The movie features a veritable who’s who of Hollywood comedy from the middle of the twentieth century, including major and minor appearances by Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Buddy Hackett, Ethel Merman, Mickey Rooney, Dick Shawn, Phil Silvers, Terry-Thomas, Spencer Tracy, Jonathan Winters, Eddie ‘Rochester’ Anderson, William Demarest, Jimmy Durante, Peter Falk, Jim Backus, Jack Benny, Buster Keaton, Stan Freburg, Carl Reiner, Joe E Brown, Don Knotts, Jerry Lewis, The Three Stooges and literally dozens of others.
Here’s a nearly-complete list of the actors appearing in It’s A Mad Mad Mad Mad World, and their roles in the film.
The Cast
Main characters
Edie Adams as Monica Crump, wife of Melville Crump
Milton Berle as edible seaweed company owner J. Russell Finch
Sid Caesar as dentist Melville Crump (a role originally meant for Ernie Kovacs before his death in a car accident)
Buddy Hackett as comedy writer Benjy Benjamin
Ethel Merman as Mrs. Marcus, mother-in-law of J. Russell Finch and a very cranky woman
Dorothy Provine as Emeline Marcus-Finch, wife of J. Russell Finch
Mickey Rooney as comedy writer Dingy ‘Ding’ Bell- Dick Shawn as Sylvester Marcus, Mrs. Marcus’ son and Emeline’s brother
Phil Silvers as out-of-work piano player Otto Meyer
Terry-Thomas as Lt. Col. J. Algernon Hawthorne
Spencer Tracy as Captain C. G. Culpeper
Jonathan Winters as truck driver Lennie Pike
Secondary characters
- Eddie ‘Rochester’ Anderson as a cab driver
Jim Backus as boozy airplane owner Tyler Fitzgerald- William Demarest as Santa Rosita’s chief of police (Aloysius)
- Norman Fell as a detective
- Don Knotts as the nervous motorist
- Jimmy Durante as Smiler Grogan
- Peter Falk as a cab driver
- Paul Ford as Col. Wilberforce
Cameo Appearances
- Jack Benny as a man who drives by in a Maxwell, offering to help
- Paul Birch as a policeman
- Ben Blue as the biplane pilot
- Joe E. Brown as the union official
- Alan Carney as a police sergeant
- Chick Chandler as detective outside of Chinese laundry
- Barrie Chase as Sylvester’s love interest
- John Clarke as helicopter pilot
- Stanley Clements as squad room detective
- Lloyd Corrigan as the mayor of Santa Rosita
- Howard Da Silva as airport official
- Andy Devine as the sheriff
- Selma Diamond (voice only) as Ginger Culpepper
- Minta Durfee as a crowd extra
- Roy Engel as patrolman
- James Flavin as patrolman
- Stan Freberg as a deputy sheriff
- Nicholas Georgiade as detective
- Louise Glenn (voice only) as Billie Sue Culpepper
- Leo Gorcey as a cab driver
- Don C. Harveyas policeman
- Sterling Holloway as the fire chief
- Edward Everett Horton as Mr. Dinckler, owner of the hardware store
- Allen Jenkins as police officer
- Marvin Kaplan as garage man Irwin
- Robert Karnes as Officer Simmy
- Buster Keaton as Jimmy the Crook (boatman)
- Tom Kennedy as the traffic cop
- Charles Lane as the airport manager
- Harry Lauter as police dispatcher
- Ben Lessy as George the steward
- Bobo Lewis as pilot’s wife
- Jerry Lewis as the man who runs over Culpepper’s hat
- Mike Mazurki as the miner bringing medicine to his wife
- Charles McGraw as Lt. Matthews
- Cliff Norton as a reporter
- Barbara Pepper as a crowd extra
- ZaSu Pitts as Gertie the switchboard operator
- Carl Reiner as the tower controller
- Madlyn Rhue as Secretary Schwartz
- Roy Roberts as a policeman
- Eddie Ryder as air traffic control tower staffer
- Arnold Stang as garage man Ray
- Nick Stewart as migrant truck driver
- The Three Stooges (Curly Joe, Moe, and Larry) as airport firemen
- Sammee Tong as a laundryman
- Doodles Weaver as a hardware store employee
- Jesse White as an air traffic controller
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