Maurice Cass

Maurice Cass (October 12, 1884 – June 8, 1954) was a character actor on stage and in films and television shows.

Maurice Cass
Cass in Exiled to Shanghai (1937)
Born	(1884-10-12)October 12, 1884 Vilna, Russian Empire
Died	June 8, 1954(1954-06-08) (aged 69) Hollywood, California, U.S.
Resting place	Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1932–1954
Spouse	Fay Elaine Geffen ​ (m. 1910)​

Early life

Born in Vilna, Russian Empire (modern day Vilnius, Lithuania) he moved to America at six years of age.^[1] When he was 17, he toured the southern United States with a repertory company.^[2]

Career

His slight build, frizzy hair and pince-nez glasses cast him as the "absent minded professor" or eccentric scientist type in many of his films, such as the character who discovers the element kryptonite in Adventures of Superman.

He is best remembered for his role as Professor Newton in the 1954 TV science fiction show Rocky Jones, Space Ranger, which later was produced as a film Manhunt in Space.

Cass's Broadway credits included The Sky's the Limit (1934), Broadway Boy (1932), Wild Waves (1932), Wonder Boy (1931), Overture (1930), The Violet and One, Two, Three (1930), The Novice and the Duke (1929), The Broken Chain (1929), and Faust (1928).^[3]

Personal life

He married Fay Elaine Geffen in 1910.^[1]

Death

He died of a heart attack at age 69, he is interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) in Glendale, California.^[4]

Selected filmography

• Two for Tonight (1935)
• Arbor Day (1936)
• Charlie Chan at the Opera (1936) (Stage Manager—Mr. Arnold)
• Wife, Doctor and Nurse (1937) - Pompout
• Women of Glamour (1937)
• She Had to Eat (1937)
• The Lady Escapes (1937)
• Exiled to Shanghai (1937)
• The Jones Family in Big Business (1937)
• The Lone Wolf in Paris (1938)
• Josette (1938)
• The Baroness and the Butler (1938)
• Second Fiddle (1939)
• Rose of Washington Square (1939)^[5]
• Sunset Trail (1939)
• Pier 13 (1940)
• Her Lucky Night (1945)
• Paris Underground (1945)
• She Gets Her Man (1945)
• High Conquest (1947)
• Once More, My Darling (1949)
• The Go-Getter (1956)