Patrick McGeehan (March 4, 1907 – January 3, 1988) was an American actor.

Early life

Patrick Joseph McGeehan was born in

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the 9th largest city and 15th largest municipality in Pe ...

on March 4, 1907. He left home at age 14 when he went to sea, later working in vaudeville, and was a tightrope walker's assistant with the

Barnum & Bailey Circus The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (also known as the Ringling Bros. Circus, Ringling Bros., the Barnum & Bailey Circus, Barnum & Bailey, or simply Ringling) is an American traveling circus company billed as The Greatest Show on Ear ...

Career

McGeehan began his career in 1935 on radio. He played Ben Calvert on the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

radio soap, ''

Aunt Mary Aunt Mary is a Norwegian prog rock band from the 1970s. They signed a recording contract with Polydor Records in Denmark, to facilitate the release of ''Aunt Mary'' in 1970. The group gradually moved towards progressive rock with the records ''Lo ...

'' (1942-1951). He was the narrator for ''

Ceiling Unlimited ''Ceiling Unlimited'' (later known as ''America — Ceiling Unlimited'') (1942–1944) is a CBS radio series created by Orson Welles and sponsored by the Lockheed-Vega Corporation. The program was conceived to glorify the aviation industry and dr ...

'' on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

(1942-1943). He played Detective Bill Lance on '' The Adventures of Bill Lance'' on CBS (1945). He was a comic foil for

Red Skelton Richard Red Skelton (July 18, 1913September 17, 1997) was an American entertainer best known for his national radio and television shows between 1937 and 1971, especially as host of the television program ''The Red Skelton Show''. He has stars ...

and the announcer for ''

The Red Skelton Show ''The Red Skelton Show'' is an American television comedy/variety show that aired from 1951 to 1971. In the decade prior to hosting the show, Richard "Red" Skelton had a successful career as a radio and motion pictures star. Although his televis ...

'' on NBC (1951-1965). For many years, McGeehan was one of a series of announcers who were the brunt of some of Skelton’s best known-lines. He was also an actor on ''

The Adventures of Maisie ''The Adventures of Maisie'' (aka ''Maisie'') was a radio comedy series starring Ann Sothern as underemployed entertainer Maisie Ravier and a spin-off of Sothern's successful 1939–1947 ''Maisie'' movie series, based on a character created by Wil ...

'' (as Eddie Jordan) on the

Mutual Radio Network The Mutual Broadcasting System (commonly referred to simply as Mutual; sometimes referred to as MBS, Mutual Radio or the Mutual Radio Network) was an American commercial radio network in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the golden age of U.S. rad ...

(1949-1952), ''

Stars over Hollywood ''Stars over Hollywood'' is a radio anthology in the United States. It was broadcast on CBS from May 31, 1941, to September 25, 1954, sponsored first by Dari-Rich, Carnation Milk and later by Armour and Company. (Note: This program should not be ...

'' on CBS (1941-1954), ''

The Jack Benny Program ''The Jack Benny Program'', starring Jack Benny, is a radio-TV comedy series that ran for more than three decades and is generally regarded as a high-water mark in 20th century American comedy. He played one role throughout his radio and televis ...

'' (1932-1955) and ''

Fibber McGee and Molly ''Fibber McGee and Molly'' (1935–1959) was a longtime highly popular husband-and-wife team radio comedy program. The situation comedy was a staple of the NBC Red Network from 1936 on, after originating on NBC Blue in 1935. One of the most p ...

'' (1959). At his peak, McGeehan did more than 40 shows a week. He was the voice of ''The Hour of St. Francis'', a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

radio show, where he gained worldwide recognition for his recitation of the peace prayer of St. Francis. Throughout the 1940s and early 1950s, he had roles in many cartoons at the

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio was an American animation studio operated by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) during the Golden Age of American animation. Active from 1937 until 1957, the studio was responsible for producing animated shorts to a ...

