Vaughan Glaser

Vaughan Glaser (November 17, 1872 – November 23, 1958) was an American stage and film actor. His stage career started a long time before the First World War; he often appeared opposite Fay Courteney in the 1910s. He appeared in seven Broadway productions between 1902 and 1945. In the late 1930s, he turned to Hollywood and played the school principal Bradley in several Henry Aldrich films.

Early years Glaser was born on November 17, 1872, in Cleveland, Ohio.

Career

Stage Glaser's stock company began performing in the Colonial Theatre in Cleveland in 1904 with Laura Nelson Hall as the leading lady. The engagement was initially considered to be short-term, but success kept the troupe there for more than a year. The company performed 57 plays in 61 weeks, with four plays presented for two weeks each. Glaser continued to act in Cleveland until at least 1907, starring in 1,000 productions. According to one journalist, "His picture was on the dressing tables of hundreds of girls."

Film Glaser made his film debut in 1939 as the high-school principal Bradley in What a Life (1939), a role which he had already played in the Broadway play of the same name. Frank S. Nugent raved about Glaser's performance in The New York Times as the "inspired portrait of an elderly high school principal—the weary dignity, the monumental patience (which has seen every possible form of bad boy, heard every possible excuse), the pedagogical deliberation (not unmixed with hamminess), the taste for neatly turned and rhetorically conclusive sentences, the ability to strip a lying pupil to the skin with ruthless professional logic—is not only the most perfect comical characterization of the year, but is something encountered only once or twice in a generation. So flawless has Mr. Glaser become, by dint of long polishing at his performance ("What a Life" played for a year and four months on Broadway), that there is something almost eternal about his conception of Mr. Bradley. If you have gone as far as high school in your academic studies, you will remble in your boots when Mr. Glaser speaks, or looks at you over the tops of his bifocals."

Glaser continued his role as Mr. Bradley during the 1940s in the Henry Aldrich film series, which was based on What a Life. He died on November 23, 1958, in Van Nuys, California.

Filmography Year Title Role Notes1939 What a Life J.C. Bradley 1939 Rulers of the Sea Junius Smith 1940 Those Were the Days! Judge Malachi Scroggs 1940 Girl from Avenue A Bishop Phelps 1941 Meet John Doe Governor 1941 Thieves Fall Out Charles Matthews 1941 Adventure in Washington Bundy 1941 Henry Aldrich for President Mr. Bradley 1942 Saboteur Philip Martin 1942 My Favorite Spy Colonel Moffett 1942 Henry and Dizzy Mr. Bradley 1942 I Married an Angel Fr. Andreas Uncredited1942 The Pride of the Yankees Doctor in Gehrig Home Uncredited1942 Henry Aldrich, Editor Mr. Bradley 1943 Shadow of a Doubt Dr. Phillips Uncredited1943 Henry Aldrich Gets Glamour Mr. Bradley 1943 Henry Aldrich Swings It 1943 Henry Aldrich Haunts a House 1944 Henry Aldrich Plays Cupid 1944 Once Upon a Time Professor Draper - Lepidopterist Uncredited1944 Arsenic and Old Lace Judge Cullman (final film role)