Many people still love to watch the 1947 Christmas classic, Miracle on 34th Street, the saga of department store Santa Kris Kringle, portrayed by Edmund Gwenn.
Kris Kringle is undoubtedly Edmund Gwenn
‘s most well-known role. So well known was it that when Gwenn played the head of an adoption agency in “The Bigamist” (1953), there is a scene of a tour of celebrity homes in Hollywood. They show his home and reference the Santa Claus role. Gwenn’s career began in 1916 and lasted until 2 years before his death in 1959. In 1940, in “Pride and Prejudice,” he played Mr. Bennet. Greer Garson was Elizabeth Bennet and Laurence Olivier was Mr. D’Arcy. Gwenn also portrayed the Bishop in a 1952 production of “Les Miserables.”
Then 8-year old Natalie Wood would go on to lasting fame with roles in “Rebel Without a Cause” (1955), “West Side Story” (1961), “Gypsy” (1962), “Splendor in the Grass” (1961) and “Love with the Proper Stranger (1963).
The roles the other stars of “Miracle on 34th Street” were most known for:
Maureen O’Hara (Doris Walker): She was Esmeralda to Charles Laughton’s Quasimodo in “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” (1939). She was also the mother, Maggie McKendrick, in the original “Parent Trap” (1961).
John Payne (Fred Gailey): This was Payne’s most visible role. He also starred as gunfighter, Vint Bonner, in a TV Western series “The Restless Gun,” that ran once a week from 1957 to 1959.
Gene Lockhart (Judge Harper): Lockhart was a prolific character actor in both movies and TV, appearing in over 300 roles. He co-starred with Charles Boyer and Hedy Lamarr in Algiers (1938). Boyer was nominated for Best Actor and Lockhart was nominated for Best Supporting Actor. He was also the father of actress, June Lockhart (“Lassie” and “Lost in Space”).
Porter Hall (Granville Sawyer): He was Senator Monroe in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” (1939), and Mr. Belknap, an atheist in the Bing Crosby hit “Going My Way” (1944). Gene Lockhart also had a role in that one.
William Frawley (Charlie Halloran): His most-lasting fame would come in the 1950s, as the Ricardo’s crusty old skinflint landlord, Fred Mertz. Ironically, a limited edition Santa Doll
was made of Frawley for his portrayal of Santa Claus on the Lucy show. Frawley also was in 1951’s “Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man” and had an uncredited role in “Going My Way.”
Jerome Cowan (District Attorney Mara): He was Sam Spade’s partner, Miles Archer in “The Maltese Falcon” (1941). In “Song of Bernadette” (1943), he was Emperor Louis Napoleon III.
Philip Tonge (Julian Shellhammer): Tonge appeared as Otto in “Hans Christian Andersen” (1952); and as Inspector Hearne in “Witness for the Prosecution” (1957).
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