
Al Shean
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
1868-05-12
Day of Death
1949-08-12 (81 years old)
Place of Birth
Dornum, Germany
Al Shean
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.[6] 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.
Known For
Acting
(1976)
That's Entertainment, Part II
as (archive footage)
(1944)
Atlantic City
as Al Shean
(1943)
Hitler's Madman
as Father Cemlanek
(1943)
Crime Doctor
as Dave, a Convict
(1942)
The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady
as Old Dann
(1941)
Ziegfeld Girl
as Al
(1940)
The Blue Bird
as Grandpa Tyl
(1940)
Friendly Neighbors
as Doc
(1939)
Broadway Serenade
as Herman
(1939)
Joe and Ethel Turp Call on the President
as Father Reicher
(1938)
Too Hot to Handle
as Gumpert
(1938)
The Great Waltz
as Cellist
(1937)
Live, Love and Learn
as Professor Fraum
(1937)
The Road Back
as Markheim
(1937)
Tim Tyler's Luck
as Professor Tyler
(1937)
It Could Happen to You
as Max 'Pa' Barrett
(1936)
San Francisco
as Professor
(1936)
Hitch Hike To Heaven
as Herman Blatz
(1936)
At Sea Ashore
as Adolph Rumplemeyer
(1935)
It's in the Air
as Mr. Johnson
(1935)
Traveling Saleslady
as Schmidt
(1935)
Page Miss Glory
as Mr. Hamburgher
(1935)
Sweet Music
as Sigmund Selzer
(1935)
Symphony of Living
as Adolph Greig
(1934)
Music in the Air
as Dr. Walter Lessing
(1931)
Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Shean
as Self
(1930)
Chills and Fever
as Betty's Uncle Emil
Crew
(1941)
Ziegfeld Girl
Songs