Burgess Meredith the Penguin's father in the 1992 Tim Burton film "Batman Returns", but illness prevented him from appearing and the role was taken by Paul Reubens. Meredith was married four times. His first wife, Helen Derby Merrien Burgess, was the daughter of Harry L. Derby, president of the American Cyanamid and Chemical Corporation; she took her life after their divorce. His next two wives were actresses, Margaret Perry and Paulette Goddard. Goddard had a miscarriage in 1944. His last marriage, to Kaja Sundsten, lasted 46 years and produced two children—Jonathon (a musician) and Tala (a painter). Meredith was a lifelong Democrat
Burgess Meredith Gunner Joe", a fictitious study of U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy, the anticommunist politician active in the 1950s. He was cast as crusading lawyer Joseph Welch. In 1992, Meredith narrated "The Chaplin Puzzle," a television documentary that provides a rare insight into Charles Chaplin's work, "circa" 1914, at Keystone Studios and Essanay, where Chaplin developed his Tramp character. Coincidentally, Meredith married actress Paulette Goddard in 1943 following her divorce from Chaplin. Meredith also performed voice-over work. He provided the narration for the war film "A Walk in the Sun" (1945). As a nod to his longtime association with original "Twilight Zone"