Ned Sparks

Life and career Sparks was born in Guelph, Ontario, but moved to St. Thomas, Ontario, where he grew up. He left home at 16 and attempted prospecting in the Klondike Gold Rush. After running out of money, he began performing. Billed as a "Singer of Sweet Southern Songs" and costumed in a straw hat, short pants and bare feet, he won a spot as a singer on a travelling musical company's tour. At 19, he returned to Canada and briefly attended a Toronto seminary. He then worked for the railway and in theatre in Toronto. In 1907, he moved to New York City to try his hand in the Broadway theatre, where he appeared in his first show in 1912.

On Broadway, Sparks developed his trademark deadpan expression while portraying a hotel clerk in the play Little Miss Brown. His success caught the attention of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio head Louis B. Mayer, who signed him to a six-picture deal. Sparks appeared in numerous silent films before making his "talkie" debut in The Big Noise (1928). From 1915 to 1947 he appeared in some 90 pictures.

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 $100,000 with Lloyd's of London. Sparks later admitted the story was a publicity stunt and he was insured for only $10,000. In another stunt, the studio offered a reward of $10,000 to anyone who could capture Sparks smiling in a photograph.

Sparks is particularly known for the wry, comic characters he portrayed in iconic pre-Code Hollywood pictures, mostly as a contract player at Warner Bros., such as Blessed Event (1932), 42nd Street (1933), Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933), Lady for a Day (1933), and Sing and Like It (1934).

Sparks was often caricatured in cartoons, including the Jack-in-the-Box character in the Disney short Broken Toys (1935), 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 (1941). He also voiced the cartoon characters Heckle and Jeckle in 1950.

Sparks appeared in ten Broadway productions

Complete filmography YearTitleRole Notes 1915 The Little Miss Brown Night clerk Short Lost film 1919 The Social Pirate Harry Barnes A Temperamental Wife The Hotel Clerk A Virtuous Vamp Mr. Bell 1920 Nothing But the Truth The Monocle Man Lost film In Search of a Sinner Waiter Lost film The Perfect Woman Grimes, the Anarchist Good References Peter Stearns 1922 A Wide Open Town Si Ryan Lost film The Bond Boy Cyrus Morgan Lost film 1923 Easter Bonnets Short Lost film 1924 One Night It Rained Short Lost film The Law Forbids Clyde Vernon Incomplete film 1925 Asleep in the Deep Short Lost film The Boomerang Bert Hanks His Supreme Moment Adrian Lost film Faint Perfume Orrin Crumb Lost film Seven Keys to Baldpate Bland Lost film Bright Lights Barney Gallagher Lost film The Only Thing Gibson Alternative title: Four Flaming Days Soul Mates Tancred's chauffeur 1926 Mike Slinky Lost film The Auction Block Nat Saluson Lost film Money Talks Lucius Fenton Incomplete film The Hidden Way Mulligan When the Wife's Away Love's Blindness Valet Lost film Oh, What a Night! "Slickry" Benton Lost film Twinkletoes 1927 The Secret Studio The Plumber Lost film Alias the Deacon "Slim" Sullivan Alias the Lone Wolf Phinuit The Small Bachelor J. Hamilton Beamish Lost film 1928 On to Reno Herbert Holmes Lost film The Big Noise William Howard Lost film Alias the Deacon Slim Sullivan The Magnificent Flirt Tim Lost film 1929 The Canary Murder Case Tony Sheel Strange Cargo Yacht First Mate Nothing But the Truth Clarence van Dyke Street Girl Happy Winter Love Comes Along Happy 1930 Double Cross Roads Happy Max The Devil's Holiday Charlie Thorne The Fall Guy Dan Walsh Conspiracy Winthrop Clavering Leathernecking Sparks 1931 Kept Husbands Hughie Hanready Iron Man Riley The Secret Call Bert Benedict The Way of All Fish Ned Short Strife of the Party Short Corsair Slim The Wide Open Spaces Sheriff Jack Rancid Short 1932 Big Dame Hunting Ned Short The Miracle Man Harry Evans Blessed Event George Moxley Big City Blues "Stacky" Stackhouse The Crusader Eddie Crane 1933 42nd Street Barry Secrets Sunshine Gold Diggers of 1933 Barney Hopkins Lady for a Day Happy McGuire Too Much Harmony Lem Spawn Alice in Wonderland The Caterpillar Going Hollywood Bert Conroy Alternative title: Cinderella's Fella 1934 Hi, Nellie! Shammy Sing and Like It Toots McGuire Private Scandal Inspector Riordan Down to Their Last Yacht Captain "Sunny Jim" Roberts Servants' Entrance Hjalmar Gnu Marie Galante Plosser Imitation of Life Elmer Smith Sweet Adeline Dan Herzig 1935 Sweet Music "Ten Percent" Nelson George White's 1935 Scandals Elmer White 1936 Collegiate "Scoop" Oakland Two's Company Al The Bride Walks Out Paul Dodson 1937 One in a Million Daniel "Danny" Simpson Wake Up and Live Steve Cluskey This Way Please Inky Wells 1938 Hawaii Calls Strings 1939 The Star Maker Speed King 1941 For Beauty's Sake Jonathan B. Sweet 1943 Stage Door Canteen Cameo as himself 1947 Magic Town Ike