Hume "Louis Howe" Cronyn

augusta · Post by **augusta** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 10:15 am

I had no idea that Hume Cronyn had died. Among many of his roles in his long career, he played Louis Howe in "Sunrise at Campobello".
He died on June 15, 2003 in Connecticut of prostate cancer at the age of 92.

He was born July 18, 1911 in London, Ontario. He was married to Jessica Tandy, who died a while before him, I think of liver cancer.

The movie "Sunrise at Campobello" is good. Tho I was disappointed that there was no one playing Grace Hartley Howe. Campobello is a Canadian island off of Maine that FDR and his family vacationed at often. The movie takes place in the summer of 1921, when FDR contracted polio. (Today they say he really might have had Guilliane-Barre Syndrome. My husband had that - and no lasting side effects, Thank God. But that makes sense. Back then, nobody could figure out why FDR got polio at that age. His symptoms very much match those of GBS. You get GBS right after you recover from another illness. My husband had bad bronchitis. FDR had something like typhoid fever before the "polio" struck him.)

Hume Cronyn was great as L. Howe. But not ugly enough. Howe was monster-ugly. I wouldn't say anything like that, but he joked about it as did those who were associated with him. They shoulda put makeup on Cronyn to make him look the part.

DJ · Post by DJ » Mon Jul 21, 2008 11:42 am

A,
Sorry about your husband, and thanks for the info on G-B Syndrome.
HC wrote an autobio; I read it when it was first published, about twelve or thirteen years ago. Well worth a look-see if you like him, and JT.
I like him in that vaudeville sketch, as Fanny Brice's husband, with the great William Frawley, in "Ziegfeld Follies" (released in 1946).
"The Sweepstakes Ticket."
Also funny, in that, "Number, Please," with Keenan Wynn. Plus, all the musical numbers are terrific. A must-see movie if you've missed it.

augusta · Post by **augusta** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 2:42 pm

Thanks for your kind words about my husband, DJ. He almost died, but he was cured just when he was starting to have paralysis. It was the Summer of Hell. He'd fall - once he broke his nose as he fell out of a wheel chair on our 'stamped' sidewalk. Blood all over the sidewalk and grass. Fell a second time in the kitchen - face down on the quarry tile floor; blood all over; this time he broke his nose. There is a sudden, sombre moment when you see your always-healthy spouse weaken so.

I'm glad to know that Hume Cronyn wrote an autobiography. I've never heard of the pieces you mentioned. I love Keenen Wynn. One role I especially remember and loved HC in was in that Hitchcock movie with Joseph Cotten, "Uncle Charlie" ... Something about a "Stranger"? Oh, I know that title. Anyway, he was good in that. I've probably seen Jessica Tandy in more things than him - oh, yes. "Driving Miss Daisy"! A real good Alfred Hitchcock half-hour show where she plays a crazy woman. I felt bad when she died. They had been married for sooo many years.

DJ · Post by DJ » Tue Jul 22, 2008 2:56 pm

Augusta,
Thankfully, your husband is better!
That HC and Joseph Cotten movie, directed by Hitchcock, is "Shadow of a Doubt," which I won't spoil for anyone who hasn't seen it.
Don't forget Jessica Tandy in "The Birds"!!!
"Ziegfeld Follies" was the most expensive musical MGM produced during the '40s, and it shows in some incredible production numbers.
As it's a series of vignettes, you can switch it on and off. Watch in bits. Great stars, and includes that Fred Astaire/Gene Kelly number.

augusta · Post by **augusta** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 4:27 pm

Yes! "Shadow of a Doubt"! That's it! Thank you, DJ! I can sleep tonight.

Oh, yes. "The Birds". How could I forget that?

Well, the next time "Ziegfield Follies" is on, I'll have to watch it. I never did.

Please donate to the Edwin Porter gravestone fund.