Thanks so much all for watching this interesting insight. I didn’t even mention much details about how Meredith was also listed of dying from combination Alzheimer’s and skin cancer. Alzheimer’s disease is also a likely result from all the years of smoking. Here is what a study says: “Research has also found that, compared to light smokers, the risk of Alzheimer’s disease was significantly higher among medium to heavy smokers. This suggests a possible dose-response relationship between how much someone smokes and their chances of developing Alzheimer’s i.e. the more you smoke, the higher your risk.”
His granddaughter is on Facebook, and has shared a lot of stories about him, he was a very loving grandfather to her and her sister. She never knew he was the Penguin when she was little, but noticed that when they were out in public, people would come up and quack at him!
He was nearly 90. He was an awesome actor. He did a Twilight Zone episode, which is the only one I can remember. He loved reading, then all the people disappeared and he could read till his hearts content. But he broke his glasses, and that was that. I liked him in Rocky and Grumpy Old Men. He had great one liners in the latter, that I use to this day.
@@SSJIndy My apologies, I was giving the episode name to chiefbobdavis. I hope I didnt sound like a TZ snob. I loved him in The Obsolete Man ( I even liked him Printer's Devil, which was not one of the best episodes)
Smoking is such a bad addiction. The first time you smoke, you get a euphoric feeling. You smoke the next cigarette knowing how the first cigarette made you feel. After a while you just smoke because it became a habit.
I was so disappointed as a young man to learn that penguins didn't quack. Of course they didn't smoke or commit crimes either, but I really expected them to keep up with their namesake.
The main reason I do not smoke is because both of my parents were heavy smokers and I always hated it. My dad died at the age of 58 from cancer and my mom was on permanent oxygen for over 10 years and died from complications of COPD. Too many health issues from smoking have hurt too many lives. Burgess Meredith was another statistic of the evils of smoke...
My dad died of heart disease at the age of 74. I'm convinced that it was due to his smoking because none of his siblings(who were not chronic smokers) developed it. My mother smoked for years. She eventually developed COPD and later on died from metastatic Bone cancer.
Very interesting. I wouldn’t have guessed that the smoking could have had a hand in him developing Alzheimer’s later in life. Very sad regardless. Thank you for the video Rick, keep up the great work and take care!
Smoking, vaping, chewing tobacco, eating too much or eating too much sugar, illicit drugs and poor lifestyle choices will many times result in an earlier death. Not everyone will be affected but most will. But smoking is the worst, it's expensive and unnecessary. You hit the nail on the head, Rick. You're a good man.
1 - do you know if he was a heavy smoker in real life? No you don't. 2 - puffing on that long cigarette holder as Penguin would not be enough to hurt him. 3 - he lived a long life and was at his best as Mickey in the first three Rocky movies.
Smoking is also the most common cause of bladder cancer which my brother fought for 15 years before dying at age 65. I can’t imagine with all the information we have today that people still smoke.
😮 This video! It got to me. 😢 You made a connection regarding the affects of smoking I would have never have known existed had I not heard it from you. Seriously, more people really need to watch this channel! A lot of actors will go to the extreme for the role they are playing. Meredith was of no exception. His intent to “quack” to cover the cough he was developing naturally as a result of smoking was genius to character, but the frequency of the “quacking” as the show progressed, knowing what I know now, is very sad to hear. Rick, this has been a solid year for the channel due to the strength of the videos you create, and in my opinion, this is your strongest to date! You put a lot into it, research and all, to drive the message home. It got to me, and I don’t even smoke! (Wonder if the second hand smoke on the set affected other actors?) Truly great work! 👏
I didn’t even add the fact that smoking contributes heavily to Alzheimer’s which is listed as his second cause of death. Truly sad looking back into these topics.
Another excellent video Rick. He was such a great actor. I especially liked him on the Twilight Zone. FYI, I just found another Three's Company blooper. The episode where Larry take everyone out to the country to his boss's cabin. Jack is suffering from sleep deprivation and tries to escape from everyone. He tries to get into a hammock mounted between two trees and falls to the ground. When he falls the fake grass "carpet" wrinkles up under his feet. It's quite noticeable as he almost trips on the wrinkled up fake grass carpet. 😁
Sorry man, but you're really making a stretch on this one. Meredith was 89 years old!! It's not like he was cut down in the prime of life, how you're making it sound! He MIGHT'VE lasted a couple more years without the smoking, MAYBE. But to say "Batman took his life" is just too much.
The fact that there is an increased chance that both Alzheimer’s and skin cancer develop as a result of heavy smoking is telling. Who are we to understand the suffering and pain he went through from going through this? Alzheimer’s is a terrible disease and one which renders the individual unable to care for themselves and forget most of their memories and loved ones. I went through this with my grandfather. And to minimize of impact and hurtfulness of both diseases is truly naive and unsympathetic
Everyone remembers Time Enough at Last, the Twilight episode where the city is destroyed and Meredith's character survives and finally has time to read. I felt sorry for him losing his Glasses until I realized his wife, co-workers and all these people were dead but he didn't shed one tear for anyone. The guy was a Jerk! Burgess Meredith was a good actor thought.
Burgess Meredith was great not just as the Penguin. There is the Rocky Movies, but he was also great in the 4 Twilight Zone episodes he was in. They were 4 very different parts. The one everyone knows is Time Enough at Last where he plays the bookish teller who is the last survivor after the bomb goes off. There was Mr. Dingle the Strong where he plays a failed vacuum cleaner salesman who ends up being the guinea pig for a couple groups of aliens. There was the Obsolete Man where he plays a librarian in a dystopian world. And there was Printer's Devil where he plays a devil a "Mr. Smith" who saves a failing newspaper and creates chaos.
Suffering for your art. I would also recommend his film Of Mice and Men with Lon Chaney, Jr. and Winterset as two must see early performances of Burgess Meredith. And Grumpy Old Men for one of his last.
