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Ned Sparks
Acting
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ned Sparks (born Edward Arthur Sparkman, November 19, 1883 – April 3, 1957) was a Canadian-born character actor of the American stage and screen. Sparks was known for his deadpan expression and deep, gravelly voice.
Born in Guelph, Ontario, Sparks left home at age 16 and attempted to work as a gold prospector on the Klondike Gold Rush. After running out of money, he won a spot as a singer on a traveling musical company's tour. At age 19, he returned to Canada and briefly attended a Toronto seminary. After leaving the seminary, he worked for the railroad and worked in theater in Toronto. In 1907, he left Toronto for New York City to try his hand in the …
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ned Sparks (born Edward Arthur Sparkman, November 19, 1883 – April 3, 1957) was a Canadian-born character actor of the American stage and screen. Sparks was known for his deadpan expression and deep, gravelly voice. Born in Guelph, Ontario, Sparks left home at age 16 and attempted to work as a gold prospector on the Klondike Gold Rush. After running out of money, he won a spot as a singer on a traveling musical company's tour. At age 19, he returned to Canada and briefly attended a Toronto seminary. After leaving the seminary, he worked for the railroad and worked in theater in Toronto. In 1907, he left Toronto for New York City to try his hand in the Broadway theatre, where he appeared in his first show in 1912. While working on Broadway, Sparks developed his trademark deadpan expression while portraying the role of a desk clerk in the play Little Miss Brown. His success on the stage soon caught the attention of MGM's Louis B. Mayer who signed Sparks to a six picture deal. Sparks began appearing in numerous silent films before finally making his "talkie" debut in the 1928 film The Big Noise. In the 1930s, Sparks became known for portraying dour-faced, sarcastic, cigar-chomping characters. He became so associated with the type that, in 1936, The New York Times reported that Sparks had his face insured for USD$100,000 with Lloyd's of London. The market agreed to pay the sum to any photographer who could capture Sparks smiling (Sparks later admitted that the story was a publicity stunt and he was only insured for $10,000). Sparks was also caricatured in cartoons including the Jack-in-the-Box character in the Disney short Broken Toys (1935), and the jester in Mother Goose Goes Hollywood (1938), a hermit crab in both Tex Avery's Fresh Fish (1939) and Bob Clampett's Goofy Groceries (1941), a chicken in Bob Clampett's Slap Happy Pappy (1940), Friz Freleng's Warner Bros. cartoon Malibu Beach Party (1940), and Tex Avery's Hollywood Steps Out (1940). Sparks also voiced the cartoon characters Heckle and Jeckle from 1947 to 1951. Sparks appeared in ten stage productions on Broadway and over 80 films. He retired from films in 1947, saying that everyone should retire at 65
Biography expanded
BODY OF WORK
Ned Sparks's Filmography
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Gold Diggers: FDR'S New Deal... Broadway Bound
as Self (archive footage)
King Tut's Tomb
as Heckle / Jeckle (voice)
Magic Town
as Ike
Stage Door Canteen
as Ned Sparks
For Beauty's Sake
as Jonathan B. Sweet
The Star Maker
as 'Speed' King
Hawaii Calls
as Strings
This Way Please
as Inky Wells
Wake Up and Live
as Steve Cluskey
One in a Million
as Danny Simpson
Two's Company
as Al
The Bride Walks Out
as Paul Dodson
Collegiate
as 'Scoop' Oakland
George White's 1935 Scandals
as Elmer
Sweet Music
as 'Ten Percent' Nelson
Sweet Adeline
as Dan Herzig
Imitation of Life
as Elmer Smith
Marie Galante
as Plosser
Servants' Entrance
as Hjalmar Gnu
Down to Their Last Yacht
as Captain 'Sunny Jim' Roberts
Private Scandal
as Inspector Riordan
Sing and Like It
as Toots McGuire
Hi, Nellie!
as Shammy
Going Hollywood
as Conroy
Alice in Wonderland
as Caterpillar
Too Much Harmony
as Lem Spawn
Lady for a Day
as Happy McGuire
Gold Diggers of 1933
as Barney
Secrets
as Sunshine
42nd Street
as Barry
No Poster
The Crusader
as Eddie Crane
Big City Blues
as Mr. 'Stacky' Stackhouse
Blessed Event
as George Moxley
The Miracle Man
as Harry Evans
No Poster
Big Dame Hunting
as Ned
The Wide Open Spaces
as Sheriff Jack Rancid
Corsair
as Slim
The Secret Call
as Bert Benedict
Iron Man
as Riley
Kept Husbands
as Hughie Hanready
Leathernecking
as Sparks
Conspiracy
as Winthrop 'Little Nemo' Clavering
The Fall Guy
as Danny Walsh
The Devil's Holiday
as Charlie Thorne
Double Cross Roads
as Happy Max
Love Comes Along
as Happy
Street Girl
as Happy Winter
Nothing but the Truth
as Clarence van Dyke
Strange Cargo
as Yacht First Mate
The Canary Murder Case
as Tony Skeel
The Magnificent Flirt
as Tim
The Big Noise
as William Howard
The Small Bachelor
as J. Hamilton Beamish
Alias the Lone Wolf
as Phinuit
Alias The Deacon
as Slim Sullivan
The Secret Studio
as The Plumber
Love's Blindness
as Valet
Twinkletoes
No Poster
When the Wife's Away
The Hidden Way
as Mulligan
The Auction Block
as Nat Saluson
Money Talks
as Lucius Fenton
No Poster
Mike
as Slinky
The Only Thing
as Gibson
Bright Lights
as Barney Gallagher
Seven Keys to Baldpate
Faint Perfume
as Orrin Crumb
Soul Mates
as Tancred's chauffeur
His Supreme Moment
as Adrian
The Boomerang
as Bert Hanks
The Law Forbids
as Clyde Vernon
The Bond Boy
as Cyrus Morgan
A Wide Open Town
as Si Ryan
Good References
as Peter Stearns
The Perfect Woman
as Grimes, the Anarchist
In Search of a Sinner
as Waiter
Nothing But the Truth
as The Monocle Man
A Virtuous Vamp
as Mr. Bell
A Temperamental Wife
as The Hotel Clerk
No Poster
The Little Miss Brown
as Night Clerk