Actors - Joseph Kearns

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	Actors - Joseph Kearns

Joseph Kearns (born February 12, 1907; died February 17, 1962) was an American actor, who is best remembered for his role as Mr. Wilson in the popular 1960's television series Dennis the Menace.

Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, his family moved to California when he was very young. He went to college at the University of Utah, where he earned his tuition by teaching a course in theatrical makeup. Kearns started out in radio and theatre as a pipe organist; years later, he even built his Hollywood home around a pipe organ.

He began his acting career in radio in the 1930s (playing the Crazyquilt Dragon in the serial "The Cinnamon Bear"), becoming especially active during the 1940s, with appearances on the shows The Adventures of Sam Spade, Burns and Allen, and Silver Theater, amongst many others. On Suspense, he was almost a mainstay, heard regularly as the host "The Man in Black" in the early years, announcing many episodes in the later run, and playing supporting and occasional lead roles in hundreds of shows throughout the series' tenure in Hollywood, from judges to kindly old-timers to cowards.

His best remembered regular role was that of Ed, the security guard for Jack Benny's underground vault, on The Jack Benny Program. The 'running gag' was that Benny had kept Ed on duty at the vault's door so long that the guard was not up to speed on current events; when Benny informed him that "The War (World War II) had ended," Ed asked whether the "North" or the "South" had won, assuming that the American Civil War was the one Benny was referring to.

His (uncredited) film debut was as the voice of an angel in It's a Wonderful Life
(1946).

Joseph Kearns made his onscreen film debut in Hard, Fast and Beautiful (1951). He was the voice of the Doorknob in Disney's animated Alice in Wonderland
(1951). Kearns then appeared in several other movies; his final film role was as the photographer in Anatomy of a Murder
(1959).

His television series debut came in Our Miss Brooks (1953-55) as Superintendent Stone (a role he had also played on radio). But he is most famously remembered as the ever-suffering neighbor Mr. George Wilson in Dennis the Menace (1959-62), which was based on the popular comic strip by Hank Ketcham.

Tragically, Kearns died in the middle of the third season of Dennis from a cerebral hemorrhage, only five days after his 55th birthday. He was replaced by fellow radio veteran Gale Gordon, who played George Wilson's brother John.

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Actors - Joseph Kearns

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