Rick; your videos are always coming from a sincere and kind place from your heart! Burgess was my favourite villain and only he could play it well; I only wished he didn't light the cigarette! Regret that I cannot recall any favourite episode because all we fun to watch.
Thanks for this video. I love your work. Unfortunately, in this case, your information is simply incorrect. Burgess Meredith stated smoking LONG before the Batman series. I have checked, and you can see Meredith smoking in his first silver screen movie Winterset, in 1936, and later in his post war film,The Story of G.I. Joe, in 1945, as well. I have read, but cannot verify, that Meredith had given up smoking 20 years prior to taking on the role of The Penguin, but he would have had to started smoking again well before his Penguin role. Getty Images has a well known photo of Meredith smoking taken by Erika Stone circa 1950. In regards to his appearances on The Twilight Zone: That show ended in 1964, and in the episode "Printer's Devil' in 1963, Meredith is clearly seen smoking. As far as the coughing on Batman, that is true, but from what I have read, the reason was primarily because of the long cigarette older, which caused smoke to get caught in Meredith's throat. I apologize for being one to correct you, but in this case, the Batman Show was clearly not the reason that Burgess Meredith started smoking.
@@rickninegI apologize if I in any way inferred that you were not telling the truth. Mr Meredith had absolutely stopped smoking sometime after 1963. As a matter of fact, in the movie "In Harm's Way" in 1965, there seems to be no scene where he smoked. I researched further and found that Mr. Meredith told Mr. William V. Madison (a former producer at CBS News) the following story: “I used to smoke, a couple of packs a day. But one night, I had a terrible nightmare. I was trapped in a burning building - somehow my cigarettes had caught fire - and I was crawling around and choking on the smoke. I woke up, and I was shaking. I lit a cigarette, but I couldn’t smoke it. It took me right back to my dream, and I started coughing - WOOOH HOOH HAW. I didn’t smoke again for years." “Then I got the Penguin job, and I really needed the work. I showed up for the first shoot, and it turned out that the Penguin was supposed to smoke. He’s always got that cigarette holder, and it’s always lit. I didn’t think that would be a problem, but every time I brought the cigarette holder to my lips, I started to cough - WOOOH HOOH HAW. I thought, ‘I’d better get this under control, or I’m going to lose the job.’ “So every time I had to use the cigarette holder, I’d make this quacking noise - WAH WAH WAH - to cover my cough. Penguins don’t really quack, but nobody seemed to mind. The writers for the show loved it, but in the end it turned out to be my downfall, really, because they stopped writing jokes for me. They’d just write: ‘He quacks.’” I simply felt that it seemed unfair to say that the Batman show was the sole reason that he smoked. I hope that you will accept my apology if I in way insinuated you were being dishonest. As I said previously, I love your work, and appreciate all that you do to keep these wonderful people alive in our hearts.
Hollywood has so many smokers and did long before the present day. If you watch Burgess Meredith in the movie "In Harm's Way" (1964), Burgess is surrounded by John Wayne, who was a chain smoker at the time, as well as Patrick O'Neal, Brandon DeWilde and others. The AMA has stated that secondhand smoke presents a risk almost as great as smoking.
Perhaps if he had puffed on the cigarette, it wouldn't have had such a dangerous affect. Both Groucho Marx and George Burns puffed cigars and lived a very long time. Sadly, Frank Gorshin was a heavy smoker and that had an adverse affect on his health. None the less I did enjoy the characters Mr. Meredith played.
Burgess Meredith had such a bad case of emphysema late in his career, sound men had to cut his breathing out of the soundtrack. Insofar as smoking actually killing him good Lord, the man lived be 89 years old.
Burgess Meredith is a great actor. He was one of my favorites in Batman. In Batman the villains were played by well known stars. Never heard of Adam West or Bruce Ward before this show. The actor who played Alfred was in lots of movies and I remember him from The Beverly Hillbillies.
It is not like the man died a just a few decades after smoking. The man was 89 when he died. Howza 'bout we just chock it up to old age and a very long life. We all die from something, even those who die from old age do not actually die from old age. Hell, if I could live to 89 and smoking would help me do so, I would start smoking tomorrow.
@@rickninegI agree! My only point was that we all die of something. I would rather die of something at age 95 then at 65 regardless of what the demise comes from. But if what finally killed me like cancer due to smoking or Alzheimer's, even if my last few years sucked, I would go with my life starting to suck as to health issues at age 80 and die at 89 as opposed to my health life starting to suck at age 58 and then dying at the age of 65.
A few days before he passed away in 1997 i sent Mr. Meredith a SASE for an autograph request & someone wrote back with a note saying Mr Meredith has Died 😢😢😢😢😢
I loved Burgess Merideth as the Penguin! I had no idea about the smoking issue. There were warnings about the link to cancer starting in 1964 but nobody took it seriously back then 😔
There are several types of skin cancer. You mentioned research showing increased squamous cell carcinoma related to smoking. But looking around a bit, it seems that the info on smoking and melanoma skin cancer is a bit mixed. Still, we certainly don’t lack for any reason to stay away from those nasty sticks.
This was very interesting, Rick. I loved him as the Penguin. He was my favorite Batman villain. Thank you, Burgess Meredith, for your dedication to the art of acting ❤ 🙏
Rick, wouldn't it be cool if for once we got a Batman movie that is loosely based on the 60's tv series down to the satire of the original? From 1989 to present all the Batman movies have pretty much stayed away from this idea? But why? I think it would be fun!🦇📺🎥🕵
So what I heard here is that when he started smoking he was around 60 years old. A much older age than most other people start smoking. Still he lived to age 89 which is not too bad.
He definitely was the best Penguin. And unfortunately back then he had no idea that smoking would cause the problems it did. I've heard of other actors who took up smoking for a character. Most of the time it was while protaying a real life person. It actually a little sad when people think they have to do a bad behavior for entertainment. I hope modern actors will learn from stories like this and say no to bad habits for a character.
