Hall of Fame: Herb Vigran

Herb Vigran ranks second only to actor Ben Weldon as the most popular and best remembered villain on The Adventures of Superman making an appearance for every season of the series. With his sharp, clear voice and thick bushy eyebrows on an ordinary American face Herb Vigran was destined to become an indispensable character actor in films and television.

Herb Vigran was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana and according to Gary Grossman’s book Superman: Serial to Cereal graduated from Indiana University Law School. Vigran never practiced law because he was bitten with the acting bug after playing the lead in his high school senior class play. He hitchhiked to California to become an actor and in his own words “That was the end of my law career.” His first film was the minor Happy Landing (1934) playing a radio operator. The following year he appeared with Robert Young as a reporter in Vagabond Lady (1935) for MGM and Hal Roach. He did a few more film roles before going to New York to become a Broadway actor. After enduring hardship and disappointment, Herb Vigran finally appeared in the hit Broadway production Having A Wonderful Time (1936) which starred John Garfield and made a star out of Eve Arden. Later he would return to Hollywood where his unique voice became a staple on national radio broadcasts like The Lux Radio Theatre and became a regular on The Jack Benny Program. With a better agent, Herb Vigran started appearing in motion pictures including It All Came True (1940) with Ann Sheridan and Humphrey Bogart, the superb murder mystery Stranger On The Third Floor (1940) starring Peter Lorre, and the Val Lewton classic The Ghost Ship (1943) for RKO starring Richard Dix. After some 40 films, Vigran’s career was interrupted for three years of military service in WWII. He resumed acting after the war and was hired by the great comedian Charles Chaplin to play a reporter in his controversial comedy Monsieur Verdoux (1947). Vigran was a natural for screen comedy and was being cast all over Hollywood in top comedy films playing reporters, cops, or gangsters. He worked with Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in four of their comedy hit movies as well as appearing in romantic comedies like Rings On Their Fingers (1942) with Henry Fonda and Gene Tierney, Tell It To The Judge (1949) with Rosalind Russell and Bob Cummings, Mrs. O’Malley And Mr. Malone (1950) with Marjorie Main and James Whitmore, playing a wise-guy reporter in each one.

Herb Vigran made his first television appearance on a 1952 episode of Racket Squad and followed it up with hundreds more. Producer-star Jack Webb hired him for 11 episodes of Dragnet from 1952 through 1959 as well as the big budget Dragnet feature film released by Warner Brothers in 1954. When Dragnet returned to NBC in 1967 Herb Vigran came back for 7 more color episodes, and as always he played a different role each time. On Gunsmoke (1970 – 1975) Vigran was Judge Brooker in eleven episodes and appeared 18 times on the TV Jack Benny Show (1955 – 1965). Three times in 1962 Herb Vigran even voiced the role of a cop on the animated series The Flintstones!

Herb Vigran made six unforgettable appearances on The Adventures of Superman with George Reeves that won a place in all of our hearts. His first was in episode number 11 of season 1, No Holds Barred (1952) where he played it straight along with the rest of the cast as the crooked wrestling promoter Murray who is muscling-in on the sport of wrestling. Murray has an imprisoned East-Indian Swami Ramm (Tito Renaldo) that he forces to teach crippling pressure-point moves to his main attraction “Bad Luck” Brannigan (Richard Reeves) until Superman intervenes and exposes the entire racket.

In the 2^nd season, Herb Vigran returned in episode 22 entitled Jimmy Olsen, Boy Editor (1954) playing “Legs” Lemmy a gangster hiding on the lam waiting for the statute of limitations to run out. On his birthday, Jimmy plants a phony story on Legs which causes him to panic and hold Lois and the cub reporter hostage until Superman saves the day.

His next was “Superman Week” (1955—episode 4 of the 3rd season now in color) where Vigran (billed now as Herburt Vigran) is a hoot playing gangster Si Horton who discovers the secret of Superman’s only vulnerability, Kryptonite by doping a badly disguised Jimmy Olsen. Metropolis is honoring its favorite adopted son with a ‘Superman Week’ and has commissioned the great artist Vandeglas to sculpt a bust of the man of steel.

Si impersonates the artist and inserts into the head of the clay bust a piece of Kryptonite that Superman once threw into the city harbor. Horton draws a deadly circle on the carpet around the bust showing the radiation range of the Kryptonite as Superman is about to enter for his final posing session. Vigran who on the series always spoke with a New York, Damon Runyon-like accent has a ball imitating the German-accented Vandeglas when he lures Superman inside the circle to examine the bust up close. As soon as he does the man of steel feels faint from the Kryptonite radiation with Si Horton immediately dropping his disguise saying with an unmistakable sneer in his voice “How ya feelin’ SUPERMAN?!” Superman does in the end prevail over Si but Herb Vigran’s terrific performance made this a memorable episode.

