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Mar 4, 2022 · Get to know all of the details about his ex-wife, Edna Louise Broedt. For six seasons, William Frawley portrayed Fred Mertz on I Love Lucy, one of the most popular sitcoms in television history ...
- The Early Years
- Finding Fame
- Bad Reputation
- I Love Lucy
- My Three Sons
- The End
The man who achieved television immortality as Fred Mertz on I Love Lucywas born in Burlington, Iowa, on February 26, 1887. As a young boy, William Clement Frawley sang in the choir at St. Paul's Catholic Church and played at the Burlington Opera House. His first job was as a stenographer for the Union Pacific Railroad; he later found employment as...
Bitten by the show biz bug, he soon began performing a vaudeville act with his brother Paul. In 1914, he married Edna Louise Broedt (his only marriage) and the two performed in vaudeville together in a light comedy act as "Frawley and Louise," touring the Orpheum and the Keith circuits until their divorce in 1927. Possessing a deep, bass singing vo...
Although a highly successful "working actor" in films, Frawley's movie career had begun to slow down by 1951. This seems to have two reasons, one of which was his legendary crabby, gruff, and misanthropic personality. A notorious curmudgeon, by 1951 Frawley discovered that fewer and fewer actors, directors, and producers were willing to put up with...
Interestingly (and fortunately), this intense hatred seemed to actually help their performances and their back-and-forth barbs and insults played even funnier because of it. (After Lucy ended its original run, a spin-off called Fred and Ethelwas discussed. Frawley was willing to put aside his feelings toward Vance and saw the financial possibilitie...
By the mid-1960s, though, alcohol and old age finally took their toll, and Frawley began forgetting his lines. One muffed take would follow another, and he'd try to cover his embarrassment by bellowing insults like, "Who writes this crap, anyway?" If the company didn't get his scenes filmed in the mornings, Frawley would sometimes nod off in the mi...
William Frawley's last ever TV appearance was with his former co-star Lucille Ball on a 1965 episode of The Lucy Showtitled "The Traveller." In the brief cameo, as Frawley walks by, Lucy turns her head, sees him, and remarks, "He reminds me of someone I used to know." On March 3, 1966, 79-year-old William Frawley died of a heart attack while walkin...
Mar 8, 2024 · William Frawley with ex-wife Edna Louise Broedt, 1917 Courtesy Geoffrey Mark While working in vaudeville, Frawley met and married the woman who would end up being his only wife: Edna Louise Bloedt. They decided to create what was described as a “light comedy, with singing, dancing and patter,” under the name Frawley and Louise, which they ...
- Ed Gross
Edna Louise Broedt. . . ( m. 1914; div. 1927) . William Clement Frawley (February 26, 1887 – March 3, 1966) was an American Vaudevillian and actor best known for playing landlord Fred Mertz in the sitcom I Love Lucy. Frawley also played "Bub" O'Casey during the first five seasons of the sitcom My Three Sons and the political advisor to the ...
Jun 25, 2019 · In 1914, he married the love of his life, Edna Louise Broedt, whom he performed comedic stints with. Unfortunately, their marriage ended in divorce in 1927, leaving him single for the rest of his life.
Feb 26, 2019 · He was an Iowa native, born William Clement Frawley on 26 February 1887, to Michael A. Frawley and the former Mary E. Brady. 2 At the time of his birth, the Frawleys had lived in the Hawkeye State for more than three decades. Among the inhabitants of Burlington, Des Moines County, Iowa, at the time of the 1860 federal census was Irish-born ...
William Frawley married Edna Louise Broedt in 1914 and the couple developed their vaudeville act ‘Frawley and Louise’. They separated in 1921, but continued working on their act until their divorce in 1927.