I had an infected tooth socket which was not removed for months despite my going to the dentist six times before they pulled the tooth and as a result I wound up having COPD & asthma because it infected my sinuses and lungs so I know all too well what it means to have breathing issues. I tried to smoke one cigarette when I was 10 and took one puff and threw up. Never again and I was always very sensitive to cigarette smoke. My Father smoked 5 packs a day of Lucky Strikes before he quit. He developed the habit when he was in the Army for 17 years.
@@ricknineg thanks for the kind wishes, but I also have the problem that I have two fractured kneecaps, and my right knees worse I fell on an escalator on a public transit system, and my medical provider would not pay for the repair. I’ve lost a lot of weight I am better and I have bronchitis cause I’m to grass, so I’m getting slowly better I need to lose about 10 more pounds and my doctor can operate my right knee and then when that is healed he replaced my left knee so it is not been a fun time but least I’m alive
Burgess was not a smoker before he took the role of Penguin and he got horribly ill every time he smoked. He complained bitterly on how sick he got every time he had to light up and he hated it and the quack was due to his smoking. I can imitate the Penguins quack very well when I do impressions on my channel. I am so sorry he got addicted. My Father smoked Lucky Strikes for years and developed emphysema and had to walk with a breathing cart and he had great trouble breathing for years.
Frank Gorshin, who was the Riddler on Batman 1966 was also a heavy smoker. He reportedly smoked up to five packs of cigarettes a day and ultimately, succumbed to lung cancer, emphysema, and pneumonia at the age of 72.
The Late Burgees Meredith (1907 - 1997) did an Incredible Performance as Oswald Cobbelpot/The Penguin in The Batman 1966 Series. Burgees Meredith is My Second Favorite Version of The Penguin only outranked by Robin Lord Taylor’s Version of The Penguin from Gotham.
Back then anyone could buy a pack of smokes from a vending machine for 65 cents. He didn't have to and to a kiddo (me) the holder I noticed but so many smoked back then that didn't matter. The other day I watched an episode of Perry Mason, everyone but Della smoked and it shortened everyone's lives, maybe even Della even though she lived well beyond the rest of the cast. Good vid.
Very sad that he was willing to compromise his health. I think too many actors are willing to do that (smoke, gain/lose too much weight, etc, etc) to get into a role. He was a great actor though.
It's too bad they didn't have like a prop cigarette back then that was safe like they do now. A lot of people did smoke back then and do a good smoke pretty much anywhere.
Burgess Meredith was great as the Penguin. I saw him in a war movie with John Wayne and Kirk Douglas called, "In Harms way" A great war movie in my opinion. They were friends on and off the screen. Kirk and John had a few arguments though. But they respected each other. Burgess also narrorated Twilight Zone the movie too. His last movie i think is "Grumpier Old Men." He played a father/Grandpa to one of characters on there. Sad and strange. Burgess Meredith passed away either during or after he made this movie. They worked it in the story too. Thanks, Rick. Good video. Take care.
My wife is from the grass valley/Nevada county area. Burgess Meredith lived there and was known as not so nice of a person as he was on screen. Another actor who also fits that bill as not a nice person in person is Clint Eastwood. My personal experience with meeting Butch Patrick, who played Eddie Munster is also, that type of person with a not so nice attitude towards the public.
Yul Brynner was another famous actor who died of lung cancer due to his heavy smoking, he even made an anti-smoking commercial before he died warning people of the nasty habit.
Yul originally was supposed to play King Tut in Batman. He didn't get the part because he smoked too much. That Batman set had a no smoking policy rule
No, you have gotten this backwards. I knew Burgess Meredeth and he told me that he smoked for years. But he quit before the Batman show. When he got the part, they asked him to smoke again as part of the Penguin. He hesitated because he did not want to tempt himself and his system again. That is when he developed the Quack to blow out the smoke. The portrayal of the Penguin did not start his addiction again. If he died of Melanoma (which can be caused by sun exposure or possibly by his previous years of smoking, I would suspect these possible reasons. Suntanning was part and parcel of the Hollywood reality for years before Medical Science found the connection. Sunscreen is only a recent development. But I certainly would not make the unfounded giant leap to the conclusion that his use of the smoke as a prop in Batman caused him to a relapse. Or the erroneous assertion that he resumed smoking after Batman.
Always been a big fan, and not just because we share the same last name! He was a heavy smoker for years then quit. Guess it wasn't hard to get hooked again.
Burgess Meredyth smoked all his life. He smoked in many movies pre-Batman . All his dialog had to be edited to blank his breathing problems. Been a lifelong fan.
Kind of a stretch as far as I am concerned. I smoked for 50 years, quit when I became disabled 25 years ago, my doctors tell me that my lungs appear to have rejuvenated to those of a non smoker and I was doing 3 packs of Kools a day when I was on the PD. That said, I did have one kidney removed because of cancer, my wife died of Stomach cancer, both my sisters died of cancer, one who never quit smoking died of lung cancer at age 73, the other who did quit some 10 years before her death died of brain cancer at age 73. I will be 73 in 2 months, kind of makes me wonder, but then mom just died on New Years day at age 97 smoked when I was a kid, she died of old age and an upper respiratory infection.
Wow - I knew he was a non-smoker at the start of Batman's filming, but didn't know he became addicted to it. His Penguin constantly smoking made me not like the actor. I assumed he would quit after series was cancelled.
I detect a timeline issue here. If Burgess started smoking on the Batman set, (1966-68) then how did that result in him smoking on the Twilight Zone? (1959-64)
So he had smoked before but stopped. He didn’t want to smoke anymore. Yet, he began again for the show after a period of not and it caused him coughing fits.
Considering that the original comic book character was inspired by a cigarette ad this sadly makes sense. I guess those herbal nicotine free cigarettes some non smoking actors have used weren't around yet for him to substitute.
