Villain of the Month: Ned Glass
I saw documentary about character actors on the DVD of All Though the Night (1942), and in it Bruce Davison talks about a conversation he had with Robert Altman where the director told him not to become a leading man because he would probably work for several year and then disappear, as happens to many leading men (what’s Bill Pullman doing lately), but if he became a character actor, he could work steady and raise a family in Hollywood. That was certainly true of Ned Glass.
Short and balding with a distinctive New York accent, Glass was a vaudevillian who worked his way up to Broadway, debuting in the play Counselor-at-Law. From there he made his way to Hollywood where he made his film debut in Republic’s Dick Tracy Returns (1938) as the hot headed trigger happy youngest member of the Stark Gang, The Kid, who’s arrest and execution in the first chapter instigates a vendetta between Ralph Byrd and Charles Middelton.
Glass worked regularly in films for several years, appearing in Prairie Schooners (1940) and The Richest Guy in Town (1941), among others. After serving in the Armed Forces through the War, Glass returned to acting with the film Bury Me Dead (1947). It is here that things get a little tricky, as he was briefly blacklisted in Hollywood during the McCarthy era, but due to the help of friends like Moe Howard, who cast him in the short Three Hams on a Rye (1954) and John Houseman who cast him in an uncredited role in Julius Caesar (1953), Glass was able to keep food on the table, and is one of the few actors to be exonerated.
Glass worked regularly from then on, appearing in both films and on television. He appeared in many Honeymooner sketches on The Jackie Gleason Show and was a semi regular as Sgt Pendleton on The Phil Silvers Show, AKA You’ll Never Get Rich, as well as popinng up on Bonanza, The Untouchables, Gunsmoke, Perry Mason, The Twilight Zone and The Monkees.
Film appearances during this time included North By Northwest (1959), West Side Story (1961), Charade (1963) and the Love Bug (1968). He then became a regular on Diahann Carroll’s popular TV Show Julia, where he was nominated for an Emmy. After that show he became a regular on the short lived show Bridget Loves Bernie, an at the time controversial show dealing with inter-religious marriage.
Through thee seventies and eighties Glass appeared in films like Lady Sings the Blues (1972), Save the Tiger (1973) and Street Music (1982). His TV work included roles on episodes of Kojack, Vega$, and Cagney & Lacey. He passed away in 1984.
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