Born William Matthew Carney in Mount Vernon, New York, Art Carney has Irish roots on both sides of his family.

Best known as the character Ed Norton in the TV series The Honeymooners, the actor made his debut in the 1930s as an entertainer at the local Elks Club, and performed locally as an impressionist and tap dancer.

After graduating from high school Carney traveled for three years with Horace Heidt, who had a very popular orchestra and quiz show in the late 1930s. While with Heidt’s group, he landed a bit part in his first movie, Pot O’Gold, which starred James Stewart and Paulette Goddard.

He became active in radio in the 1940s, performing character and dialect parts on daytime serials, mysteries, spot recordings and children’s shows. He did a serious political program called Report to the Nation, for which he did the voices of prominent figures of the day, among them Churchill and Roosevelt. He worked with Morey Amsterdam on a radio show that evolved into a television show. Thus, the beginning of his television career.

Carney first became interested in The Honeymooners at the suggestion of writers Arne Rosen and Coleman Jacoby, who were then writing for Jackie Gleason on DuMont’s Cavalcade of Stars. He joined the show in 1950 and continued with it until it left New York

Much in demand as a serious actor, Carney appeared on Suspense, Studio One, Kraft Theater, Playhouse 90, Climax! and Best of Broadway. By the 1960s he began to appear infrequently on television, branching out to Broadway (The Odd Couple, The Rope Dancers and Take Her, She’s Mine) and film (A Guide for the Married Man, W.W. and the Dixie Dance Kings, Harry and Tonto, and The Late Show). Although he never took an acting lesson in his life, he won an Oscar for his starring role in Harry and Tonto. During the 80s, Carney appeared in several films and TV movies, including The Muppets Take Manhattan, A Doctor’s Story, Miracle of the Heart: A Boys Town Story and Where Pigeons Go to Die. He can also be seen in the 1993 film Last Action Hero.