--- name: "Edward Everett Horton" canonical: "https://film.one/person/edward-everett-horton" roles: ["Actor"] born: "17 March 1886" died: "29 September 1970" reviewed_on_fi1m: 4 average_fi1m_score: 78 average_as: "actor" average_over: 4 updated: "2026-09-20T00:25:30.944522+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." --- # Edward Everett Horton Actor. Born 17 March 1886 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. Died 29 September 1970. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 17 March 1886, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA - **Died:** 29 September 1970 - **Active:** 1934–1941 - **Also known as:** E.E. Horton, Edward Horton, Edward Everett Horton Jr. - **Frequently works with:** [Erik Rhodes](https://film.one/person/erik-rhodes.md), [Fred Astaire](https://film.one/person/fred-astaire.md), [Ginger Rogers](https://film.one/person/ginger-rogers.md), [Mark Sandrich](https://film.one/person/mark-sandrich.md), [Pandro S. Berman](https://film.one/person/pandro-s-berman.md), [Sidney Buchman](https://film.one/person/sidney-buchman.md) - **Average Fi1m score:** 78, as actor, over 4 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1930s 78 (3), 1940s 77 (1) - **Fi1m against the critics:** 77 to 76 across 3 titles - **Score spread:** 1 at 80+, 3 at 60–79, 0 under 60 - **Lead roles:** 0 of 4 acting credits billed first or second - **Genres:** Romance 4, Comedy 3, Fantasy 2, Adventure 1, Drama 1, Music 1 - **Screen time:** 7 hours of reviewed films - **Box office:** $5m across 2 films with figures - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Everett_Horton, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1292160, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002143/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/2437 ## Streaming the US now - **The Roku Channel:** [*Here Comes Mr. Jordan*](https://film.one/film/here-comes-mr-jordan.md) (77), [*Lost Horizon*](https://film.one/film/lost-horizon.md) (68) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Edward Everett Horton > Horton made a career out of the moment a man realises he has been made a fool of, and he could stretch that moment across three separate looks. He never carried a picture and never needed to. Somebody tells Edward Everett Horton something he does not want to hear. He smiles, because he is an agreeable man and has not yet taken it in. He nods. Then the news arrives, in stages, and the face comes down like a blind. Sometimes there is a small strangled noise, an "Oh" that has been squeezed out of him. In *Top Hat* (1935) he does this whenever the plot turns on him, which is often, because he is Horace Hardwick, the producer whom Ginger Rogers has mistaken Fred Astaire for, and every misunderstanding in the film lands on his desk. He had been doing it for a long time by then. He started on the stage in 1906, in vaudeville and on Broadway, went to Los Angeles in 1919 and was in silent comedies from 1922. Sound did not frighten him; the voice was half the act, a crackling, over-precise diction that made every line sound as if it had been ironed. The 1930s were his decade. Ernst Lubitsch used him in *Trouble in Paradise* (1932), Astaire and Rogers used him three times, starting with *The Gay Divorcee* (1934), Frank Capra put him in *Lost Horizon* (1937), and he played Nick Potter in George Cukor's *Holiday* (1938). *Arsenic and Old Lace* (1944) gave him Mr Witherspoon, and he went on working, in film, on television and in voice parts, into the 1960s. The Astaire and Rogers films are where to find him, and they are the ones we have reviewed. In *The Gay Divorcee* his Egbert Fitzgerald flusters best when there is nobody else on screen to react to him; he is a man who can be embarrassed by furniture. In *Top Hat* the film gives him Eric Blore as his valet, a man who refers to himself as "we" and treats his employer as a job of work, and Horton plays the employer who has it coming. We laughed at that strangled "Oh" every time it arrived, and were faintly ashamed of how little he had to do to get it out of us. He knew exactly how long to hold the