Fehmer Christy Chandler, an American film character actor, embarked on a career in comedic roles spanning from the 1920s to the 1950s. Born in Kingston, New York, to Colonel George F. Chandler, a renowned architect, and Martha Schultze, a sportswriter and daughter of Boston Symphony Orchestra conductor Carl Schultze, Fehmer was named after his uncle, architect Carl Fehmer.
By the age of 12, Fehmer was already performing as a dancer and entertainer in local stage shows. His father, an army surgeon and organizer of the New York State Police, enrolled him in The Manlius School, where he attended for three years, rising to the rank of corporal. Despite his family's aspirations for a military career, Fehmer dropped out at 16 to pursue work on a tramp steamer and later in vaudeville, studying dance under the tutelage of famed choreographer Ned Wayburn.
Fehmer maintained a successful career throughout the 1920s as a dancer and comedian in vaudeville and burlesque, often paired with Naomi Morton, granddaughter of vaudeville and Broadway star Sam Morton. In 1930, he joined the cast of the Liberty Bell Filling Station radio show, starring Chic Sale, as Rodney Gordon, the assistant to Wheel Wilkins.
Two years later, Fehmer landed a role in the Ben Hecht-Gene Fowler Broadway play The Great Magoo. This led to a film contract with RKO, under which he was signed by producer David O. Selznick, who described Fehmer as "a cross between Lee Tracy and James Cagney." Fehmer turned full-time to movie acting with his first films under contract, Sweepings and Melody Cruise, in 1933.
Throughout his career, Fehmer appeared mainly in supporting roles, mostly comic, in nearly 120 films over the next 36 years. Under the pseudonym Guy Fehmer, he wrote a screenplay about racing called The Quitter. In 1955, Fehmer was cast in the starring role of Toubo Smith in the adventure series Soldiers of Fortune, alongside John Russell as Tim Kelly.
Fehmer's greatest fame came from this role, and during the off-seasons, he toured the country in stock and musical theatrical productions such as Harvey and Annie Get Your Gun. He was also a regular on the short-lived 1961 NBC comedy series One Happy Family.
Fehmer's personal life was marked by two significant relationships. In 1925, he became engaged to Ziegfeld Follies performer and Christy model Dorothy Knapp, whom he met in his uncle Howard Chandler Christy's studio. Knapp broke off the engagement to pursue her career further, and Fehmer then became partnered, both privately and professionally, with 17-year-old Sallie Sharon, whom he met at West Point.
The pair formed a vaudeville team, but never married. On April 4, 1931, Fehmer married Eugenia "Jean" Frontai, a former contract performer with David Belasco's theatrical company. They were married for 57 years, until Fehmer's death from a heart attack on September 30, 1988. Jean Chandler followed her husband in death the next day from cancer at the same hospital, South Coast Medical Center. The couple had no children.
