Glorious Sidekick: Edward Everett Horton

It’s all in a name: Mr. Witherspoon, Horace Hardwick, François Filiba, Egbert ‚Pinky‘ Fitzgerald, Marquis de Loiselle, Alexander P. Lovett. The elaborate names given to these larger-than-life film characters are as unique as the extraordinarily talented comedic actor who played them: Edward Everett Horton (1886–1970). In talking about his more than six-decade career, The New York Times didn’t just reference his persimmon-shaped head and characteristic silent disapproval, but also aptly dubbed the theatre and film actor the “master of comic befuddlement”. Confusion personified was what Horton cultivated in the majority of the over 150 films in which he appeared in, even though the awkward, quirky, slightly prudish and dull-witted blunderers that he played often only formed the sidekicks to more famous actors. With this in mind, this tribute to Edward Everett Horton is also an exercise in gathering evidence to prove that the true nexus of acting is sometimes to be found in second billing. (Milena Gregor)