Tala Meredith is the daughter of actor Burgess Meredith and his fourth wife, former Swedish ballerina Kaja Sundsten. She is a painter and lives in Borrego Springs, California. Alongside her brother Jonathan, a musician based in Nevada City, California, Tala was born into a long-lasting marriage of 46 years, which was filled with love and understanding. Her father and mother had a unique relationship of trust, with her mother providing a sense of stability and her father a passionate, creative spirit. Tala was by her father’s side when he passed away from complications of Alzheimer’s disease and melanoma in 1997.
Her Father, Burgess Meredith
In 1907, Meredith was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Ida Beth Burgess (1861–1933) and Dr William George Meredith (1861–1938), a Canadian physician of English descent. His mother came from a long line of Methodist revivalists, a religion he adhered to throughout his life. Meredith graduated from Hoosac School in 1926 and went on to Amherst College. After leaving Amherst, he became a reporter for the Stamford Advocate.
Meredith’s debut on Broadway was in 1930 and he became a star in 1935 playing Winterset. The Barretts of Wimpole Street earned him critical acclaim, which led to more prominent roles. He was nominated for a 1974 Tony Award when he took part in the staging of Ulysses in Nighttown and even won a shared Special Tony Award along with James Thurber for their co-authored A Thurber Carnival. Other Broadway roles he played included Van van Dorn in High Tor, Liliom in Liliom, Christy Mahon in The Playboy of the Western World and Adolphus Cusins from Major Barbara.
Burgess Meredith earned critical acclaim in 1939’s Of Mice and Men and 1945’s The Story of G.I. Joe. He was featured in Second Chorus, Diary of a Chambermaid and On Our Merry Way in the 1940s, although he was later blacklisted in the 1950s. He returned to acting in 1962 with a role in Advise and Consent, and went on to appear in The Last Chase, The Cardinal, In Harm’s Way, Stay Away Joe, Madame X, Clash of the Titans and Hurry Sundown as well as voicing G.I. Joe: The Movie. He also directed The Man on the Eiffel Tower and The Yin and the Yang of Mr Go, and posthumously won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for 1975’s The Day of the Locust.
Burgess Meredith starred in four different roles in the acclaimed anthology series The Twilight Zone and was well known for his portrayal of the Penguin in the television series Batman (1966–1968) and in the 1966 film based on the TV series. He won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy or Drama Special for his role as crusading lawyer Joseph Welch in the 1977 television film Tail Gunner Joe. He also guest starred in various other television programs, including The Eleventh Hour and westerns such as Rawhide, The Virginian, and Bonanza. Meredith also narrated The Chaplin Puzzle, a television documentary on Charles Chaplin, in 1992.
In recognition of his contributions to the motion picture industry, Meredith has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He was also inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame. In 1997, he died at age 89 from complications of Alzheimer’s disease and melanoma.