Biography
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Abraham Elieser Adolph Schönberg (12 May 1868 – 12 August 1949), known as Al Shean, was a comedian and vaudeville performer. Other sources give his birth name variously as Adolf Schönberg, Albert Schönberg, or Alfred Schönberg. He is most remembered for being half of the vaudeville team Gallagher and Shean, and as the uncle of the Marx Brothers.
Shean was born in Dornum, Germany, on 12 May 1868, the son of Fanny and Levi or Louis Schoenberg. His father was a magician. His sister, Minnie, married Sam "Frenchie" Marx; their children would become the Marx Brothers.
After making a name for himself in vaudeville, Shean teamed up with Edward Gallagher to create the act Gallagher and Shean in the 1920s. While the act was successful, the men apparently did not like each other much. After their act's final Ziegfeld Follies pairing, Shean went on to perform solo in eight Broadway shows, even playing the title character in Father Malachy's Miracle.
Shean had some solo film roles: as the piano player, known as "The Professor" in San Francisco (1936), as a priest in Hitler's Madman (1943), as grandfather in The Blue Bird (1940), and in some three dozen other films. He and Gallagher also made an early sound film at the Theodore Case studio in Auburn, New York, in 1925.
He died on 12 August 1949.
Filmography
all 30
Movies 30
self 1
Writer 1
That's Entertainment, Part II (1976)
Atlantic City (1944)
Crime Doctor (1943)
Hitler's Madman (1943)
Ziegfeld Girl (1941)
The Blue Bird (1940)
Joe and Ethel Turp Call on the President (1939)
The Great Waltz (1938)
Tim Tyler's Luck (1937)
52nd Street (1937)
Live, Love and Learn (1937)
It Could Happen to You (1937)
The Road Back (1937)
San Francisco (1936)
At Sea Ashore (1936)
Hitch Hike To Heaven (1936)
It's in the Air (1935)
Page Miss Glory (1935)
Sweet Music (1935)
Symphony of Living (1935)
Music in the Air (1934)
Chills and Fever (1930)
Information
Known ForActing
GenderMale
Birthday1868-05-12
Deathday1949-08-12 (81 years old)
Birth PlaceDornum, Germany
SiblingsMinnie Marx
CitizenshipsUnited States of America, Germany
Also Known AsAbraham Elieser Adolph Schoenberg, Al Shearer
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