smile, and he never held it the same length twice. The complaint against him was always the same: that he played one part, the mouse, and the studios kept ordering it. There is something in that. He wanted more serious work, and *Summer Storm* (1944) is the example people reach for, but the double take was what paid. He knew it. "It pays to be a mouse, or at least it pays me," he said. "And as long as it pays, I'm going on with my mousing, just as long as the producers ask for it." They asked for it for forty years, and he never once looked as though it were beneath him. Start with *Top Hat*, where the plot lands on him more than on anyone else in the picture, and count the takes. Then watch *The Gay Divorcee* and notice that he is doing exactly the same thing a year earlier, in a weaker film, and getting the same laugh. ## Biography Edward Everett Horton was an American character actor and comedian. He began his stage career in 1906, performing in vaudeville and Broadway productions. In 1919 he moved to Los Angeles, where he started working in Hollywood films. Horton appeared in numerous comedies, often in supporting roles. His credits include *Trouble in Paradise* (1932), *Design for Living* (1933), *The Gay Divorcee* (1934) as Egbert Fitzgerald, *Top Hat* (1935), *Lost Horizon* (1937), *Holiday* (1938), *Arsenic and Old Lace* (1944), *Pocketful of Miracles* (1961) and *It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World* (1963). He also worked in television, including a guest role in *Batman* (1966). Horton died in Los Angeles in 1970. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, themoviedb.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (4) - *Here Comes Mr. Jordan* (1941), Fi1m 77, as Messenger 7013 — [page](https://film.one/film/here-comes-mr-jordan.md) - *Lost Horizon* (1937), Fi1m 68, as Alexander P. " Lovey " Lovett — [page](https://film.one/film/lost-horizon.md) - *Top Hat* (1935), Fi1m 87, as Horace Hardwick — [page](https://film.one/film/top-hat.md) - *The Gay Divorcee* (1934), Fi1m 79, as Egbert Fitzgerald — [page](https://film.one/film/the-gay-divorcee.md) ## Complete filmography (154) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Cold Turkey* (1971), as Hiram C. Grayson - *Nanny and the Professor* (1970), series, Actor - *Love, American Style* (1969), series, as Elmo - *2000 Years Later* (1969), as Evermore - *The Name of the Game* (1968), series, as Philip Armistead - *The Perils of Pauline* (1967), as Caspar Coleman - *Batman* (1966), series, as Chief Screaming Chicken - *F Troop* (1965), series, Actor - *Sex and the Single Girl* (1964), as The Chief - *The Cara Williams Show* (1964), series, Actor - *The Emperor's Oblong Pancake* (1964), as Narrator - *One Got Fat* (1963), as Narrator (voice) - *It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World* (1963), as Mr. Dinckler - *Burke's Law* (1963), series, as Grover Leander Smith, Wilbur Starlington - *Saints and Sinners* (1962), series, as Mr. Hollister - *Pocketful of Miracles* (1961), as Hudgins - *The Wonderful World of Trains* (1960), as Professor Hotbox - *The Bullwinkle Show* (1959), series, as Fractured Fairy Tales Narrator (voice) - *The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends* (1959), series, as Fractured Fairy Tales Narrator (voice) - *Fractured Fairy Tales* (1959), series, as Narrator (voice) - *Dennis the Menace* (1959), series, as Uncle Ned Matthews - *The Story of Mankind* (1957), as Sir Walter Raleigh - *Three Men on a Horse* (1957), as Mr. Carver - *The Gerald McBoing-Boing Show* (1956), series, as Storyteller (voice) - *Saturday Spectacular: Manhattan Tower* (1956), as Noah - *Matinee Theater* (1955), series, Actor - *December Bride* (1954), series, Actor - *Max Liebman Presents* (1954), series, Actor - *General Electric Theater* (1953), series, as Mr. Parkinson - *I Love Lucy* (1951), series, as Mr. Ritter - *The Philco Television Playhouse* (1948), series, Actor - *Her Husband's Affairs* (1947), as J.B. Cruikshank - *Down to Earth* (1947), as Messenger 7013 - *The Ghost Goes Wild* (1947), as Eric - *Earl Carroll Sketchbook* (1946), as Dr. Milo