Biography
J. Carrol Naish was a character actor who launched his prolific film career on the cusp of the transition from silent films to talkies (between 1926 and 1930), eventually appearing in nearly 200 films total. The Irish-descended New Yorker became legendary for mastering a potpourri of foreign accents, yet he ironicaly played virtually every ethnicity except Irish over the course of his career. After making scores of appearances--including roles as numerous villains and gangsters, among other types--throughout the '30s and early '40s, Naish first earned critical acclaim in 1943, playing Giuseppe, the Italian prisoner in the Humphrey Bogart war drama "Sahara," for which Naish received a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination. He followed up that accolade in 1945 with another Oscar nomination (and a Golden Globe win) for his key, non-ethnic supporting role in "A Medal for Benny," a drama which starred Dorothy Lamour. In the '50s, Naish went from straight western roles, such as a Union lieutenant general in the John Ford classic "Rio Grande" (starring John Wayne) to playing the title character in "Sitting Bull," a role which was more vintage Naish. Meanwhile, he gained greater fame that same decade on television, where he first appeared in 1952 as the star of the two-episode comedy "Life with Luigi," and later, in his highest profile TV role, playing the title character of the syndicated mystery "The New Adventures of Charlie Chan," where he appeared for 39-episodes in 1957. Naish passed away from emphysema at the age of 77.
