, 6542 Hollywood Blvd. Woolley began directing on
Broadway in 1929 with
Fifty Million Frenchmen, and began acting there in 1936 after leaving his academic career. In 1939 he starred in the
Kaufman and
Hart comedy
The Man Who Came to Dinner for 783 performances. It was for this well-reviewed role he was typecast as the wasp-tongued, supercilious sophisticate. He played himself in
Warner Bros.' fictionalized film biography of Cole Porter,
Night and Day (1946), and the role of Professor Wutheridge in ''
The Bishop's Wife (1947). In the comedy As Young as You Feel'' (1951), he played a printer who, fired routinely from his job at the age of 65, poses as an executive to get his job back. He was also a frequent radio guest performer, first appearing in the medium as a foil to
Al Jolson. Woolley became a familiar guest on such shows as
The Fred Allen Show, ''
Duffy's Tavern, The Big Show, The Chase and Sanborn Hour with Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, and others. In 1950, Woolley landed the starring role in the NBC series The Magnificent Montague''. He played a former Shakespearean actor whose long fall onto hard times forced him to swallow his pride and take a role on daily network radio, becoming an unlikely star while sparring with his wife, Lily (
Anne Seymour), and his wise-cracking maid, Agnes (
Pert Kelton). The show lasted from November 1950 through September 1951. File:Monty Woolley handprintsignature at Graumans Chinese Theatre.jpg|thumb|right|225px|alt=Monty Woolley's concrete tile showing, from the top, the words "My beard" adjoining his beard imprint, the inscription "To Sid [Grauman] Wish you were here", his signature, the date "5-28-43", and his handprints |Hand and beard print at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Woolley first appeared on television in cameos, then in his own dramatic play series
On Stage with Monty Woolley. He starred in a
CBS TV adaptation of
The Man Who Came to Dinner in 1954, and appeared in other televised dramas in the series
Best of Broadway. After completing his last film,
Kismet (1955), he returned to radio for about a year, after which he was forced to retire due to ill health. His hands and beard were impressed in the pavement of
Grauman's Chinese Theatre in 1943. Woolley received a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960, officially listed in the "Motion Picture" category, though his star bears the television emblem. The error of the television emblem was evident, considering his only TV efforts were his classic role as Sheridan Whiteside in a 1954 TV adaptation of
The Man Who Came to Dinner, and another small role in an episode of a short-lived series called
Five Fingers in 1959. ==Personal life==