Edmund Gwenn: Forever Kris Kringle

"Dying is hard but not as hard as doing comedy" were Edmund Gwenn's deathbed words to director George Seaton. From the English stage of the late Victorian era to the golden age of Hollywood, Edmund Gwenn was an actor for 65 years and became one of the most recognizable and beloved character actors in movie history. The gentle mannered actor is forever immortal for his Oscar winning performance as Kris Kringle in Seaton's classic "The Miracle on 34th Street." How many movie watchers have grown up with Gwenn as their image of Santa Claus?

Gwenn was born Edmund Kellaway on September 26, 1877 to a seafaring family. His father was a career man in the British Civil Service and expected his son to follow in his footsteps. When 17-year-old Edmund announced his theatrical ambitions, he was promptly disowned. "My father forgave me before he died," said Gwenn, "although he could never make up his mind to come and see me."

He was another struggling stage actor when George Bernard Shaw caught him in a one-act play. Shaw must have been quite impressed because he awarded Gwenn the lead in his new play "Man ans Superman." That play became a classic and established Gwenn as a London stage star. The actor continued his association with Shaw and became the playwright's favorite actor.

Gwenn's only marriage to Minnie Terry and how it terminated sounds like old fashioned melodrama. During World War I, Gwenn rose on rank from private to captain and returned home to an unfaithful wife. "When I came home," told Gwenn, "I discovered she loved someone else. The man had been a friend of mine, but he was a scoundrel and didn't marry her even after she was free to marry him." Gwenn never remarried and years later made up with her. "My ex-wife and I are very good friends, and I always see her when I go to England."