Biography
Already a character player in his 30s, American actor Robert Cornwaithe was frequently called upon to play scientific and learned types in such films as
War of the Worlds (1953) and The Forbin Project (1971). He was also busy on TV, portraying lawyers, officials and the like on such series as
The Andy Griffith Show,
Batman (in the "Archer" episode with
Art Carney),
Gidget,
Laverne and Shirley and
The Munsters. Cornwaithe earned his niche in the Science Fiction Film Hall of Fame for his performance in
The Thing (1951); grayed up, bearded, and looking suspiciously Russian, the actor played the foolhardy Professor Carrington, whose insipidly idealistic efforts to communicate with the extraterrestrial "Thing" nearly gets him killed. In honor of this performance, Robert Cornwaithe was cast as a similar well-meaning scientist in "Mant," the giant-insect film within a film in
Joe Dante's
Matinee (1993), wherein Cornwaithe shared screen time with two equally uncredited horror-film icons,
William Schallert and
Kevin McCarthy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide