Frank Orth
Birthday: 1880-02-20
Place of Birth: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Biography: 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.
Movies
His Girl Friday
Walter Burns is an irresistibly conniving newspaper publisher desperate to woo back his paper’s star...
View Movie
Blondie's Secret
Dagwood prepares for a long-delayed vacation with the family. His boss Mr. Radcliffe has promised t...
View Movie
Taking Ways
In this Vitaphone one-reeler, husband-and-wife team Frank Orth and Ann Codee in one of the many co-s...
View Movie
Father of the Bride
Proud father Stanley Banks remembers the day his daughter, Kay, got married. Starting when she annou...
View Movie
I Wake Up Screaming
A young promoter is accused of the murder of Vicky Lynn, a young actress he "discovered" as a waitre...
View Movie
Come Live with Me
Seeking US citizenship, a Viennese refugee arranges a marriage of convenience with a struggling writ...
View Movie
Red Light
Nick Cherney, in prison for embezzling from Torno Freight Co., sees a chance to get back at Johnny T...
View Movie
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
Three childhood friends, Martha, Walter and Sam, share a terrible secret. Over time, the ambitious M...
View Movie
Storm Over Lisbon
A nightclub star helps trap an enemy agent on the trail of an American newsman....
View Movie
Unwelcome Stranger
Horse-breeder Howard Chamberlain has many superstitious quirks but his primary one is that he believ...
View Movie
Cheaper by the Dozen
"Cheaper by the Dozen", based on the real-life story of the Gilbreth family, follows them from Provi...
View Movie
The Lost Weekend
Don Birnam, a long-time alcoholic, has been sober for ten days and appears to be over the worst... b...
View Movie
Houdini
By the early 1900s, the extraordinary Houdini earned an international reputation for his theatrical ...
View Movie
Footlight Serenade
Conceited World Champion boxer Tommy Lundy decides to test his popularity in a Broadway show. Tommy ...
View Movie
The Guilt of Janet Ames
A hard-drinking reporter tries to help the embittered widow of the soldier who had saved his life du...
View Movie
Nancy Drew… Detective
After a wealthy dowager who has made a substantial donation to her alma mater suddenly disappears, N...
View Movie
Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase
Nancy helps two aging spinsters fulfill the byzantine provisions of their father's will, but the mur...
View Movie
The Great Rupert
Shortly before Christmas, a family moves into an apartment where Rupert the squirrel lives in the at...
View Movie
The Big Clock
George Stroud, a crime magazine's crusading editor, has to postpone a vacation with his wife - again...
View Movie
Wilson
The political career of Woodrow Wilson is chronicled, beginning with his decision to leave his post ...
View Movie
The People Vs. Dr. Kildare
An ice skater sues Kildare (Lew Ayres) for malpractice after his roadside first aid leaves her paral...
View Movie
Pillow to Post
With a war on and most men being drafted, Howard Oil Supply Company has no salesmen left. So daughte...
View Movie
San Quentin
Ex-Army officer Jameson takes a job a prison guard at San Quentin. Joe, the brother of his new girlf...
View Movie
Pier 13
A policeman makes the startling discovery that his girlfriend is involved in a waterfront smuggling ...
View Movie
The Petty Girl
An artist famous for his calendar portraits of beautiful women becomes fascinated by a prim and prop...
View Movie
Here Come the Girls
Bob Hope stars as an inept member of the chorus boy in a turn of the century stage show. After being...
View Movie
Broadway Serenade
A married singer, pianist/composer team are struggling to hit it big in New York. Finally, they audi...
View Movie
Think It Over
A gang of 'professional torches' burn down stores for the insurance money....
View Movie
Springtime in the Rockies
Broadway partners Vicky Lane and Dan Christy have a tiff over Christy's womanizing. Jealous Vicky ta...
View Movie
Doll Face
Burlesque queen Doll Face Carroll is dismissed from an audition for a legitimate Broadway show becau...
View Movie
Tell It to a Star
Carol (Ruth Terry), the cigarette girl at a swank Palm Springs hotel, dreams of singing in the estab...
View Movie
Fast and Furious
Joel & Garda Sloan, a husband and wife detective team, who also sell rare books in New York, take a ...
View Movie
Mr. Chump
A naive young trumpet player inadvertently becomes involved with bank embezzlers. Comedy....
View Movie
Marry the Girl
Frantic screwball comedy about a meek personal assistant (Frank McHugh) who is promoted to managing ...
View Movie
Land Beyond the Law
A wild cowboy changes course and becomes a sheriff after his father is murdered....
View Movie
Burn 'Em Up O'Connor
An auto mechanic suspects sabotage in a recent series of fatal racecar accidents....
View Movie
Polo Joe
A young man allergic to horses decides he has to learn to play polo in order to impress the girl he ...
View Movie
Wake Up and Dream
Aided by her eccentric friends, a young woman goes looking for her missing brother....
View Movie
Michael Shayne: Private Detective
Millionaire sportsman Hiram Brighton hires gumshoe Michael Shayne to keep his spoiled daughter Phyll...
View Movie
She Went to the Races
A group of scientists develop a system to pick winners at the racetrack. Comedy....
