At one point a CBS executive who was looking for someone who could imitate the voice of Franklin D. Roosevelt was struck by Mr. Carney's ability and hired him. His career was interrupted by World War II. He was sent to France as an infantryman, but was wounded in the leg by shrapnel almost immediately and was hospitalized for nine months. He walked with a limp for the rest of his life. [NY Times] And don't forget Carney's totally swinging beat poetry version of "The Night Before Christmas."

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With his turned-up porkpie hat and unbuttoned vest over a white T-shirt, Carney's Ed Norton with his exuberant "Hey, Ralphie boy!" became an ideal foil for Gleason's blustery, bullying Kramden. Carney won three Emmys for his role and his first taste of fame.

"The first time I saw the guy act," Gleason once said, "I knew I would have to work twice as hard for my laughs. He was funny as hell."

In one episode, Norton and Ralph learn to golf from an instruction book. Told to "address the ball," Norton gives a wave of the hand and says, "Hellooooo, ball!" In another episode, Norton inadvertently wins the award for best costume at a Raccoon Lodge party by showing up in his sewer worker's gear. Another time, the loose-limbed Norton teaches Ralph a finger-popping new dance called the Hucklebuck.

"I loved Art Carney," said actor Billy Bob Thornton. "I was a huge fan of `The Honeymooners' and I loved Jackie Gleason, who was a genius. But I was probably more struck by Art Carney than Gleason. You just couldn't wait for him to come through the door again."

...."Art was, and is one of the most endearing men I have ever met," the late actress Audrey Meadows (the caustic Alice Kramden on "The Honeymooners") wrote in her 1994 memoir "Love, Alice." She called him a "witty and delightful companion who went out of his way to help each new actor find his niche" on the show.