Milton Selzer(1918-2006)
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Possessing one of TV's more identifiable mugs, Jewish-American
character actor Milton Selzer was here, there and everywhere in the
1960s and 1970s, playing a host of usually unsympathetic mobsters,
gamblers, and crooks with a sad, almost pathetic quality in about every
popular crime story offered, notably
The Untouchables (1959),
The Fugitive (1963),
Hawaii Five-O (1968) and
Mission: Impossible (1966).
Always in demand with his trademark glum face, bulb nose and
spoon-shaped ears, Selzer went on to enjoy a five-decade plus career.
Milton was born in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1918 but moved with his
family while young to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Graduating from
Portsmouth High School in 1936, he studied at the University of New
Hampshire before serving in World War II. Moving to New York, he
trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and The New School in
the 1940s and received his first big break with minor roles in the
Broadway classical plays "Richard III", "Julius Caesar" and "Arms and
the Man". In the late 1950s, Selzer turned to film and (especially) to
TV's "Golden Age", making an early mark in solid ethnic roles (German,
Arab, etc.)
He finally made a definitive move to Los Angeles in 1960. Occasional
movies included
The Last Mile (1959),
The Young Savages (1961),
Alfred Hitchcock's
Marnie (1964),
The Cincinnati Kid (1965),
The Legend of Lylah Clare (1968),
In Enemy Country (1968) and
Lady Sings the Blues (1972),
but it was the small screen that proved a sounder medium for him. With
hundreds upon hundreds of guest parts to his credit, he also was called
upon to play more upstanding gents including store-owners, judges and
colonels on occasion, always offering a solid, authentic presence to
every sound stage he set foot on.
In later years Selzer managed a few regular series roles including
Needles and Pins (1973) and
The Famous Teddy Z (1989).
Broaching 80 years old, he officially retired in the late 1990s and
passed away of pulmonary and stroke complications just shy of age 88 in
Oxnard, California.
character actor Milton Selzer was here, there and everywhere in the
1960s and 1970s, playing a host of usually unsympathetic mobsters,
gamblers, and crooks with a sad, almost pathetic quality in about every
popular crime story offered, notably
The Untouchables (1959),
The Fugitive (1963),
Hawaii Five-O (1968) and
Mission: Impossible (1966).
Always in demand with his trademark glum face, bulb nose and
spoon-shaped ears, Selzer went on to enjoy a five-decade plus career.
Milton was born in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1918 but moved with his
family while young to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Graduating from
Portsmouth High School in 1936, he studied at the University of New
Hampshire before serving in World War II. Moving to New York, he
trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and The New School in
the 1940s and received his first big break with minor roles in the
Broadway classical plays "Richard III", "Julius Caesar" and "Arms and
the Man". In the late 1950s, Selzer turned to film and (especially) to
TV's "Golden Age", making an early mark in solid ethnic roles (German,
Arab, etc.)
He finally made a definitive move to Los Angeles in 1960. Occasional
movies included
The Last Mile (1959),
The Young Savages (1961),
Alfred Hitchcock's
Marnie (1964),
The Cincinnati Kid (1965),
The Legend of Lylah Clare (1968),
In Enemy Country (1968) and
Lady Sings the Blues (1972),
but it was the small screen that proved a sounder medium for him. With
hundreds upon hundreds of guest parts to his credit, he also was called
upon to play more upstanding gents including store-owners, judges and
colonels on occasion, always offering a solid, authentic presence to
every sound stage he set foot on.
In later years Selzer managed a few regular series roles including
Needles and Pins (1973) and
The Famous Teddy Z (1989).
Broaching 80 years old, he officially retired in the late 1990s and
passed away of pulmonary and stroke complications just shy of age 88 in
Oxnard, California.