Alan Carney

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Alan Carney, born David John Boughal on December 22, 1909, in Manhattan, was an American actor and comedian. He was the youngest of four children of Irish immigrants Ellen and Edward Boughal. The family moved to Brooklyn by the late 1920s. After high school, he worked in his father’s print shop but dreamed of acting. He began by imitating customers, then performed in amateur nights and joined a vaudeville act in Yonkers. He changed his name to Alan Carney, partly from his mother’s maiden name, and toured with Marion Eddy.

Carney entered films in 1943 after being discovered by producer David Hempstead, which led to his breakthrough as Crunk, Cary Grant’s bodyguard, in Mr. Lucky. That same year he teamed with Wally Brown to form a comedy duo for RKO, becoming the studio’s answer to Abbott and Costello. They starred in several films, including Step Lively, and did a USO tour together.

After 1946, RKO ended their contract. Carney continued acting in films and on television, often working for Disney in the 1960s and 1970s. A notable later role was Mayor Dawgmeat in Li’l Abner (1959). On TV, he appeared in Have Gun Will Travel. He and Brown also appeared together in Who Was That Lady? (1960) and The Absent-Minded Professor (1961), though not in the same scenes. They were set to reunite for It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), but Brown died before filming.

Carney’s last film was Herbie Rides Again, released after his death in 1974. He married Elinor D. Miller in 1936; they divorced sometime between 1947 and 1953. He died on May 2, 1973, in Van Nuys, California, at age 63, from a heart attack brought on by the excitement of winning the daily double at Hollywood Park Racetrack.