We talk a lot around here about people whose careers were minor but kept the industry moving. Oh, sure, that’s usually people who have at least one outstanding role that you can actually remember—and Ned Glass had several—but they are important regardless. Frankly, it’s impossible to have over 200 credits and have all of them be winners; it’s exceedingly unlikely to have over 200 credits and have all of them be important roles. I’m definitely not making that claim for Ned Glass. But I’ll go to bat for his being an important part of the industry for all that.

Sure. Maybe you don’t know him as Doc. You could know him as Doc Schindler from The Fortune Cookie or Leopold W. Gideon from Charade. He’s done dozens of named characters, probably. His character had a name on Perry Mason and in The Rebel Set. He did fifteen whole episodes of The Phil Silvers Show, with the same character name on all of them. Mystery Street is a decent movie with an interesting cast, and he gets a character name in that, too.

But let’s be real. There are a lot of other performances where he plays “Ticket Seller,” as he did in North by Northwest. “Lead Storm Trooper,” as he was in “You Natzy Spy,” one of several Three Stooges shorts he made. “Toll Booth Attendant” from The Love Bug or “Teller” from Blackbeard’s Ghost. “Wardrobe Man” in The Bad and the Beautiful. “Hotel Desk Clerk” in King Creole. He was in classics and turkeys as minor nameless supporting characters.

As his career went on, he was more likely to have a name, but this is after two roles where he was actually allowed to act in notable movies. One only got nominated for Original Song (losing to “Call Me Irresponsible,” from Papa’s Delicate Condition—which he was also in), and one won a whole slate of Oscars including Best Picture. While many of his movies before that were stone-cold classics, those are the two that actually gave him something to do, and that seems to have been the turning point as far as characters with names.

His career lasted forty-five years, and if you’re familiar with pop culture of that era, you almost certainly know his face. You know his voice. You have seen Ned Glass, whether you know the name or not, whether you know that he was born in Poland when it was still part of Russia or not. You don’t have to know that he was Moe Howard’s neighbour but that Moe Howard had nothing to do with the casting in Three Stooges shorts. All it takes is just watching enough movies and enough TV, and if you’re reading this site, you’ve probably done that.

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