He did and was dressed as the penguin and Julie newmar also did an episode of the monkees as April the woman who worked at the laundromat the guys went to that they all fell in love with
Ok, im going to age myself. Back in the days, of smoking and drinking on tv, variety shows used to do their own ads, for their sponsors. We had dancing packs of cigarettes, with great legs, but one brand advertised a smoking penguin!! KOOL Cigarettes (watch the marx bros love happy movie, where the crooks go chasing Harpo marx on the roof of buildings! near the end. Advertisers had HUGE BILBOARDS on building rooftops. Well in one part of the chase scene Harpo hangs on to the arm of the penguin, as it goes up. Harpo gets drawn into the hole that the smoking penguin, smoke comes out! So why a smoking penguin advertising? Its the menthol that makes the cigarettes a cool smoke. Hence, the penguin smoking character in batman! Thats my theory. 😊
Hi Rick, I'm Guillermo from Argentina, I'm a big fan of Burgess Meredith, he's my favorite Hollywood actor, for me he's the only penguin, could you make a video about Phil Leeds, he's another actor that I really liked, unfortunately he's not known here. , but I have seen many performances of him and they made me laugh, he was a good comedian, he was never a main actor, I created a Facebook fanpage in tribute to Phil, greetings from Buenos Aires, Argentina
Sorry but here's an interview with Burgess Meredith. One funny item involved the fact I had already given up smoking for twenty to twenty-five years - but I had to smoke all the time as the Penguin. The smoke would get caught in my throat. Since I didn't want to constantly ruin takes by coughing out loud - which the smoke forced me to do - I developed the Penguin's 'quack, quack' to cover it.
But to have Alzheimer’s and skin cancer is truly heart wrenching. So sad he went through these diseases which significantly decrease the quality of life
He also provided a voice for a villain in the GI Joe animated movie I think it was Galapagos I might have spelled it wrong that was probably his last role I don't remember when he died I heard rumors and talk that he started smoking on Batman 66 but wouldn't calling Batman 66 the cause of his death be dishonoring his legacy and the legacy of Batman that he possibly help save remember Detective Comics especially the Batman series is going through a rough transition if I remember my history correctly it was nearly canceled the Batman 66 live action series saved it don't misinterpret what I'm texting I understand you want to pay tribute but to say Batman 66 is the cause of his death forgiven me ain't that going a little far I'm not trying to correct you and if it is seeming like I am I am sorry I understand you have your own opinion
Thanks so much all for watching this interesting insight. I didn’t even mention much details about how Meredith was also listed of dying from combination Alzheimer’s and skin cancer. Alzheimer’s disease is also a likely result from all the years of smoking. Here is what a study says:
“Research has also found that, compared to light smokers, the risk of Alzheimer’s disease was significantly higher among medium to heavy smokers. This suggests a possible dose-response relationship between how much someone smokes and their chances of developing Alzheimer’s i.e. the more you smoke, the higher your risk.”
Your heart is huge my friend! I truly hope this message will help someone who needs it.
His granddaughter is on Facebook, and has shared a lot of stories about him, he was a very loving grandfather to her and her sister. She never knew he was the Penguin when she was little, but noticed that when they were out in public, people would come up and quack at him!
He was nearly 90. He was an awesome actor. He did a Twilight Zone episode, which is the only one I can remember. He loved reading, then all the people disappeared and he could read till his hearts content. But he broke his glasses, and that was that. I liked him in Rocky and Grumpy Old Men. He had great one liners in the latter, that I use to this day.
“Obsolete man” Awesome episode.
It was called : Time Enough At Last
@@jimbear62 I was calling out another of his roles.
@@SSJIndy
My apologies, I was giving the episode name to chiefbobdavis. I hope I didnt sound like a TZ snob. I loved him in The Obsolete Man ( I even liked him Printer's Devil, which was not one of the best episodes)
He made a lot of TZ's. He was also Puff the Magit Dragon. Go google it!
I loved Burgess Meredith, he was a great actor. Thank you Rick.
His portrayal in “Of mice and men” was brilliant.
He should've done what Dean Stockwell did on Quantum Leap. The character Al always had a cigar, but it never stayed lit.
Smoking is such a bad addiction. The first time you smoke, you get a euphoric feeling. You smoke the next cigarette knowing how the first cigarette made you feel. After a while you just smoke because it became a habit.
I smoked the entire time I was amateur boxing. I remember sparring 20 rounds with the state's super heavy weight champ.
Nicotine is one of the most addictive substances there is. That's the reason it's so challenging to stop smoking once you've started.
Both of my parents died from complications of smoking 🚬🚬🚬🚬 so I quit years ago and never regretted it❤❤❤❤❤
I was so disappointed as a young man to learn that penguins didn't quack.
Of course they didn't smoke or commit crimes either, but I really expected them to keep up with their namesake.
Good thing you don't watch Monty Python 🤓😎✌🏻🇬🇧
Other things penguins don't do:
Wear top hats.
Carry umbrellas, ordinary or otherwise.
Talk like Burgess Meredith.
Smoke.
Try to kill bats or robins.
Or using ice skates (see the Bugs Bunny short 8 Ball Bunny).
@@KevinMiller-xn5vu True enough, although I was focusing on the things Oswald Cobblepot aka Penguin does that actual penguins don't.
But for a while they WERE the "mascot" for KOOL cigarettes.
The main reason I do not smoke is because both of my parents were heavy smokers and I always hated it. My dad died at the age of 58 from cancer and my mom was on permanent oxygen for over 10 years and died from complications of COPD. Too many health issues from smoking have hurt too many lives. Burgess Meredith was another statistic of the evils of smoke...
My dad died of heart disease at the age of 74. I'm convinced that it was due to his smoking because none of his siblings(who were not chronic smokers) developed it. My mother smoked for years. She eventually developed COPD and later on died from metastatic Bone cancer.
@@fr2ncm9My father died in 1989 at the age of 63 and my mother in ,2004 at the age of 73! Both were heavy smokers!!!!
Very interesting. I wouldn’t have guessed that the smoking could have had a hand in him developing Alzheimer’s later in life. Very sad regardless. Thank you for the video Rick, keep up the great work and take care!