; the

Jimmy Durante James Francis Durante ( , ; February 10, 1893 – January 29, 1980) was an American comedian, actor, singer, vaudevillian, and pianist. His distinctive gravelly speech, Lower East Side accent, comic language-butchery, jazz-influenced song ...

Vulture in ''

What's Buzzin' Buzzard ''What's Buzzin' Buzzard?'' is a 1943 American animated short film directed by Tex Avery, produced by Fred Quimby, and musical score by Scott Bradley. The short pokes fun at the food shortages common at the time. The plot focuses on two turkey v ...

'' (1943,

Tex Avery Frederick Bean "Tex" Avery (February 26, 1908 – August 26, 1980) was an American animator, cartoonist, animation director, director, and voice actor. He was known for directing and producing animated cartoons during the golden age of American a ...

), Butch, Meathead and Topsy in ''

Baby Puss This is a complete list of the 164 shorts in the ''Tom and Jerry'' series produced and released between 1940 and 2014. Of these, 162 are theatrical shorts, one is a made-for-TV short, and one is a 2-minute sketch shown as part of a telethon. ...

'' (1943,

William Hanna William Denby Hanna (July 14, 1910 – March 22, 2001) was an American animator and cartoonist who was the creator of ''Tom and Jerry'' as well as the voice actor for the two title characters. Alongside Joseph Barbera, he also founded the ani ...

and

Joseph Barbera Joseph Roland Barbera ( ; ; March 24, 1911 – December 18, 2006) was an American animator, director, producer, storyboard artist, and cartoon artist who co-founded the animation studio and production company Hanna-Barbera. Born to Italian im ...

), the Wolf in ''

The Screwy Truant ''The Screwy Truant'' is a 1945 Screwy Squirrel cartoon directed by Tex Avery and released by MGM. Summary The cartoon centers around an adolescent version of Screwy Squirrel, who skips school to go fishing, which causes truant officer Meathead ...

'' (1945, Avery), the Piano Player in ''

The Shooting of Dan McGoo ''The Shooting of Dan McGoo'' is a cartoon directed by Tex Avery and starring Frank Graham as the Wolf. Both Bill Thompson and Avery himself voiced the lead character Droopy. Sara Berner did the speaking voice of Lou, while her singing was provid ...

'' (1945, Avery), Joe Wolf and the Bar Patrons in ''

Wild and Woolfy ''Wild and Woolfy'' is a 1945 animated cartoon short, one of six cartoons in which Droopy was paired with a wolf as his acting partner. It is one of a very few cartoons in the series where Bill Thompson did not voice Droopy, instead Tex Avery hims ...

'' (1945, Avery), the Cat in ''

The Cat That Hated People ''The Cat That Hated People'' is a 1948 American animated short film directed by Tex Avery and produced by Fred Quimby, featuring Blackie the Cat. Blackie's voice was supplied by Patrick McGeehan in the style of Jimmy Durante; incidental music w ...

'' (1948, Avery) and ''

Bad Luck Blackie ''Bad Luck Blackie'' is a 1949 American animated comedy short film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The Tex Avery-directed short was voted the 15th-best cartoon of all-time in a 1994 poll of 1,000 animation industry professionals, as referenced i ...

'' (1949, Avery), the Hunter in '' Doggone Tired'' (1949, Avery), the Lawyer and Dogcatcher in ''

Wags to Riches Droopy is an animated character from the golden age of American animation. He is an anthropomorphic white Basset Hound with a droopy face; hence his name. He was created in 1943 by Tex Avery for theatrical cartoon shorts produced by the Metro-Gol ...

'' (1949, Avery), and the Pound Worker and Joe Bear in ''Rock-a-Bye Bear'' (1952, Avery).

Personal life

He was married to Bernice McGeehan. They had two children, including actress Mary Kate McGeehan.

Death

McGeehan died at St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Burbank after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage on January 3, 1988. He was 80.

Filmography

Film

Television

Radio

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McGeehan, Patrick 1907 births 1988 deaths American male radio actors American male voice actors American male television actors Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio people Male actors from Pennsylvania Actors from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania