- Born
- DiedApril 27, 1950 · Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA (complications following an operation)
- Worried-looking, balding, moustachioed and usually bespectacled small part character actor, prolific during the 1930s and 40s. Hobart Cavanaugh played downtrodden or henpecked little men -- the perennial victim, forever nervous or bewildered -- to absolute perfection. He was most at home as clerks, mailmen, minor officials, undertakers, shopkeepers and bank tellers. However, when called upon, he could be just as convincing as a sneaky or vaguely sinister villain's accomplice.
A former engineering student at the University of California, Cavanaugh began his acting career on the stage, making his debut on Broadway in 1916. He entered films, somewhat inauspiciously, with a forgotten B-picture, which was shot in New York by the independent Gotham Company. It took another five years, until he was signed by First National/Warner Brothers, where he remained under contract until 1936, thereafter free-lancing. His mild-mannered personae remained in constant demand in Hollywood, for he tallied up an impressive 190 screen appearances -- though often uncredited -- right up until his death in 1950.- IMDb Mini Biography By: I.S.Mowis
- SpouseFlorence Heston(August 7, 1913 - April 27, 1950) (his death, 1 child)
- Daughter Patricia.
- Appeared in five Best Picture Oscar nominees: A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935), Captain Blood (1935), Three Smart Girls (1936), The Human Comedy (1943) and A Letter to Three Wives (1949).
- He appeared in three films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: State Fair (1933), Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933) and Footlight Parade (1933). All three were released in 1933.
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