View Movie
Boom Town
Two buddies who rise from fly-by-night wildcatters to oil tycoons over a twenty year period both lov...
View Movie
The Patient in Room 18
Choreographer Bob Connolly and prolific screenwriter Crane Wilbur teamed up on the direction of Warn...
View Movie
Ever Since Eve
Madge Winton, a beautiful secretary, makes herself look homely in order to avoid advances by lechero...
View Movie
Young Dr. Kildare
A medical school graduate takes an internship at a big city hospital, only to be subjected to a rigo...
View Movie
Tell No Tales
A newspaper editor turns a kidnapping into the banner headlines and exclusive story that could save ...
View Movie
At the Circus
Jeff Wilson, the owner of a small circus, owes his partner Carter $10,000. Before Jeff can pay, Cart...
View Movie
Greenwich Village
In 1922, a would-be classical composer gets involved with people putting on a musical revue....
View Movie
Henry and Dizzy
After accidentally sinking a borrowed motorboat, teenager Henry Aldrich scrambles to raise the repla...
View Movie
Idiot's Delight
A group of disparate travelers are thrown together in a posh Alpine hotel when the borders are close...
View Movie
The Footloose Heiress
A rich businessman brings home a homeless man who promises to tame his willful 18-year-old daughter....
View Movie
Nancy Drew... Reporter
While participating in a contest at a local newspaper in which school children are asked to submit a...
View Movie
Within the Law
Shopgirl Mary Turner, sentenced to prison for someone else's theft, is released and takes revenge up...
View Movie
Calling Dr. Kildare
Following an argument with his young protege, the curmudgeonly Dr. Gillespie dumps Jimmy Kildare in ...
View Movie
Young Mr. Lincoln
In this dramatized account of his early law career in Illinois, Abraham Lincoln is born into a modes...
View Movie
Thunder Afloat
A tugboat captain serves under his rival as a U-boat chaser in World War I....
View Movie
Stanley and Livingstone
When American newspaperman and adventurer Henry M. Stanley comes back from the western Indian wars, ...
View Movie
The Secret of Dr. Kildare
Intern Kildare heals a millionaire's daughter and tricks Dr. Gillespie into taking a vacation....
View Movie
Dust Be My Destiny
Embittered after serving time for a burglary he did not commit, Joe Bell is soon back in jail, on a ...
View Movie
Summer Storm
It's a tale of power and passions when a Russian siren, who wants the finer things in life, sinks he...
View Movie
It Had to Be You
A chronic runaway bride is haunted by her conscience, who becomes reality....
View Movie
You, the People
This MGM Crime Does Not Pay series short features a big city crime boss's attempt to use his crime "...
View Movie
Missing Witnesses
A detective and his bumbling sidekick join the crackdown on racketeering in '30s New York City....
View Movie
Born to Speed
The romantic, dangerous and fast-paced world of professional midget auto racing provides the backdro...
View Movie
Sweet Rosie O'Grady
An American singer becomes engaged to an English duke, but is continuously pestered over her past as...
View Movie
Roger Touhy, Gangster
Set during Prohibition, the movie centers on Touhy's rise from small time thug to the city's most po...
View Movie
The Ox-Bow Incident
A posse discovers a trio of men they suspect of murder and cow theft and are split between handing t...
View Movie
Blue, White, and Perfect
In order to win back his girlfriend, Mike Shayne promises to give up his detective practice and get ...
View Movie
The Devil's Saddle Legion
Tal is in a lot of trouble. Seems that his father has been murdered while he was in Montana and they...
View Movie
Brother Orchid
When retired racket boss John Sarto tries to reclaim his place and former friends try to kill him, h...
View Movie
Coney Island
Set at the turn of the century, smooth talking con man Eddie Johnson weasels his way into a job at f...
View Movie
Over My Dead Body
Berle plays a mystery writer who forever writes himself into corners and is never able to finish a s...
View Movie
Two Against the World
Searching for ratings at any cost, an unscrupulous radio-network owner forces his program manager to...
View Movie
Ride on Vaquero
The Cisco Kid is captured while keeping a rendezvous with cantina dancer Dolores but is released by ...
View Movie
Heartaches
Up-and-coming Hollywood actor/crooner, Vic Morton, has a secret. He starts receiving death threats i...
View Movie
The Gas House Kids in Hollywood
The Gas House Kids, the very poor man's Bowery Boys, head for Hollywood....
View Movie
Prairie Thunder
To increase profits for his shipping company, Lynch has goaded the Indians to attack both the telegr...
View Movie
Sergeant York
Alvin York a hillbilly sharpshooter transforms himself from ruffian to religious pacifist. He is the...
View Movie
Orchestra Wives
Connie Ward is in seventh heaven when Gene Morrison's band rolls into town. She is swept off her fee...
View Movie
The Hoodlum Saint
A former reporter comes back home after serving in the army during World War I and finds that it's m...
View Movie
Gallant Sons
When a teenager's father is accused of murder, the boy and his high-school classmates set out to fin...
View Movie
The Payoff
An honest sports columnist's greedy wife persuades him to go easy on a cheat, famous for crooked spo...
View Movie
The Doctor Takes a Wife
A best-selling author of women's issues and a medical academic find it is to their mutual advantage ...
View Movie
'Til We Meet Again
Dying Joan Ames meets criminal Dan Hardesty on a luxury liner as he is being transported back to Ame...
View Movie
Father Is A Prince
Carpet-sweeper manufacturer John Bower has no patience with inefficiency, lawyers, or vacuum cleaner...
View Movie
Florian
Set against the backdrop of WWI Europe, a man and woman of different classes are brought together by...
View Movie
Dr. Kildare's Crisis
Jimmy Kildare's impending nuptials are jeopardized by a diagnosis of possible epilepsy in his fiance...
View Movie
Dr. Kildare Goes Home
A young doctor gives up big-city success to help his father set up a small-town clinic....
View Movie
Dr. Kildare's Strange Case
Kildare tries brain surgery, advised by Dr. Gillespie, and faces a rival for nurse Lamont....
View Movie
Dr. Kildare's Victory
Dr. Gillespie supports Kildare's crusade against their hospital's deal with a rival hospital....
View Movie
My Gal Sal
Biopic chronicling the early life of gay nineties-era songwriter Paul Dresser as he outgrows his job...
View Movie
La Conga Nights
In this comedy, actor Hugh Herbert plays six different roles. Only one of the roles is a man. The st...
View Movie
Respect the Law
Shows how so-called "minor" lawbreakers can do more damage than major criminals....
View Movie
A Bird in the Hand
Frank Orth strikes a conversation with a lady feeding imaginary birds....
View Movie
Something to Live For
Advertising executive Alan Miller, a recovered alcoholic who now does interventions on behalf of Alc...
View Movie
They Died with Their Boots On
The story follows General George Armstrong Custer's adventures from his West Point days to his death...
View Movie
Mexican Spitfire Out West
Dennis heads west to work on an important business deal minus the Mexican Spitfire, Carmelita. His h...
View Movie
The Bride Wore Boots
A bookish husband tries to win back the affections of his horse-breeding wife....
View Movie
The Impatient Years
Standing before a divorce court judge are Sergeant Andy Anderson and Janie Anderson asking him to di...
View Movie
Bride for Sale
Nora Shelley is a tax expert for the accounting company which is led by Paul Martin. She thinks she ...
View Movie
Know Your Money
This MGM Crime Does Not Pay series short tells the fictitious story of a bill counterfeiting ring an...
View Movie
Buyer Beware
This entry in MGM's "Crime Does Not Pay" series deals with shady companies selling fake merchandise....
View Movie
Murder in the Music Hall
An orchestra leader turns sleuth to clear his ice-skating girlfriend for murder....
View Movie
Torchy Blane in Panama
Torchy, Steve, and Gahagan are on the trail of a bank robber aboard an ocean liner traveling from Ne...
View Movie
Gold Rush Maisie
Maisie becomes attached to a dirt-poor farmer and his family as they try to make ends meet joining h...
View Movie
Roxie Hart
A café in Chicago, 1942. On a rainy night, veteran reporter Homer Howard tells an increasing audienc...
View Movie
Rings on Her Fingers
Susan Miller works behind the girdle counter in a department store and dreams about the beautiful cl...
View Movie
Broadway Limited
A publicity stunt staged on a train known as the Broadway Limited gets out of control, as no one wan...
View Movie
Hello, Frisco, Hello
In turn-of-the-century San Francisco, an ambitious vaudevillian takes his quartet from a honky tonk ...
View Movie
It's Great to Be Young
Ricky Malone, Spud Winters and some other returning G.I.'s are trying to break into show business by...
View Movie
The Girl from Manhattan
A small-town girl who's made it big in New York as a fashion model returns home, only to find that h...
View Movie
Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant
The doctor (Lionel Barrymore) has a Kansan (Van Johnson), an Australian and an Asian from Brooklyn t...
View Movie
Comet Over Broadway
Story of a rising stage star and the trouble she causes by her ambition....
View Movie
The Magnificent Dope
Dwight Dawson, who runs an unsuccessful success school, stages a contest to find the biggest failure...
View Movie
Tales of Manhattan
Ten screenwriters collaborated on this series of tales concerning the effect a tailcoat cursed by it...
View Movie
Lady in the Lake
Private eye Phillip Marlowe wants to get out of the detective racket and into crime writing. But whe...
View Movie
The Meanest Man in the World
Compassionate small-town lawyer Richard Clarke moves to New York City to seek his fortune, but is un...
View Movie
Double Dynamite
An innocent bank teller, suspected of embezzlement, is aided by an eccentric, wisecracking waiter....
View Movie
The Victim
Frank Orth is a husband who is hen-pecked both by his wife and by her mother. He comes home on his b...
View Movie
Tall in the Saddle
When Rocklin arrives in a western town he finds that the rancher who hired him as a foreman has been...
View Movie
The Strawberry Blonde
Biff Grimes is desperately in love with Virginia, but his best friend Hugo marries her and manipulat...
View Movie
Let's Make Music
An elderly schoolmarm makes a hit in New York after a bandleader jazzes up her corny song....
View Movie