Background
Edward Santree Brophy was born in New York City, American.
Edward Santree Brophy was born in New York City, American.
Small of build, balding, and raucous-voiced, he frequently portrayed dumb cops and gangsters, both serious and comic. He is best remembered for his roles in the Falcon film series, based on the suave detective of the same name, and for voicing Timothy Q. Mouse in Dumbo (1941). His screen debut was in Yes or Number (1920).
In 1928, with only a few minor film roles to his cr, Brophy was working as a junior production executive for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer when he was chosen to appear with Buster Keaton in one sequence of Keaton"s film The Cameraman.
As two clients in a bath-house, Brophy and Keaton attempt to undress and put on bathing suits while sharing a single tiny changing room. Each time Keaton attempts to hang his clothes on one hook, Brophy removes the clothes and hands them back to Keaton and gestures to the other hook.
He manhandles the smaller, more slender Keaton, at one point picking him up by the feet and dumping him out of his trousers. Appearing only in this one brief scene, Brophy attracted enough attention to receive more and better roles.
Though he did appear in a few theatre roles, most of his long and prolific career was in film and was spent at the studio"s of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Brophy made a lasting impression on Disney fans as the voice of Timothy the mouse in Dumbo, even though he was uncredited for this role.
He also made several appearances in the films of director John Ford. Edward Brophy died on May 27, 1960 during the production of Ford"s Two Rode Together. (Another source listed "widow, Ann" as a survivor).