Stage actor Edward McWade entered films as a screenwriter in 1913. From 1920 until his death, the wizened, wispy-haired McWade showed up in dozens of utility roles, playing professors, doctors, justices of the peace and ministers. In 1936, he essayed the title role in the Perry Mason mystery The Case of the Stuttering Bishop. His last screen assignment was Mr. Gibbs, one of the few "lonely old gentlemen" who isn't slipped a poisoned glass of elderberry wine in Arsenic and Old Lace (1944). Edward McWade was married to actress Margaret McWade, famed as one of the "pixillated" sisters in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936).