Ernest Truex began his seven-decade career on the Elitch Theatre stage while still a student at Denver’s East High School, where his classmates included fellow future stars Douglas Fairbanks and Harold Lloyd. Born in 1889 (some sources say Kansas City, others Rich Hill, Missouri), Truex had already been performing since early childhood — he made his stage debut at age five and toured Missouri at nine as “The Child Wonder in Scenes from Shakespeare.” By the time he reached Denver as a young man, he joined the ranks of Elitch’s supporting players (when he was just 13), appearing in productions across the 1903 through 1906 seasons (and possibly 1907), taking on everything from children’s roles to walk-on parts as “pages to executioners.”
Among his notable Elitch appearances were When Knighthood Was in Flower opposite Maude Fealy, and Tess of the d’Urbervilles, which featured Tyrone Power Sr. and a young Cecil B. DeMille in the supporting cast. In 1906, he shared the stage with fellow young Colorado natives Douglas Fairbanks and Spring Byington. This early Elitch training gave Truex a foundation he would carry for the rest of his life, on stages, screens, and television sets across the country.
Truex made his Broadway debut in 1908’s Wildfire and went on to become one of the stage’s most reliable leading comic actors, distinguished by his diminutive stature (5’3″) and a gift for playing “milquetoast” characters — anxious, henpecked, mild-mannered men who nonetheless won over critics and audiences alike. He starred in the title role of the 1915 musical Very Good Eddie, led the ill-fated 1923 Broadway premiere of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Vegetable, and spent several years performing in London’s West End in the late 1920s. New York Times critic Brooks Atkinson singled out his performance in George Washington Slept Here as “his best performance as the city man afflicted with rural rhapsody.”
Truex transitioned into film in 1913 opposite Mary Pickford in A Good Little Devil, though he didn’t work in movies full-time for another two decades. He appeared in dozens of films through the 1930s and 40s, including His Girl Friday, The Adventures of Marco Polo opposite Gary Cooper, and Bachelor Mother. In his later years, Truex became a familiar face on television, playing elderly characters on shows like Mister Peepers, Hazel, and Father Knows Best, and delivering a memorable, quietly menacing turn as the mysterious peddler Pedott in the classic 1959 Twilight Zone episode “What You Need.” He continued acting into his late 70s, with his final Broadway appearance coming in 1965’s A Very Rich Woman. Truex died of a heart attack in 1973 at his home in Fallbrook, California, at the age of 83, survived by his third wife, actress Sylvia Field, also an Elitch Alum!
Seasons at the Theatre
Productions/Roles:
- When Knighthood Was in Flower — supporting cast, alongside Maude Fealy
- Tess of the d’Urbervilles — supporting cast, alongside Tyrone Power Sr. and a young Cecil B. DeMille
- 1906 season productions alongside fellow young Colorado natives Douglas Fairbanks and Spring Byington
- Various uncredited walk-on and supporting roles, including children’s parts and character bits ranging “from pages to executioners”
Notable Roles, Awards, and Other Work:
- Stage: Broadway debut in Wildfire (1908); title role in Very Good Eddie (1915); lead in the 1923 Broadway premiere of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Vegetable; created the role of Bill Paradene in Good Morning, Bill (1927), adapted by P.G. Wodehouse; praised by New York Times critic Brooks Atkinson for George Washington Slept Here; final Broadway role in A Very Rich Woman (1965)
- West End: Performed in London for several seasons in the late 1920s, including The Fall Guy at the Apollo Theatre and Good Morning, Bill at the Duke of York’s Theatre
- Film: Film debut in A Good Little Devil (1913) opposite Mary Pickford; other notable roles include His Girl Friday (1940), The Adventures of Marco Polo (1938) opposite Gary Cooper, Bachelor Mother (1939), and Whistling in the Dark (1933)
- Television: Starred as the mysterious peddler Pedott in the classic Twilight Zone episode “What You Need” (1959); starred in Jamie (1953–54) opposite young Brandon deWilde; starred in The Ann Sothern Show (1958–59); recurring roles on Mister Peepers, Hazel, Father Knows Best, and Pete and Gladys; created and starred in the family sitcom The Truex Family (1949) with his real-life wife and sons
- His son, Philip Truex, also became an actor, notably originating the title role (the corpse) in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Trouble with Harry (1955); his son Barry Truex acted alongside him in the Twilight Zone episode “Kick the Can” (1962)
Elitch Theatre Connections:
- Appeared in Six Cylinder Love with Elitch Theatre alum, Florence Eldridge.
- Treux would star in the TV show, Jamie, with a later alum of the theatre, Brandon deWilde.
- In the TV series Hazel, starring alumna Shirley Booth, Season 5, Episode 1, titled “Who’s in Charge Here?“, Truex plays Robert Dunlap and alumna Sylvia Field played his wife.
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