Wesley Addy made doctors, officers and executives seem accustomed to being obeyed. We value the precision of his supporting work: he could make a respectable professional seem faintly threatening without asking for much attention.
Fi1m perspective
A Wesley Addy doctor or executive seems to expect to be taken seriously. The cultivated manner can reassure us, but there is often enough coldness to make that reassurance questionable. We rate him as a precise supporting actor, particularly useful when a film needs professional authority to carry a suggestion of menace. He makes these men credible before we decide what to think of them.
He made five films with Robert Aldrich, including Kiss Me Deadly (1955), as Lt. Pat Murphy, and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), as Marty McDonald. Frequent television guest appearances and soap opera roles followed in the 1970s and 1980s. The two films he made with Sidney Lumet give us the clearest reason to seek him out.
In Lumet’s Network (1976), Addy plays Nelson Chaney, lending gravity to an ensemble that must make the television business believable. Paddy Chayefsky’s satire becomes increasingly outrageous, and the actors have to make its professional calculations sound reasonable. We were disturbed by the treatment of a broadcaster’s distress as commercially useful, because the people considering it seem to find so little wrong with the proposition. Owen Roizman’s cinematography and Philip Rosenberg’s production design keep the surroundings restrained while the performances become extravagant. The speeches sometimes crowd out the people, but Addy’s cultivated presence helps us believe that this workplace could exist.
The Verdict (1982) gives him a more directly troubling professional role: Dr. Towler, a defendant in the malpractice case around which Lumet builds the drama. Addy’s capacity for quiet menace is well suited to a doctor whose authority is being questioned. Paul Newman’s worn-down Frank Galvin is the reason to spend an evening with the film, but a legal drama also needs its supporting professionals to carry weight. Its solemn pace occasionally becomes self-important; that is a reservation about the film, not a reason to overlook the supporting work. For an evening with Addy, choose The Verdict and accept that Lumet will take his time.
Biography
Wesley Addy (1913–1996) was an American actor whose career spanned stage, film and television. Born Robert Wesley Addy in Omaha, Nebraska, he began on Broadway in the 1930s, appearing in productions including several Shakespeare plays, often opposite Maurice Evans.
In film he worked with director Robert Aldrich on titles such as Kiss Me Deadly (1955), What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) and The Grissom Gang (1971). He appeared in Network (1976) and played Dr. Towler in The Verdict (1982). On television he had roles in daytime serials including The Edge of Night, Ryan's Hope and Loving.
Addy was married to actress Celeste Holm from 1966 until his death in Danbury, Connecticut.