His next was Blackmail (episode number 10 of season 4), where he played mobster Arnold Woodman who sets out to frame Inspector Henderson as a corrupt cop. For a while everything looks bad for the veteran police detective well-played by Robert Shayne who gives a sincerely moving performance. When the scheme backfires and Superman closes in for an arrest Woodman pulls out the last ace up his sleeve which is some kind of ray gun that is supposed to kill the man from Krypton! When Arnold points the weapon at his target we are able to view through the gun’s sight the figure of a confident, smiling Superman. The weapon backfires on poor Arnold whose tattered, shredded clothes are covered with gunpowder looking exactly like Yosemite Sam after Bugs Bunny had plugged-up his six-guns! According to Grossman’s book after shooting this scene George Reeves told Herb Vigran to use the shower in his personal dressing room to clean up. The grateful actor recalled “You can take my word; it doesn’t happen like that very often. It’s just the kind of guy Reeves was.”

In “Mr. Zero” (1957—episode number 12 of season 5), Herb Vigran plays washed-up gangster Georgie Gleap who sees a chance for a come-back when he meets the diminutive, green-haired Martian named Zero. This tiny strange visitor from another planet is stranded on Earth and can freeze anyone temporarily by simply pointing his index finger at them. Georgie plays on Mr. Zero’s love for Lois Lane by using him to clean out the biggest bank in Metropolis while he points at the tellers and guards. Herb Vigran’s last appearance on The Adventures of Superman was in episode 7 of the 6th and final season The Big Forget (1958) where he plays Mugsy Maple another gangster looking for a new angle on how to rob banks and jewelry stores. Thanks to lovable, eccentric Professor Pepperwinkle (Phillips Tead) who invents an amnesia spray he finds it! Anyone breathing the mist from the spray forgets the previous half-hour, so Mugsy pulls one robbery after another without anyone even remembering that they were robbed in the first place.

After his work on The Adventures of Superman, Herb Vigran continued to work non-stop in both films and television for another thirty years but primarily in comic roles. Among his few dramatic performances were his work as the sympathetic bartender to Ray Milland’s alcoholic in Night into Morning (1951) and playing Bette Davis’ worthless, free-loading brother-in-law in The Star (1952). But for every dramatic role there was a Never Wave at a WAC (1952) with Rosalind Russell and The Long, Long Trailer (1953) with Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball. In the Walt Disney hit The Love Bug (1969) Herb Vigran was still playing a police officer but he was also a U.S. Supreme Court Justice in First Monday In October (1981) with Walter Matthau and Jill Clayburgh. Herb Vigran died in 1986 at the age of 76 and his last film Amazon Women of the Moon (1987) was released the year after his death. Vigran was happily married to his wife Belle for over thirty years.

Herb Vigran made over 160 feature films and hundreds of radio and TV appearances shining in every one no matter how big or small the role. On a 1966 episode of Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. entitled “Love’s Old Sweet Song” Vigran plays a waiter in a nightclub where rookie singer Lou Ann Poovie (Elizabeth MacRae) croons her corny love songs. Her opening performance is witnessed by both Sgt. Vince Carter (Frank Sutton) and Private Pyle (Jim Nabors) who are completely smitten with this singer of dubious talent. Sgt. Carter gives a note to Vigran’s waiter for Miss Poovie to join him at his table, and then so does Gomer. Vigran hands a single note to the singer who lights up with delight when she reads it. She asks Herb who sent it and he points to Gomer Pyle so she immediately goes to the Marine’s table. Sgt. Carter is furious and confronts the waiter with “Hey you! I gave you my note first with a tip, and instead you gave her the other guy’s note!” Herb Vigran uses his wise guy voice to say “Oh yeah, so you did sergeant… but you see I always deliver the notes with the dollar tips first and then the ones with the quarter tips later.” Sgt. Carter sinks back into his chair humiliated as a cheapskate in front of his buddies while Lou Anne and Gomer hit it off.

In Blackmail Herb Vigran’s Arnold Woodman passes the time in a bomb shelter hiding out from the law playing ‘Scrabble’ with his partner Eddie Perkins (Sid Tomack). Perkins creates an obvious nonsense word and Arnold asks him where in the world is that a real word? Eddie cleverly answers “South Pago-Pago!” Arnold not wishing to appear dumb backs off but then later creates his own ridiculous baloney word and when Eddie protests asking where is that a real word Arnold answers with Herb Vigran’s trademark sneer “North Pago-Pago!”

Herb Vigran was always worth his weight in gold as an actor especially in his six performances on The Adventures of Superman. He was also a loyal friend to the memory of George Reeves when others were not. We proudly induct Herb Vigran into the George Reeves Hall of Fame.

September 2008

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