Burgees Meredith was in a tv show called Search, but the name of the show stared out as Probe. I loved that show.
Loved that show as well. Have it on dvd.🤓
@@gomikmay Who is your fav... Doug, Hugh or Tony? I though Hugh was the most spy-like.
Smoking, vaping, chewing tobacco, eating too much or eating too much sugar, illicit drugs and poor lifestyle choices will many times result in an earlier death. Not everyone will be affected but most will. But smoking is the worst, it's expensive and unnecessary. You hit the nail on the head, Rick. You're a good man.
I just watched "In The Heat Of The Night" with Burgess as a judge. He actually put Carroll O'Conner, Archie Bunker, in his place. Great episode.
Fun Fact: Meredith appeared in a spinoff of All in the Family, Gloria, in which he played a veterinarian whom Gloria worked for.
Powerful video!
You’re the best!
You’re the best David! Thank you for your donation to the channel
1 - do you know if he was a heavy smoker in real life? No you don't. 2 - puffing on that long cigarette holder as Penguin would not be enough to hurt him. 3 - he lived a long life and was at his best as Mickey in the first three Rocky movies.
He was a heavy smoker in real life and after that show yes. It was well documented
Smoking is also the most common cause of bladder cancer which my brother fought for 15 years before dying at age 65. I can’t imagine with all the information we have today that people still smoke.
You are correct! Bladder cancer is horrible and a common cause as you state. So sad to hear!
He definitely tops my list of favorite actors from the Twilight Zone to the Rocky series which I watched on the VCR back in the day a million times.
😮 This video! It got to me. 😢 You made a connection regarding the affects of smoking I would have never have known existed had I not heard it from you. Seriously, more people really need to watch this channel!
A lot of actors will go to the extreme for the role they are playing. Meredith was of no exception. His intent to “quack” to cover the cough he was developing naturally as a result of smoking was genius to character, but the frequency of the “quacking” as the show progressed, knowing what I know now, is very sad to hear.
Rick, this has been a solid year for the channel due to the strength of the videos you create, and in my opinion, this is your strongest to date! You put a lot into it, research and all, to drive the message home. It got to me, and I don’t even smoke! (Wonder if the second hand smoke on the set affected other actors?) Truly great work! 👏
I didn’t even add the fact that smoking contributes heavily to Alzheimer’s which is listed as his second cause of death. Truly sad looking back into these topics.
Another excellent video Rick. He was such a great actor. I especially liked him on the Twilight Zone.
FYI, I just found another Three's Company blooper. The episode where Larry take everyone out to the country to his boss's cabin. Jack is suffering from sleep deprivation and tries to escape from everyone. He tries to get into a hammock mounted between two trees and falls to the ground. When he falls the fake grass "carpet" wrinkles up under his feet. It's quite noticeable as he almost trips on the wrinkled up fake grass carpet. 😁
Sorry man, but you're really making a stretch on this one. Meredith was 89 years old!! It's not like he was cut down in the prime of life, how you're making it sound! He MIGHT'VE lasted a couple more years without the smoking, MAYBE. But to say "Batman took his life" is just too much.
The fact that there is an increased chance that both Alzheimer’s and skin cancer develop as a result of heavy smoking is telling. Who are we to understand the suffering and pain he went through from going through this? Alzheimer’s is a terrible disease and one which renders the individual unable to care for themselves and forget most of their memories and loved ones. I went through this with my grandfather. And to minimize of impact and hurtfulness of both diseases is truly naive and unsympathetic
He lived a long life and acted until the end!
Burgess Meredith died in 1997 at the age of 89, two years after wrapping up filming of Grumpier Old Men.
@ricknineg didn't they have fake cigarettes that look real onscreen even in the 60s?
@@stevebragg4256 Candy cigarettes? 😎
Everyone remembers Time Enough at Last, the Twilight episode where the city is destroyed and Meredith's character survives and finally has time to read. I felt sorry for him losing his Glasses until I realized his wife, co-workers and all these people were dead but he didn't shed one tear for anyone. The guy was a Jerk! Burgess Meredith was a good actor thought.
Now go figure, George Burns smoked cigars, most of his life and lived to 100 years old. When he died, it wasn’t because of smoking related illnesses.
Yes, everyone conveniently always forgets about him
Burgess Meredith was great not just as the Penguin. There is the Rocky Movies, but he was also great in the 4 Twilight Zone episodes he was in. They were 4 very different parts. The one everyone knows is Time Enough at Last where he plays the bookish teller who is the last survivor after the bomb goes off. There was Mr. Dingle the Strong where he plays a failed vacuum cleaner salesman who ends up being the guinea pig for a couple groups of aliens. There was the Obsolete Man where he plays a librarian in a dystopian world. And there was Printer's Devil where he plays a devil a "Mr. Smith" who saves a failing newspaper and creates chaos.
Yes, you really missed the ball on that SWING! and a MISS! POW! CRACK!
"Holy CORKED! bat, Batman"..😂
Suffering for your art.
I would also recommend his film Of Mice and Men with Lon Chaney, Jr. and Winterset as two must see early performances of Burgess Meredith. And Grumpy Old Men for one of his last.
Rick; your videos are always coming from a sincere and kind place from your heart! Burgess was my favourite villain and only he could play it well; I only wished he didn't light the cigarette! Regret that I cannot recall any favourite episode because all we fun to watch.
I know right? We try,y miss him and his work
Smoking took the life of my father. I understand addiction, but there’s enough help out there that no one needs stay hooked.
Thanks for this video. I love your work. Unfortunately, in this case, your information is simply incorrect. Burgess Meredith stated smoking LONG before the Batman series.
I have checked, and you can see Meredith smoking in his first silver screen movie Winterset, in 1936, and later in his post war film,The Story of G.I. Joe, in 1945, as well.
I have read, but cannot verify, that Meredith had given up smoking 20 years prior to taking on the role of The Penguin, but he would have had to started smoking again well before his Penguin role. Getty Images has a well known photo of Meredith smoking taken by Erika Stone circa 1950.
