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American character actor and writer Wallace Shawn had one of those amusingly homely faces just made for show business, and through stage, TV and film, smartly managed to turn himself into a winner with his loser-type looks. Woody Allen's character in the movie Manhattan (1979) amusingly describes Wallace's character as "a homunculus," which is a pretty fair description of this predominantly bald, wan, pucker-mouthed, butterball-framed, lispy-toned gent. Wallace made his film debut playing Diane Keaton's ex-husband in that classic comedy, which was just the beginning. Born to privilege on November 12, 1943 in New York City, Wallace was the son of renown editor William Shawn of 'The New Yorker' fame and educated at both Harvard University, where he studied history, and Magdalen College, Oxford. Wallace initially taught English in India (on a Fulbright scholarship) and English, Latin and drama back in New York. An avid interest in writing, however, soon had him leaving his position and pursuing a stage career as both playwright and actor. During his distinguished career, Wallace turned out several plays. "Our Late Night", the first of his works to be performed, was awarded an Obie in 1975. "A Thought in Three Parts" (1976); "The Mandrake" (1977), in which he translated from the original Italian and made his acting debut; "Marie and Bruce" (1979); "Aunt Dan and Lemon" (1985); and "The Fever," in which received his second Obie Award for "Best New Play" in 1990-91, all followed. A popular support player in both comedy and drama whose kooks, eggheads and schmucks possessed both endearing and leering qualities, he earned his best notices partnered with theatre director/actor André Gregory in the unique Louis Malle-directed film My Dinner with André (1981). Shawn co-wrote the improvisatory, humanistic piece and his brother Allan Shawn was the composer. He and Gregory would reteam again superbly for Malle in another original concept film Vanya on 42nd Street (1994). Other film credits for Shawn as an actor include James Ivory's "The Bostonians"; Woody Allen's "Radio Days," "Shadows and Fog," "Curse of the Jade Scorprion" and "Melinda and Melinda"; Stephen Frears's "Prick Up Your Ears" and his "Saigon, Year of the Cat" (written by David Hare); Rob Reiner's "The Princess Bride"; Alan Rudolph's "The Moderns" and "Mrs. Parker And The Vicious Circle"; Marshall Brickmanës "Simon" and "Lovesick"; Neil Jordan's "We're No Angels"; and in addition lent his vocal talents to such animated films as "A Goofy Movie," "Toy Story," "A Jungle Book: Mowgi's Story" and "Toy Story 2." On TV, Shawn has managed a few recurring roles including the series based on the popular movie "Clueless," which had Shawn repeating his role as an owlish high school teacher, as well as "Murphy Brown," "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," "The Cosby Show" and "Taxi." |
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