Truex, Ernest

The Oxford Companion to American Theatre | 2004 | 700+ words | Copyright

Truex, Ernest (1889–1973), character actor. The small, raspy‐voiced performer, whose stage career spanned over seventy years, was born in Rich Hill, Missouri, where he made his first appearance as a child prodigy in 1894. He played many years in stock before his New York debut in 1908. Truex's small stature and youthful looks were responsible for his being cast in young‐boy roles even when he was in his twenties. Among his notable performances were Charles MacLance in A Good Little Devil (1913), the boy detective Barney Cook in The Dummy (1914), the hen‐pecked Eddie in the musical Very Good Eddie (1915), the pressured husband Gilbert Sterling in Six‐Cylinder Love (1921), the duped Johnny Quinlan in The Fall Guy (1925), Kinesias in a 1930 revival of Lysistrata, the mystery writer Wallace Porter in Whistling in the Dark (1932), and the hapless home‐builder Newton Fuller in George Washington Slept Here (1940). Although Truex continued acting for another quarter‐century, including roles with the American Repertory Theatre in 1946, he never again was in a long‐run success.

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Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Truex, Ernest." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Truex, Ernest." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-TruexErnest.html

Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Truex, Ernest." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-TruexErnest.html

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