In regards to his appearances on The Twilight Zone: That show ended in 1964, and in the episode "Printer's Devil' in 1963, Meredith is clearly seen smoking.
As far as the coughing on Batman, that is true, but from what I have read, the reason was primarily because of the long cigarette older, which caused smoke to get caught in Meredith's throat.
I apologize for being one to correct you, but in this case, the Batman Show was clearly not the reason that Burgess Meredith started smoking.
He smoked before but quit for years. He was done. But then he had to forcefully start again for this show. That is the truth
@@rickninegI apologize if I in any way inferred that you were not telling the truth. Mr Meredith had absolutely stopped smoking sometime after 1963. As a matter of fact, in the movie "In Harm's Way" in 1965, there seems to be no scene where he smoked.
I researched further and found that Mr. Meredith told Mr. William V. Madison (a former producer at CBS News) the following story:
“I used to smoke, a couple of packs a day. But one night, I had a terrible nightmare. I was trapped in a burning building - somehow my cigarettes had caught fire - and I was crawling around and choking on the smoke. I woke up, and I was shaking. I lit a cigarette, but I couldn’t smoke it. It took me right back to my dream, and I started coughing - WOOOH HOOH HAW. I didn’t smoke again for years."
“Then I got the Penguin job, and I really needed the work. I showed up for the first shoot, and it turned out that the Penguin was supposed to smoke. He’s always got that cigarette holder, and it’s always lit. I didn’t think that would be a problem, but every time I brought the cigarette holder to my lips, I started to cough - WOOOH HOOH HAW. I thought, ‘I’d better get this under control, or I’m going to lose the job.’
“So every time I had to use the cigarette holder, I’d make this quacking noise - WAH WAH WAH - to cover my cough. Penguins don’t really quack, but nobody seemed to mind. The writers for the show loved it, but in the end it turned out to be my downfall, really, because they stopped writing jokes for me. They’d just write: ‘He quacks.’”
I simply felt that it seemed unfair to say that the Batman show was the sole reason that he smoked.
I hope that you will accept my apology if I in way insinuated you were being dishonest.
As I said previously, I love your work, and appreciate all that you do to keep these wonderful people alive in our hearts.
We just didn’t know how bad smoking can be for you
Hollywood has so many smokers and did long before the present day. If you watch Burgess Meredith in the movie "In Harm's Way" (1964), Burgess is surrounded by John Wayne, who was a chain smoker at the time, as well as Patrick O'Neal, Brandon DeWilde and others. The AMA has stated that secondhand smoke presents a risk almost as great as smoking.
Perhaps if he had puffed on the cigarette, it wouldn't have had such a dangerous affect. Both Groucho Marx and George Burns puffed cigars and lived a very long time. Sadly, Frank Gorshin was a heavy smoker and that had an adverse affect on his health. None the less I did enjoy the characters Mr. Meredith played.
Interesting. But Burgess Meredith lived until the age of 90, so...
In his case, it did not prematurely end his life. Yet it was the cause of his death
Burgess Meredith had such a bad case of emphysema late in his career, sound men had to cut his breathing out of the soundtrack. Insofar as smoking actually killing him good Lord, the man lived be 89 years old.
Smoking causes Alzheimer’s and he had a bad case of it. His quality of life was not good. Therefore yes, smoking killed him
Burgess Meredith is a great actor. He was one of my favorites in Batman. In Batman the villains were played by well known stars. Never heard of Adam West or Bruce Ward before this show. The actor who played Alfred was in lots of movies and I remember him from The Beverly Hillbillies.
It is not like the man died a just a few decades after smoking. The man was 89 when he died. Howza 'bout we just chock it up to old age and a very long life. We all die from something, even those who die from old age do not actually die from old age. Hell, if I could live to 89 and smoking would help me do so, I would start smoking tomorrow.
He had Alzheimer’s and skin cancer. This bodes not to well for his quality of life at 90. Alzheimer’s is a horrible disease I wouldn’t wish on anybody
@@rickninegI agree! My only point was that we all die of something. I would rather die of something at age 95 then at 65 regardless of what the demise comes from. But if what finally killed me like cancer due to smoking or Alzheimer's, even if my last few years sucked, I would go with my life starting to suck as to health issues at age 80 and die at 89 as opposed to my health life starting to suck at age 58 and then dying at the age of 65.
Burgess Meredith will always be the real Penguin to me.
A few days before he passed away in 1997 i sent Mr. Meredith a SASE for an autograph request & someone wrote back with a note saying Mr Meredith has Died 😢😢😢😢😢
Thanks for that Thought-Provoking Video!
I loved Burgess Merideth as the Penguin! I had no idea about the smoking issue. There were warnings about the link to cancer starting in 1964 but nobody took it seriously back then 😔
As far back as Ulysses S Grant, the medical profession knew smoking was harmful!
I thought Burgess Meridith used to smoke before his big role and started smoking to make the character better.
He did and quit for good. But he picked it up again for the show
Oh my! I wouldn't start smoking for any reason. Not even an iconic acting role. 😢
There are several types of skin cancer. You mentioned research showing increased squamous cell carcinoma related to smoking. But looking around a bit, it seems that the info on smoking and melanoma skin cancer is a bit mixed. Still, we certainly don’t lack for any reason to stay away from those nasty sticks.
This was very interesting, Rick. I loved him as the Penguin. He was my favorite Batman villain. Thank you, Burgess Meredith, for your dedication to the art of acting ❤ 🙏
He lived to be 89, which is a nice run for anybody. Yeah don't smoke, but as for it doing him in, very debatable.
Rick, wouldn't it be cool if for once we got a Batman movie that is loosely based on the 60's tv series down to the satire of the original? From 1989 to present all the Batman movies have pretty much stayed away from this idea? But why? I think it would be fun!🦇📺🎥🕵
He also did a great job as one of the stars of the TV series "Search".
Did they demand he smoked for the role , No.
