Mystery of the silver screen’s first Santa Claus
Playing a festive folk legend on screen can be a boon or a bust for a veteran actor
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The festive season brings with it the inevitable rerun of classic Christmas films, some good, some tolerable and some terrible.
Most, naturally, feature an appearance by the big man in red. The chance to play such a famous character can be a great gift for an actor of advancing years, in some cases reviving a flagging career, but it can also have its drawbacks.
Some of the earliest Santas didn’t even get a screen credit, perhaps as a way of preserving the mystique.
The name of the actor who played the first screen Santa, in the 1897 the film Santa Claus Filling Stockings, will probably never be known.
One of the first to get a credit was John Bunny in the lost 1912 film Ida’s Christmas. Born in 1863, Bunny worked in theatre for decades before he made the transition to “flickers,” as movies were known then, in 1909.
Within a couple of years he was a big star around the world. In 1915 he quit films to tour with his own theatre show, but it was a flop. He begged the studios to take him back but became seriously ill and died later that year from a kidney ailment, aged 51. Bunny’s film legacy was soon all but forgotten and only a handful of his films survive.
English Shakespearean actor Basil Gill was the first actor to play Santa in a talkie. He was 49 when he appeared in the short film Santa Claus in 1926, notable because it used the De Forest Phonofilm system which was the first to synchronise the sound directly on to the film. Gill’s film career continued on until 1938 when he retired. He died in 1955, aged 78.
Perhaps the first actor to truly flesh out the character of Santa in a major motion picture was Ed Gwenn, who played Kris Kringle (Santa’s alias) in the 1947 classic Miracle On 34th Street.
The actor, born in England in 1877, was had the perfect mixture of gravitas He wasn’t first choice to play the role, it was offered to his cousin Cecil Kellaway who turned it down thinking audiences didn’t like “whimsy”.
Gwenn eagerly took his place, putting on more than 13kg to get the right amount of portliness.
It was worth the effort, the film won him an Oscar as best supporting actor (although he steals the film) and turned him from character actor into a star.
He continued acting well into his 70s and died in 1959.
Broadway veteran John Call only worked sporadically in film, but accepted a role in the almost deliberately awful film Santa Claus Conquers The Martians (1964).
Call was 56 when he made the film, and had a long and distinguished stage career behind him.
Not out to win any awards, Call chuckles and ho, ho, hos his way through most of the script like it’s a pantomime, but generally comes across as warm, grandfatherly and wise, just as Santa should. He would only make one more film.
In the 80s when Hollywood bosses wanted to give the blockbuster treatment to the Santa story in Santa Clause: The Movie they chose veteran actor David Huddlestone.
Born in Virginia in the US in 1930, he had begun his acting career in theatre in the 50s but moved into film and television in the 60s.
He was in his 50s when he was cast as Santa, although others had been considered for the role, including Brian Dennehy and Carol O’Connor.
Although Huddlestone is warm and likeable in the role, the film was generally hated by critics and grossed just $US23 million, less than half of its $US50 million budget.
It didn’t harm Huddlestone’s career though. Better known for TV performances like Grandpa in The Wonder Years he also gained acclaim as the gruff Lebowski in the The Big Lebowski.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
The Santa Claus (1994): Tim Allen’s most successful film role to date (apart from being the voice of Buzz Lightyear in the Toy Story films). He plays Scott Calvin, a man who becomes Santa after agreeing to fill in for the Santa he has accidentally fatally injured. He has reprised the role in two more films.
Miracle On 34th Street (1994): British veteran actor Richard Attenborough’s career never flagged, although he had been mostly producing and directing in the 80s before starring in Jurassic Park in 1993, but was the perfect choice to play Santa in the remake of this classic.
Originally published as Mystery of the silver screen’s first Santa Claus
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