Eddie Dowling

Eddie Dowling (born Joseph Nelson Goucher; December 11, 1889[1] — February 18, 1976) was an American actor, director, playwright, screenwriter, composer and theatrical producer.

Eddie Dowling
Dowling in 1950
Born
Joseph Nelson Goucher

(1889-12-11)December 11, 1889
Woonsocket, Rhode Island, U.S.
DiedFebruary 18, 1976(1976-02-18) (aged 86)
Smithfield, Rhode Island, U.S.
Occupations
  • Actor
  • director
  • playwright
  • screenwriter
  • composer
  • theatrical producer
Years active1919–1956
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1911)​
Children2

Early years

Born Joseph Nelson Goucher[2] on December 11, 1889, he was the 14th of 17 children born to a father of French-Canadian descent and a mother of Irish descent in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. (Some sources give his middle name as Narcisse.) He took his professional surname from the maiden name of his mother, Bridget Mary Dowling, who was born in Smithfield, Rhode Island. His father was Charles Goucher, a textile worker,[2] who was born in St Marcel, Province of Québec, Canada.[1]

Stage
Clockwise from top: Eddie Dowling, Joan McCracken, and Jason Evers in the Broadway play Angel in the Pawnshop (1951)

Dowling began his career in vaudeville with the Homan Stock Company at the Scenic Temple theatre in Providence, RI.[3] He appeared on stage for many years, including appearances in the Ziegfeld Follies.[4] His Broadway debut came in The Velvet Lady (1919.[5] His most famous role was as Tom Wingfield in the original Broadway production of The Glass Menagerie, starring opposite Laurette Taylor and Julie Haydon. He produced the play's original Chicago production in 1944 and followed it to Broadway.[4]

Politics

Dowling sought the 1934 Democratic nomination for the United States Senate seat from Rhode Island. At the time, Time reported that his great-grandfather and two great-grand uncles were the founders of Goucher College for Women in Baltimore and that "he was the 14th in a family of 17 children; his schooling had extended only up to the third grade; he had been a cabin boy and a music hall singer...and he owned a sausage factory in California."[6]

Personal life

Dowling was married to the Scottish-born actress and stage performer Rachel Rice Dooley,[2] who specialized in physical comedy; they had two children, Jack and Maxine. Jack Dowling was killed in a plane crash in Brazil in 1955 when he was Time magazine's Buenos Aires bureau chief.

Death

On February 18, 1976, Dowling died at a nursing home[7] in Smithfield, Rhode Island[8] at the age of 86. His widow died in 1984, aged 95, in East Hampton, Long Island, New York.

References
  1. Date and year of birth as per baptismal records of Precious Blood church, Woonsocket, Rhode Island, where Dowling was christened
  2. "Actor To Conduct Peabody Classes". The Evening Sun. Maryland, Baltimore. October 30, 1962. p. 21. Retrieved March 16, 2018 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  3. Jewett, Bobby (January 21, 1940). "Old Scenic Holds Gay Place in Playgoer's Memory." Providence Journal.
  4. Cullen, Frank and Hackman, Florence (2006). Vaudeville, Old and New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America, pp. 322-23. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-93853-8.
  5. "Eddie Dowling". Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. Archived from the original on March 16, 2018. Retrieved March 16, 2018.
  6. Time magazine description of Dowling
  7. Carmody, Deirdre (February 19, 1976). "Eddie Dowling Is Dead; Stage Figure 40 Years". The New York Times. p. 38. Retrieved January 7, 2022.
  8. Slide, Anthony (2012). The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville. Univ. Press of Mississippi. p. 139. ISBN 9781617032509. Retrieved March 16, 2018.
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