Burgess Meredith
(Mickey Goldmill)

A veteran of stage and film, Burgess Meredith's numerous accomplishments in dramatic roles will, nevertheless, probably be forever overshadowed by his portrayal of The Penguin on the '60s Batman television series. His character was so popular a villain that the producers always had a Penguin script ready in case Meredith would like to appear as a guest star. Meredith made his film debut in Maxwell Anderson's Winterset (1936), re-creating his own acclaimed stage performance, and followed with numerous big-screen projects during the '40s. His film roles thinned out in the '50s after he was labeled an unfriendly witness during the McCarthy era, but he continued to do stage work (winning a Tony® for directing The Thurber Carnival in 1960). He returned to film work in Otto Preminger's Advise and Consent (1962) and The Cardinal (1963). He snared Best Supporting Actor Oscar® nominations for The Day of the Locust (1975) and for his most popular latter-day characterization, that of trainer Mickey Goldmill in Rocky (1976), a role he repeated in the 1979 and 1982 sequels. He appeared in scores of television shows, including some of the most memorable episodes of The Twilight Zone (1959-65), and won an Emmy for his performance as noted attorney Joseph Welch in Tail Gunner Joe (1977). Meredith also lent his distinctive voice to innumerable commercials, documentaries and feature films. He published his autobiography, So Far, So Good, in 1994. He was an ardent environmentalist who believed pollution to be one of the greatest tragedies of our time and an opponent of the Vietnam War. Meredith died on September 9, 1997, after suffering from a variety of ailments. His career spanned nearly three-quarters of the 20th century.