Broadcasting System-CBS, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Charles_Winninger_in_1937.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Photo of actor Charles Winninger. (1937)](https://film.one/media/person/1226793/gallery-48424ea05d8b.jpg) Photo of actor Charles Winninger. (1937) — J. Walter Thompson on behalf of its client, Lux, sponsor of the program Lux Radio Theater. Copy of the back scan had to be rotated so the press release could be read., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/Charles_Winninger_1937.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Charles Winninger](https://film.one/media/person/1226793/gallery-d622657cbdbc.jpg) Charles Winninger — Trailer screenshot Licencing information : https://web.archive.org/web/20080321033709/http://www.sabucat.com/?pg=copyright and http://www.creativeclearance.com/guidelines.html#D2, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Charles_Winninger_in_State_Fair_trailer.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Charles Winninger](https://film.one/media/person/1226793/gallery-514b0d9198ee.jpg) Charles Winninger — Image via TMDB - ![Charles Winninger](https://film.one/media/person/1226793/gallery-65d216545c68.jpg) Charles Winninger — Image via TMDB - ![Charles Winninger](https://film.one/media/person/1226793/gallery-83d3c1042e97.jpg) Charles Winninger — Image via TMDB - ![Carole Lombard & Charles Winninger in 1937 screwball comedy film Nothing Sacred. See also film still. No copyright notice.](https://film.one/media/person/1226793/gallery-a7fde09a85fb.jpg) Carole Lombard & Charles Winninger in 1937 screwball comedy film Nothing Sacred. See also film still. No copyright notice. — United Artists, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/Nothing_Sacred_Still.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Photo of Dan Dailey and Charles Winninger in Give My Regards to Broadway.](https://film.one/media/person/1226793/gallery-4fdddda03f0e.jpg) Photo of Dan Dailey and Charles Winninger in Give My Regards to Broadway. — 20th Century Fox, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/Dan_Dailey_Charles_Winninger_Give_My_Regards_to_Broadway_1948.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Charles Winninger](https://film.one/media/person/1226793/gallery-8a76911bb088.jpg) Charles Winninger — Image via TMDB --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/charles-winninger