Edwards - *Faithful in My Fashion* (1946), as Hiram Dilworthy - *Cinderella Jones* (1946), as Keating - *Lady on a Train* (1945), as Mr. Haskell - *Steppin' in Society* (1945), as Judge Avery Webster - *The Town Went Wild* (1944), as Everett Conway - *Brazil* (1944), as Everett St. John Everett - *San Diego I Love You* (1944), as Philip McCooley - *Arsenic and Old Lace* (1944), as Mr. Witherspoon - *Summer Storm* (1944), as Count "Piggy" Volsky - *Her Primitive Man* (1944), as Orrin - *The Gang's All Here* (1943), as Peyton Potter - *Thank Your Lucky Stars* (1943), as Farnsworth - *Forever and a Day* (1943), as Anthony Trimble-Pomfret - *Springtime in the Rockies* (1942), as McTavish - *I Married an Angel* (1942), as Peter - *The Magnificent Dope* (1942), as Horace Hunter - *Weekend for Three* (1941), as Fred Stonebraker - *The Body Disappears* (1941), as Professor Shotesbury - *Here Comes Mr. Jordan* (1941), as Messenger 7013 — Fi1m 77, [page](https://film.one/film/here-comes-mr-jordan.md) - *Bachelor Daddy* (1941), as Joseph Smith - *Sunny* (1941), as Henry Bates - *Ziegfeld Girl* (1941), as Noble Sage - *You're the One* (1941), as Death Valley Joe Frink - *That's Right – You're Wrong* (1939), as Tom Village - *The Gang's All Here* (1939), as Treadwell - *Paris Honeymoon* (1939), as Ernest Figg - *Little Tough Guys in Society* (1938), as Oliver - *Holiday* (1938), as Nick Potter - *College Swing* (1938), as Hubert Dash - *Bluebeard's 8th Wife* (1938), as Marquis De Loiselle - *Hitting a New High* (1937), as Lucius B. Blynn - *The Great Garrick* (1937), as Tubby - *Angel* (1937), as Graham - *The Perfect Specimen* (1937), as Mr. Grattan - *Danger – Love at Work* (1937), as Howard Rogers - *Wild Money* (1937), as P.E. Dodd - *Shall We Dance* (1937), as Jeffrey Baird - *Oh, Doctor* (1937), as Edward J. Billop - *The King and the Chorus Girl* (1937), as Count Humbert Evel Bruger - *Lost Horizon* (1937), as Alexander P. " Lovey " Lovett — Fi1m 68, [page](https://film.one/film/lost-horizon.md) - *The Man in the Mirror* (1936), as Jeremy Dilke - *Let's Make a Million* (1936), as Harrison Gentry - *Hearts Divided* (1936), as John - *Nobody's Fool* (1936), as Will Wright - *The Singing Kid* (1936), as Davenport Rogers - *Her Master's Voice* (1936), as Ned Farrar - *Your Uncle Dudley* (1935), as Dudley Dixon - *His Night Out* (1935), as Homer B. Bitts - *Little Big Shot* (1935), as Mortimer Thompson - *Top Hat* (1935), as Horace Hardwick — Fi1m 87, [page](https://film.one/film/top-hat.md) - *The Private Secretary* (1935), as Rev. Robert Spalding - *Going Highbrow* (1935), as Augie Winterspoon - *In Caliente* (1935), as Harold Brandon - *$10 Raise* (1935), as Hubert T. Wilkins - *The Devil Is a Woman* (1935), as Gov. Don Paquito 'Paquitito' - *All the King's Horses* (1935), as Count Josef 'Peppi' von Schlapstaat - *The Night Is Young* (1935), as Baron Szereny - *Biography of a Bachelor Girl* (1935), as Leander 'Bunny' Nolan - *The Merry Widow* (1934), as Ambassador Popoff - *The Gay Divorcee* (1934), as Egbert Fitzgerald — Fi1m 79, [page](https://film.one/film/the-gay-divorcee.md) - *Ladies Should Listen* (1934), as Paul Vernet - *Kiss and Make-Up* (1934), as Marcel Caron - *It's a Boy* (1934), as Dudley Leake - *Smarty* (1934), as Vernon - *Sing and Like It* (1934), as Adam Frink - Producer - *Uncertain Lady* (1934), as Elliot Crane - *Success at Any Price* (1934), as Harry Fisher - *The Poor Rich* (1934), as Albert Stuyvesant Spottiswood - *Easy to Love* (1934), as Eric - *Design for Living* (1933), as Max Plunkett - *Alice in Wonderland* (1933), as Mad Hatter - *The Way to Love* (1933), as Professor Gaston Bibi - *A Bedtime Story* (1933), as Victor Dubois - *Soldiers of the King* (1933), as Sebastian Marvello - *Trouble in Paradise* (1932), as Francois - *Roar of the Dragon* (1932), as Busby - *But the Flesh Is Weak* (1932), as Sir George Kelvin - *The Great Junction Hotel* (1931), as The Groom - *The Age for Love* (1931), as Horace Keats - *Smart Woman* (1931), as Billy Ross - *Six Cylinder Love* (1931), as Monty Winston - *The Front Page* (1931), as Bensinger - *Lonely Wives* (1931), as