He decided it needed a cigarette holder added to the penguin.
So what I heard here is that when he started smoking he was around 60 years old. A much older age than most other people start smoking. Still he lived to age 89 which is not too bad.
Considering he had Alzheimer’s, his quality of life was not well
He definitely was the best Penguin. And unfortunately back then he had no idea that smoking would cause the problems it did. I've heard of other actors who took up smoking for a character. Most of the time it was while protaying a real life person. It actually a little sad when people think they have to do a bad behavior for entertainment. I hope modern actors will learn from stories like this and say no to bad habits for a character.
I had an infected tooth socket which was not removed for months despite my going to the dentist six times before they pulled the tooth and as a result I wound up having COPD & asthma because it infected my sinuses and lungs so I know all too well what it means to have breathing issues.
I tried to smoke one cigarette when I was 10 and took one puff and threw up.
Never again and I was always very sensitive to cigarette smoke.
My Father smoked 5 packs a day of Lucky Strikes before he quit.
He developed the habit when he was in the Army for 17 years.
This is crazy to hear! I am happy to hear you are doing well.
@@ricknineg thanks for the kind wishes, but I also have the problem that I have two fractured kneecaps, and my right knees worse I fell on an escalator on a public transit system, and my medical provider would not pay for the repair. I’ve lost a lot of weight I am better and I have bronchitis cause I’m to grass, so I’m getting slowly better I need to lose about 10 more pounds and my doctor can operate my right knee and then when that is healed he replaced my left knee so it is not been a fun time but least I’m alive
Burgess was not a smoker before he took the role of Penguin and he got horribly ill every time he smoked.
He complained bitterly on how sick he got every time he had to light up and he hated it and the quack was due to his smoking.
I can imitate the Penguins quack very well when I do impressions on my channel.
I am so sorry he got addicted.
My Father smoked Lucky Strikes for years and developed emphysema and had to walk with a breathing cart and he had great trouble breathing for years.
Actually he had been a smoker in his past but had quit smoking
He was the penguin nailed that role he was made for the part Rick can't believe they killed him
Smoking got Lucy and Vivian too..how many more ????
Frank Gorshin, who was the Riddler on Batman 1966 was also a heavy smoker. He reportedly smoked up to five packs of cigarettes a day and ultimately, succumbed to lung cancer, emphysema, and pneumonia at the age of 72.
Desi as well.
The Late Burgees Meredith (1907 - 1997) did an Incredible Performance as Oswald Cobbelpot/The Penguin in The Batman 1966 Series. Burgees Meredith is My Second Favorite Version of The Penguin only outranked by Robin Lord Taylor’s Version of The Penguin from Gotham.
Burgees is the penguin he is the version every other version wishes thry were
Awesome video
Thanks for video batman one my favorite shows
Mine too!
The Penguin was my favorite villain.
I appreciate every video you give us! ❤
Back then anyone could buy a pack of smokes from a vending machine for 65 cents. He didn't have to and to a kiddo (me) the holder I noticed but so many smoked back then that didn't matter. The other day I watched an episode of Perry Mason, everyone but Della smoked and it shortened everyone's lives, maybe even Della even though she lived well beyond the rest of the cast. Good vid.
Very sad that he was willing to compromise his health. I think too many actors are willing to do that (smoke, gain/lose too much weight, etc, etc) to get into a role. He was a great actor though.
It's too bad they didn't have like a prop cigarette back then that was safe like they do now. A lot of people did smoke back then and do a good smoke pretty much anywhere.
He didn't have to smoke on Batman. That was his choice. He was a great actor.
He didnt have to do anything on Batman or take the role. The work he did for the show killed him. There you go
Burgess Meredith was great as the Penguin. I saw him in a war movie with John Wayne and Kirk Douglas called, "In Harms way" A great war movie in my opinion. They were friends on and off the screen. Kirk and John had a few arguments though. But they respected each other. Burgess also narrorated Twilight Zone the movie too. His last movie i think is "Grumpier Old Men." He played a father/Grandpa to one of characters on there. Sad and strange. Burgess Meredith passed away either during or after he made this movie. They worked it in the story too. Thanks, Rick. Good video. Take care.
My wife is from the grass valley/Nevada county area. Burgess Meredith lived there and was known as not so nice of a person as he was on screen. Another actor who also fits that bill as not a nice person in person is Clint Eastwood. My personal experience with meeting Butch Patrick, who played Eddie Munster is also, that type of person with a not so nice attitude towards the public.
He was a great The Penguin. I did know that.
Yul Brynner was another famous actor who died of lung cancer due to his heavy smoking, he even made an anti-smoking commercial before he died warning people of the nasty habit.
Yul originally was supposed to play King Tut in Batman. He didn't get the part because he smoked too much. That Batman set had a no smoking policy rule
Penguin crewman called Sparrow has also been on Hogans Heroes on the Season 1 Episode 27 The Safecracker Suite.
I remember seeing the character who played Sparrow in this clip in a LOT of old shows. Very distinctive mug! 😄
Rick, do you know the Batman episode that start off with Boston as the Gotham City skyline?
I did not. Now I do and I appreciate it. I learn so much from my viewers, I really do and I love it!
@@ricknineg
I didn't ask if you know that one does. I'm asking if you know *which* one does.
That's your assignment. Get back to me with the answer.
Good one.
Thank you! Cheers!
He was probably glad there was no season 4...
No, you have gotten this backwards. I knew Burgess Meredeth and he told me that he smoked for years. But he quit before the Batman show. When he got the part, they asked him to smoke again as part of the Penguin. He hesitated because he did not want to tempt himself and his system again. That is when he developed the Quack to blow out the smoke.
The portrayal of the Penguin did not start his addiction again. If he died of Melanoma (which can be caused by sun exposure or possibly by his previous years of smoking, I would suspect these possible reasons. Suntanning was part and parcel of the Hollywood reality for years before Medical Science found the connection. Sunscreen is only a recent development.
