Finding much work as a character actor, he had roles in many different genres of films — comedies, dramas, musicals, Westerns, and romances. He appeared in "Miracle on 34th Street" (1947), portraying Judge Harper's political adviser, who warns his client in great detail of the dire political consequences if he rules that there is no Santa Claus. Some of his other memorable film roles were as the baseball manager in Joe E. Brown's "Alibi Ike" (1935), as the wedding host in Charlie Chaplin's "Monsieur Verdoux" (1947), and as a hard-nosed insurance investigator in "My Home in San Antone", with Roy Acuff and Lloyd Corrigan.