Jack Whiting | |
|---|---|
&sq=&lang=&file=File:Jack_Whiting2.jpg) Whiting in c. 1940 | |
| Born | Albert Draper Whiting, Jr. June 22, 1901 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | February 15, 1961 (aged 59) New York City, U.S. |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | early 1920s–1958 |
| Style | |
| Spouse | |
| Relatives | Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. (stepson) |
| Awards | 1953 Donaldson Award for Best Musical Supporting Performance |
Jack Whiting (born Albert Draper Whiting, Jr.; June 22, 1901 – February 15, 1961) was an American actor, singer and dancer whose career ran from the early 1920s through the late 1950s, playing leading men or major supporting figures.
He performed in 30+ musicals on Broadway, including Stepping Stones (1923–1924), Hold Everything! (1928–1929), Take A Chance (1932–1933), Hooray for What! (1937–1938), Hold On to Your Hats (1940–1941), Hazel Flagg (1953) and The Golden Apple (1954). As a dancer, his talent was likened to Fred Astaire's and Gene Kelly's. He starred in London's West End premieres of Anything Goes (1935–1936) and On Your Toes (1937), and recorded medleys from these shows while in England. As a singer, he enjoyed great success with a few hit songs, such as "You're the Cream in My Coffee" (1928), "I've Got Five Dollars" (1931), and "Every Street's A Boulevard In Old New York" (1953).
Whiting acted in theatre plays like Aren't We All? (1923), Design for Living (1943), The Overtons (1945), and A Girl Can Tell (1953), and toured nationally with Arsenic and Old Lace (1941–1942 with Erich von Stroheim, 1943 with Boris Karloff, and 1944 with Bela Lugosi), and with the musicals The Red Mill (1947), High Button Shoes (1948–1949, 1950), and Gay Divorce (1950).
Whiting also starred in a handful of films during the 1930s, including the British musical Sailing Along (1938) with Jessie Matthews, and the American comedy Give Me a Sailor (1938) with Martha Raye, Bob Hope and Betty Grable. He featured in a dozen popular television shows in the 1950s, as his career drew to a close. In 1953, he won the 10th Annual Donaldson Award for Best Musical Supporting Performance in Hazell Flagg, and came second in 1954, for his role in The Golden Apple.