But I certainly would not make the unfounded giant leap to the conclusion that his use of the smoke as a prop in Batman caused him to a relapse. Or the erroneous assertion that he resumed smoking after Batman.
Great video. I remember penguins at the zoo and they do quack/honk.
They honk?
Always been a big fan, and not just because we share the same last name! He was a heavy smoker for years then quit. Guess it wasn't hard to get hooked again.
Great last name! 🐧
I had heard that he had quit smoking before Batman, and the producers asked him to smoke?!
He had quit for years before Batman. Completely quit. Then he was highly persuaded (forced to) to play Batman. Yes
I loved the Batman '66
Burgess Meredyth smoked all his life. He smoked in many movies pre-Batman . All his dialog had to be edited to blank his breathing problems. Been a lifelong fan.
He had stopped smoking prior to getting that Batman role
He never drops his ashes was his smokes just props or incense sticks😮
😂
Kind of a stretch as far as I am concerned. I smoked for 50 years, quit when I became disabled 25 years ago, my doctors tell me that my lungs appear to have rejuvenated to those of a non smoker and I was doing 3 packs of Kools a day when I was on the PD. That said, I did have one kidney removed because of cancer, my wife died of Stomach cancer, both my sisters died of cancer, one who never quit smoking died of lung cancer at age 73, the other who did quit some 10 years before her death died of brain cancer at age 73. I will be 73 in 2 months, kind of makes me wonder, but then mom just died on New Years day at age 97 smoked when I was a kid, she died of old age and an upper respiratory infection.
3 packs of Kools a day! And your lungs recovered. Wow!
Wow - I knew he was a non-smoker at the start of Batman's filming, but didn't know he became addicted to it. His Penguin constantly smoking made me not like the actor. I assumed he would quit after series was cancelled.
I know what you mean. Very sad
I detect a timeline issue here. If Burgess started smoking on the Batman set, (1966-68) then how did that result in him smoking on the Twilight Zone? (1959-64)
So he had smoked before but stopped. He didn’t want to smoke anymore. Yet, he began again for the show after a period of not and it caused him coughing fits.
No Mr T pushed him and his weak heart ♥ gave out.
Remember he said "he'll knock you till tomorrow rock".
Hey, private, why are you here with us smokers? You don't smoke.
I'm addicted to second hand smoke, sergeant.
He was the best penguin !
Considering that the original comic book character was inspired by a cigarette ad this sadly makes sense. I guess those herbal nicotine free cigarettes some non smoking actors have used weren't around yet for him to substitute.
Burgess Merideth also had a Cameo in The Monkees Tv Show In One Episode.
He did and was dressed as the penguin and Julie newmar also did an episode of the monkees as April the woman who worked at the laundromat the guys went to that they all fell in love with
Squamous cell carcinoma and melanoma are two completely different cancers, squamous cell is very survivable.
RIP Burgess Meredith ❤❤❤❤❤
In 1976 he won an Oscar award for the movie Rocky,maybe you heard of it
Ok, im going to age myself.
Back in the days, of smoking and drinking on tv, variety shows used to do their own ads, for their sponsors.
We had dancing packs of cigarettes, with great legs, but one brand advertised a smoking penguin!!
KOOL Cigarettes (watch the marx bros love happy movie, where the crooks go chasing Harpo marx on the roof of buildings! near the end.
Advertisers had HUGE BILBOARDS on building rooftops.
Well in one part of the chase scene Harpo hangs on to the arm of the penguin, as it goes up.
Harpo gets drawn into the hole that the smoking penguin, smoke comes out!
So why a smoking penguin advertising? Its the menthol that makes the cigarettes a cool smoke.
Hence, the penguin smoking character in batman!
Thats my theory. 😊
Hi Rick, I'm Guillermo from Argentina, I'm a big fan of Burgess Meredith, he's my favorite Hollywood actor, for me he's the only penguin, could you make a video about Phil Leeds, he's another actor that I really liked, unfortunately he's not known here. , but I have seen many performances of him and they made me laugh, he was a good comedian, he was never a main actor, I created a Facebook fanpage in tribute to Phil, greetings from Buenos Aires, Argentina
At the time of Batman there were still commercials for cigarettes still on the air!!
Yes there were
He was rocky movies to
That’s mentioned in the video
There's a BIG difference between " puffing " on a cigarette and inhaling smoke
Considering he was coughing constantly during filming….he was smoking
Sorry but here's an interview with Burgess Meredith. One funny item involved the fact I had already given up smoking for twenty to twenty-five years - but I had to smoke all the time as the Penguin. The smoke would get caught in my throat. Since I didn't want to constantly ruin takes by coughing out loud - which the smoke forced me to do - I developed the Penguin's 'quack, quack' to cover it.
You just stated what I said in the video
Hey Rick quick smoking before 20 years before played Penguin okay when he was playing penguin 😊
He lived long enough to be the dad of grumpy old men.
But to have Alzheimer’s and skin cancer is truly heart wrenching. So sad he went through these diseases which significantly decrease the quality of life
He was also in the sequel and was one of the highlights of the movies cause he played the dirty old man stereotype so well
I remember in an interview he cursed the creator of the show for getting him addicted to smoking 🚬.
Smartest and Best villian in this series always liked penguin the best.
He was great as penguin but like him in anything he did great actor
He also provided a voice for a villain in the GI Joe animated movie I think it was Galapagos I might have spelled it wrong that was probably his last role I don't remember when he died I heard rumors and talk that he started smoking on Batman 66 but wouldn't calling Batman 66 the cause of his death be dishonoring his legacy and the legacy of Batman that he possibly help save remember Detective Comics especially the Batman series is going through a rough transition if I remember my history correctly it was nearly canceled the Batman 66 live action series saved it don't misinterpret what I'm texting I understand you want to pay tribute but to say Batman 66 is the cause of his death forgiven me ain't that going a little far I'm not trying to correct you and if it is seeming like I am I am sorry I understand you have your own opinion
We are definitely all entitled to our opinions