Herb Vigran

Herbert Vigran (June 5, 1910 – November 29, 1986) was an American character actor in Hollywood from the 1930s to the 1980s. Over his 50-year career, he made over 350 television and film appearances, notably as Lurvy in Charlotte's Web.

Vigran was born in Cincinnati on June 5, 1910. His family moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana, when he was 16. He graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) from Indiana University School of Law (Bloomington) in 1933, but later chose to pursue acting.

Billed as Herbert Vigran, he appeared on Broadway in three plays from 1935 through 1938: Achilles Had a Heel (1935), Cyrano de Bergerac (1936), and Having Wonderful Time (1937). He also toured in Cyrano de Bergerac.

After starting out on Broadway, Vigran soon moved to Hollywood with no money and only the Broadway acting experience. He first worked in radio in 1937 on Five Star Final and Our Gal Sunday. In 1939, Vigran's agent helped him secure a lead in the radio drama Silver Theatre. The actor had a $5 recording made of the radio show and used it as a demo to get other jobs with his unique voice. He performed in radio shows with the likes of Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Lucille Ball and Jimmy Durante.

Vigran had basic training with the Army in 1943, after which he was made responsible for entertainment at Torney General Hospital in Palm Springs. He was released in October 1945.

He later had hundreds of television appearances on shows like Adventures of Superman (six episodes), Dragnet (eleven episodes), The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (seven episodes), The Dick Van Dyke Show (three episodes), Perry Mason (two episodes), Dragnet 1967 (seven episodes), Petticoat Junction (one episode, 1969), and The Brady Bunch (two episodes). Vigran had a recurring role as Judge Brooker in Gunsmoke between 1970 and 1975. He appeared in four I Love Lucy episodes, and in the 1954 episode titled "Lucy Is Envious", Vigran is the promoter who hired Lucy and Ethel to dress up as "Women from Mars" for a publicity stunt. With his bushy eyebrows and balding pate, he was easily cast in a wide variety of middle-aged "everyman" roles: cops, small-time crooks, judges, jurors, bartenders, repairmen, neighbors, shopkeepers, etc.

Vigran had a small but significant role in Charlie Chaplin's Monsieur Verdoux (1947) as a reporter who interviews Chaplin as the title character while he is awaiting execution, while 1954's White Christmas starring Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye saw Vigran in the role of Novello, a nightclub owner who ushers in the stars to see his floor show attraction, The Haines Sisters.

In the rock and roll movie Go, Johnny, Go! (1959), Vigran played an assistant to promoter Alan Freed and performed dialogue scenes with rock musician Chuck Berry. He also provided the voice of "Whitney's boss" in a series of Arrowhead bottled water commercials for television and radio in the 1960s.^{[citation needed]}

In 1952, Vigran married Belle Pasternack. The couple had two sons.

Vigran was active up until his death.

Vigran died of complications from cancer at age 76 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was cremated.^{[citation needed]}

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