Richard 'Dickie' Smith / Felix, the Great Zero - *Kiss Me Again* (1931), as Rene - *Reaching for the Moon* (1930), as Roger, the Valet - *Once a Gentleman* (1930), as Oliver - *Holiday* (1930), as Nick Potter - *Wide Open* (1930), as Simon Haldane - *Take the Heir* (1930), as Smithers - *The Aviator* (1929), as Robert Street - *The Sap* (1929), as The Sap, Bill Small - *The Hottentot* (1929), as Sam Harrington - *Sonny Boy* (1929), as Crandall Thorpe - *Ask Dad* (1929), as Dad - *Vacation Waves* (1928), as Eddie Davis - *The Terror* (1928), as Ferdinand Fane - *Horse Shy* (1928), as Eddie Hamilton - *Behind the Counter* (1928), as Eddie Baxter - *Dad's Choice* (1928), as Eddie - *Call Again* (1928), as Eddie - *Scrambled Weddings* (1928), as Eddie Howe - *Find the King* (1927), as Edward Fairchild - *No Publicity* (1927), as Eddie Howard - *Taxi! Taxi!* (1927), as Peter Whitby - *The Whole Town's Talking* (1926), as Chester Binney - *Poker Faces* (1926), as Jimmy Whitmore - *The Nut-Cracker* (1926), as Horatio Slipaway - *La Bohème* (1926), as Benoit - Janitor - *Beggar on Horseback* (1925), as Neil McRae - *Helen's Babies* (1924), as Uncle Harry - *To the Ladies* (1924), as Leonard Beebe - *The Man Who Fights Alone* (1924), as Bob Alten - *Try and Get It* (1924), as Glenn Collins - *Flapper Wives* (1924), as Vincent Platt - *Ruggles of Red Gap* (1923), as Ruggles - *A Front Page Story* (1922), as Rodney Marvin - *The Ladder Jinx* (1922), as Arthur Barnes - *Too Much Business* (1922), as John Henry Jackson - *The Right Bed*, as Bobby Kent ## Gallery - ![Edward Everett Horton](https://film.one/media/person/1227088/gallery-45d730bd8e29.jpg) Edward Everett Horton — James Hargis Connelly, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c2/Edward_Everett_Horton.jpg/1280px-Edward_Everett_Horton.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Edward Everett Horton, silent film actor Subjects (LCTGM): actors, motion pictures (1925)](https://film.one/media/person/1227088/gallery-01cd9b109a5f.jpg) Edward Everett Horton, silent film actor Subjects (LCTGM): actors, motion pictures (1925) — Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/09/Edward_Everett_Horton%2C_silent_film_actor_%28SAYRE_909%29.jpg/1280px-Edward_Everett_Horton%2C_silent_film_actor_%28SAYRE_909%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Actor Edward Everett Horton in the film "The Hottentot." Subjects (LCTGM): actors, motion pictures (1929)](https://film.one/media/person/1227088/gallery-01662cbf4f5d.jpg) Actor Edward Everett Horton in the film "The Hottentot." Subjects (LCTGM): actors, motion pictures (1929) — Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e7/Actor_Edward_Everett_Horton_in_the_film_%22The_Hottentot%22_%28SAYRE_4204%29.jpg/1280px-Actor_Edward_Everett_Horton_in_the_film_%22The_Hottentot%22_%28SAYRE_4204%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![A scene from the American comedy film Nobody's Fool (1936) with Edward Everett Horton. Subjects: motion pictures, actors](https://film.one/media/person/1227088/gallery-c8ea6b2cab82.jpg) A scene from the American comedy film Nobody's Fool (1936) with Edward Everett Horton. Subjects: motion pictures, actors — Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/39/A_scene_from_%22Nobody%27s_Fool%22_with_Edward_Everett_Horton_%28SAYRE_14155%29.jpg/1280px-A_scene_from_%22Nobody%27s_Fool%22_with_Edward_Everett_Horton_%28SAYRE_14155%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Edward Everett Horton](https://film.one/media/person/1227088/gallery-622c00943eba.jpg) Edward Everett Horton — Image via TMDB - ![Once a Gentleman Subjects (LCTGM): motion pictures, actresses, actors (1930)](https://film.one/media/person/1227088/gallery-75c995bf6907.jpg) Once a Gentleman Subjects (LCTGM): motion pictures, actresses, actors (1930) — Unknown photographerUnknown photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/67/Once_a_Gentleman_%28SAYRE_14997%29.jpg/1280px-Once_a_Gentleman_%28SAYRE_14997%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) --- © 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/edward-everett-horton