Herb Vigran

Vigran was a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, but his family moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana, when he was 16.[4] He graduated with an LL.B. degree from Indiana University,[5] but later chose to pursue acting.

Billed as Herbert Vigran, he appeared on Broadway in three plays from 1935 through 1938.[6]

After starting out on Broadway, Vigran soon moved to Hollywood with no money[4] and only the Broadway acting experience. In 1939, Vigran's agent helped him secure a lead in the radio drama Silver Theatre. The actor had a $5 recording made of the radio show and used it as a demo to get other jobs with his unique voice.[4] He performed in radio shows with the likes of Jack Benny,[7][8] Bob Hope, Lucille Ball and Jimmy Durante.[9]

He later had hundreds of television appearances on shows like Adventures of Superman (six episodes), Dragnet (1951 TV series) (eleven episodes), I Love Lucy (four episodes), The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (seven episodes), The Dick Van Dyke Show (three episodes), Perry Mason (two episodes), Dragnet 1967 (seven episodes), Petticoat Junction (one episode, 1969), and The Brady Bunch (two episodes). Vigran had a recurring role as Judge Brooker in Gunsmoke between 1970-1975. He appeared in a number of I Love Lucy episodes, and in the 1954 episode titled "Lucy Is Envious", Vigran is the promoter who hired Lucy and Ethel to dress up as "Women From Mars" for a publicity stunt.[10][11] With his bushy eyebrows and balding pate, he was easily cast in a wide variety of middle-aged "everyman" roles: cops, small-time crooks, judges, jurors, bartenders, repairmen, neighbors, shopkeepers, etc.[12]

Vigran had a small but significant role in Charlie Chaplin's Monsieur Verdoux (1947) as a reporter who interviews Chaplin as the title character while he is awaiting execution. 1954's White Christmas starring Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye saw Vigran in the role of Novello, a nightclub owner who ushers in the stars to see his floor show attraction, The Haines Sisters.

In the rock and roll movie Go, Johnny, Go (1959), Vigran played an assistant to promoter Alan Freed and performed dialogue scenes with rock legend Chuck Berry.[13] He also provided the voice of "Whitney's boss" on the Arrowhead bottled-water television (animated) and radio commercials in the 1960s.

In 1952, Vigran married the former Belle Pasternack. The couple had two sons.[4]

Vigran was active up until his death.

Vigran died of complications from cancer on November 29, 1986, in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.[2] He was cremated.

• Dunning, John (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3.

• Herb Vigran on IMDb
• Herb Vigran at the TCM Movie Database
• Herb Vigran at the Internet Broadway Database
• Herb Vigran at Find a Grave