Walter Pidgeon Biography

Fast Facts

• Served as president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1952 to 1957
• Enlisted in the 65th Battery, Royal Canadian Field Artillery during World War I, but an accident in which he was crushed between two gun carriages prevented him from entering combat
• Quote: "I didn't demand any vetoes over the films I didn't like, as they do today․ I asked nicely and discovered a secret that has stayed with me for my entire career -- that a request spoken softly usually brings results and demands rarely do․"
• His classically trained baritone voice made him a star of the talkies, and he made a number of musicals in the 1930s
• Often starred opposite actress Greer Garson in the 1940s and 1950s
• Enjoyed playing bridge and tending to his rose garden
• According to co-star Anne Francis, he would entertain the cast and crew working with him with a large collection of raunchy limericks that he had memorized