Barney Phillips

Infobox actor
name = Barney Phillips


imagesize =
caption =
birthname = Bernard Philip Ofner
birthdate = birth date|1913|10|20|mf=y
birthplace = city-state|St. Louis|Missouri, U.S.
deathdate = death date and age|1982|8|17|1913|10|20|mf=y
deathplace = city-state|Los Angeles|California, U.S.
spouse = Marie A. Davis (19??–1982)
yearsactive = 1937–1982
occupation = Film, television actor
awards =

Barney Phillips (October 20, 1913 – August 17, 1982) was an American film and television actor.

Biography and career

He was born Bernard Philip Ofner in St. Louis, Missouri, to Harry Nathan Ofner, a commercial salesman for the leather industry, and Leona Frank Ofner, a naturalized citizen of German origin, who went by the nickname Lonnie. [1930 US Census for Missouri] Phillips grew up and was educated in St. Louis, then moved to Los Angeles, California after graduating from college in 1935.

Interested in acting, he was able to get a small part in an independently-produced Grade B western called "Black Aces" in 1937, but his show business career then languished. Phillips enlisted in the US Army in July 1941 under his real name [US Army Military Enlistment Records, WWII] , serving in the signal corps during WWII.

Following the war, he was able to get small parts in several films during 1949-1952, before getting a regular role on the NBC television version of Dragnet, as Sgt Ed Jacobs. Thereafter he was a prolific character actor in both films and television series throughout the 1950s and 1960's. He remained active in television during the 1970s and up to a few months before his death in 1982.

Phillips was generally a guest star or featured player, but did have a number of recurring character roles in television, and one stint as a series regular for "The Betty White Show" (1977-78). However, his best known role is likely to be as a surprising diner counterman in a well-known episode of "The Twilight Zone" called "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?".

Filmography (partial)

* "Black Aces" (1937) ...as Jake Stoddard
* "The Judge" (1949) ...as Reporter
* "Little Egypt" (1951) ...as Reporter
* "My Six Convicts" (1952) ...as Baker foreman
* "Down Among the Sheltering Palms" (1952) ...as Pvt Murphy
* "Has Anybody Seen My Gal?" (1952) ...as Workman
* "Ruby Gentry" (1952) ...as Dr Saul Manfred
* "Eight Iron Men" (1952) ...as Capt Trelawney
* "A Blueprint for Murder" (1953) ...as Capt Pringle
* "I Was a Teenage Werewolf" (1957) ...as Det Sgt Donovan
* "The Sand Pebbles (film)" (1966) ...as Chief Petty Officer Franks

Television credits (partial)

* "Dragnet": "series regular" (1952) as Sgt Ed Jacobs
* "Peter Gunn": "The Blind Pianist" (1958) ...as Stephen Ware
* "Hawaiian Eye": "I Wed Three Wives" (1960) ...as Henry Bunker
* "The Twilight Zone": "The Purple Testament" (1960) ...as Capt E. L. Gunther
* "The Twilight Zone": "A Thing about Machines" (1960) ...as TV Repairman
* "The Twilight Zone": "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?" (1961) ...as Haley the Bartender
* "The Twilight Zone": "Miniature" (1963) ...as Diemel
* "Shazzan!": "All Episodes (36)" ...voice of Shazzan

References

External links

*imdb name|0680237