Art Carney

In playing the 72-year-old Harry Coombes in "Harry and Tonto" (1974), 55-year-old Art Carney convinced director Paul Mazursky by growing his own mustache, whitening his hair, wearing his own hearing aid and not trying to mask the limp he received from a World War II injury. James Cagney was originally offered the role of Harry. Other people considered for the role were Sir Laurence Olivier and Cary Grant before Carney was finally cast. Paul Mazursky's words to Carney were "You'll win an Oscar," which turned out to be prophetic.

Cast as an elderly man, Carney, born in 1918, was actually only 13 years older than the actors who played his sons, Larry Hagman and Phil Bruns, and 14 years older than Ellen Burstyn, who played his daughter. Thanks to the makeup of Emmy winning artist Bob O'Bradovich, Carney was effectively transformed into the elderly Harry.

At the time, Carney noted that prior to his work in "Harry and Tonto," he "never liked cats" but said he wound up getting along well with the cat in the film. Pieces of liver were placed around Carney in order to attract the cats that played Tonto into cuddling with Carney in pivotal scenes.

Carney beat out Dustin Hoffman (“Lenny”), Albert Finney (“Murder on the Orient Express”), Al Pacino (“The Godfather: Part II”) and Jack Nicholson (“Chinatown”) to win his Best Actor Oscar. Carney later said that when his name was announced at the Oscars, his first thought was to begin his speech with, "You are looking at an actor whose price has just doubled." While it no doubt would have gotten a big laugh, he ultimately decided to make the usual thank-yous instead.

The day after the ceremony, Carney received a phone call from his former "Honeymooners" co-star Jackie Gleason. "Hey, Carney, what'd you do last night?" Gleason asked. "I went to see 'Chinatown'," Carney replied.

Happy Birthday, Art Carney!