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Frank Orth

Frank Orth

Actor · 1880 – 1962 · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Frank Orth was an American actor born in Philadelphia. He is probably best remembered for his portrayal of Inspector Faraday in the 1951-1953 television series “Boston Blackie”. By 1897, Orth was performing in vaudeville with his wife, Ann Codee, in an act called “Codee and Orth.” In 1909, he expanded into song writing, with songs such as “The Phone Bell Rang” and “Meet Me on the Boardwalk, Dearie.” His first contact with motion pictures was in 1928, when he was part of the first foreign-language shorts in sound produced by Warner Bros. He and his wife also appeared together in a series of two-reel comedies in the early 1930s. Orth's first major screen credit was in “Prairie Thunder,” a Dick Foran western, in 1937. From then on, he was often cast as bartenders, pharmacists, and grocery clerks, and always distinctly Irish. He had a recurring role in the Dr. Kildare series of films and also in the Nancy Drew series as the befuddled Officer Tweedy. Among his better roles were the newspaper man Cary Grant telephones early in “His Girl Friday,” one of the quartet singing “Gary Owen” in “They Died with Their Boots On” (thereby giving Errol Flynn as Gen. Custer the idea of associating the tune with the 7th Cavalry), and as the little man carrying the sign reading “The End Is Near” throughout Colonel Effingham's Raid. However, Orth is probably best remembered for his portrayal of Inspector Faraday in the 1951-1953 television series “Boston Blackie.” A short, plump, round-faced man, often smoking a cigar, Orth as Faraday wore his own dark-rimmed spectacles, though rarely in feature films. In 1959, Orth retired from show business after throat surgery. His wife died in 1961 after around fifty years of marriage. Orth died on March 17, 1962. He is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery in the Hollywood Hills next to his wife.

Movies24

  • Movie7.4

    His Girl Friday

    1940 · 972 votes

  • Movie7.2

    Sergeant York

    1941 · 238 votes

  • Movie7.6

    The Lost Weekend

    1945 · 684 votes

  • Movie7.0

    Father of the Bride

    1950 · 244 votes

  • Movie7.7

    The Ox-Bow Incident

    1943 · 439 votes

  • Movie6.6

    Tall in the Saddle

    1944 · 76 votes

  • Movie7.1
  • Movie6.1

    Lady in the Lake

    1946 · 116 votes

  • Movie7.2

    Young Mr. Lincoln

    1939 · 195 votes

  • Movie6.7
  • Movie6.4

    At the Circus

    1939 · 99 votes

  • Movie6.4

    Cheaper by the Dozen

    1950 · 89 votes

  • Movie7.3

    The Big Clock

    1948 · 189 votes

  • Movie6.6

    Houdini

    1953 · 80 votes

  • Movie6.4

    Tales of Manhattan

    1942 · 39 votes

  • Movie6.5

    Double Dynamite

    1951 · 15 votes

  • Movie6.8

    Come Live with Me

    1941 · 36 votes

  • Movie6.9

    I Wake Up Screaming

    1941 · 81 votes

  • Movie5.7

    Summer Storm

    1944 · 12 votes

  • Movie6.8

    Rings on Her Fingers

    1942 · 15 votes

  • Movie7.0

    Boom Town

    1940 · 64 votes

  • Movie5.9

    Red Light

    1949 · 24 votes

  • Movie6.9

    Something to Live For

    1952 · 9 votes

  • Movie7.8

    It Had to Be You

    1947 · 4 votes

Series1

  • TV6.2