O.P. Heggie

Heggie's was the performance parodied by Gene Hackman in Mel Brooks's 'Young Frankenstein' (1974).

He was an actor, known for The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), The Letter (1929) and The Count of Monte Cristo (1934). He was married to Lilian Clara Rogers.

In 1916 Heggie appeared on Broadway in a drama called Justice, which marked a turning point in the career of the leading man, 34 year-old John Barrymore. In the final scene of the play, Barrymore lies dead on the stage while Heggie speaks a eulogy over him. After the play had been running a while, the supposedly dead Barrymore would attempt to make Heggie laugh during his speech by mumbling obscenities, pretending to kill cockroaches, or stifling sneezes. Finally Heggie walked out, forcing an understudy to take his part for three performances. After Barrymore promised to behave himself and gave him a bottle of champagne as a peace offering, Heggie returned to the play.

Heggie was born in Angaston, in South Australia's Barossa Valley, the son of a sheep farmer. He was educated at Whinham College and the Adelaide Conservatoire of Music and started working life as a bank clerk. He began acting on stage at the Theatre Royal in Adelaide in 1899. He performed in Australia and New Zealand, before moving to Britain and, from there, to America. There, he first acted on Broadway in 1907 and entered films with MGM in 1928.

O. P. Heggie was born on September 17, 1877 in Angaston, South Australia, Australia as Oliver Peters Heggie.