Biography
Fredd Wiener, a busy American character actor, was well-known for his many portrayals of Benjamin Franklin on stage and screen. Born in Akron, Ohio, Fredd briefly worked as a delivery boy at Warner Brothers before being drafted into military service during World War II. Serving as a 'special service' NCO, he was responsible for entertaining troops as a writer, producer, and actor in army productions. After being demobilized, he supported himself with a daytime job at J.C. Penney's in New York while attending evening drama classes at the American Theatre Wing alongside fellow students Lee Marvin, Martin Balsam, and James Whitmore.
Fredd’s career started slowly. In 1947, he lost the role of Og the leprechaun in "Finian's Rainbow" to David Wayne, who later won a Tony Award for it. Undeterred, Fredd secured his breakthrough role two years later as Brewster Ames II in the Broadway musical comedy "Texas, Li'l Darlin." He went on to appear again on Broadway in Elmer Rice's 1951 satirical play "Not for Children" and was part of the original London Theatre Royal cast of "South Pacific," playing the comic relief character Luther Billis.
From the early 1950s, Fredd became a familiar face on television, appearing in live anthology dramas and popular series across genres, including The Twilight Zone (1959) twice, Perry Mason (1957), 77 Sunset Strip (1958), Have Gun – Will Travel (1957), The Rockford Files (1974), and Simon & Simon (1981). He brought Benjamin Franklin to life in a memorable two-part episode of Bewitched (1964), performed in "Go Fly a Kite" at Aldo Tambellini's Gate Theatre in New York, and toured both nationally and internationally with his meticulously researched and highly successful one-man show, which he wrote, produced, and directed. This production was recorded as the audio program "Benjamin Franklin, Citizen" in 1976.
