Ned Sparks
Photoplayd Industry Rating
Not enough rated films yet to compute a weighted score.
Roles are weighted by involvement: director 1.0, screenwriter 0.7, lead 0.8, supporting 0.4, crew 0.1.
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
Known for
Credits
42nd Street (1933)
as Barry
Magic Town (1947)
as Ike
Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
as Barney
Alice in Wonderland (1933)
as Caterpillar
Imitation of Life (1934)
as Elmer Smith
Lady for a Day (1933)
as Happy McGuire
Stage Door Canteen (1943)
as Ned Sparks
Private Scandal (1934)
as Inspector Riordan
Hi, Nellie! (1934)
as Shammy
Kept Husbands (1931)
as Hughie Hanready
The Bride Walks Out (1936)
as Paul Dodson
Collegiate (1935)
as 'Scoop' Oakland
Marie Galante (1934)
as Plosser
Iron Man (1931)
as Riley
Secrets (1933)
as Sunshine
The Fall Guy (1930)
as Danny Walsh
Wake Up and Live (1937)
as Steve Cluskey
The Hidden Way (1926)
as Mulligan
The Miracle Man (1932)
as Harry Evans
Blessed Event (1932)
as George Moxley
Love's Blindness (1926)
as Valet
Going Hollywood (1933)
as Conroy
Alias the Lone Wolf (1927)
as Phinuit
A Wide Open Town (1922)
as Si Ryan
Street Girl (1929)
as Happy Winter
Big City Blues (1932)
as Mr. 'Stacky' Stackhouse
One in a Million (1937)
as Danny Simpson
The Star Maker (1939)
as 'Speed' King
For Beauty's Sake (1941)
as Jonathan B. Sweet
The Canary Murder Case (1929)
as Tony Skeel
Conspiracy (1930)
as Winthrop 'Little Nemo' Clavering
Hawaii Calls (1938)
as Strings
The Devil's Holiday (1930)
as Charlie Thorne
The Little Miss Brown (1915)
as Night Clerk
Servants' Entrance (1934)
as Hjalmar Gnu
Leathernecking (1930)
as Sparks
The Only Thing (1925)
as Gibson
Sing and Like It (1934)
as Toots McGuire
The Secret Studio (1927)
as The Plumber
Corsair (1931)
as Slim
The Bond Boy (1923)
as Cyrus Morgan
George White's 1935 Scandals (1935)
as Elmer
Sweet Adeline (1934)
as Dan Herzig
The Magnificent Flirt (1928)
as Tim
The Wide Open Spaces (1931)
as Sheriff Jack Rancid
A Temperamental Wife (1919)
as The Hotel Clerk
Nothing but the Truth (1929)
as Clarence van Dyke
Good References (1920)
as Peter Stearns
King Tut's Tomb (1950)
as Heckle / Jeckle (voice)
The Perfect Woman (1920)
as Grimes, the Anarchist
Alias The Deacon (1927)
as Slim Sullivan
Two's Company (1936)
as Al
Too Much Harmony (1933)
as Lem Spawn
His Supreme Moment (1925)
as Adrian
This Way Please (1937)
as Inky Wells
Twinkletoes (1926)
Actor
Sweet Music (1935)
as 'Ten Percent' Nelson
The Secret Call (1931)
as Bert Benedict
Big Dame Hunting (1932)
as Ned
Double Cross Roads (1930)
as Happy Max
When the Wife's Away (1926)
Actor
Strange Cargo (1929)
as Yacht First Mate
The Crusader (1932)
as Eddie Crane
The Big Noise (1928)
as William Howard
Money Talks (1926)
as Lucius Fenton
The Boomerang (1925)
as Bert Hanks
Love Comes Along (1930)
as Happy
The Small Bachelor (1927)
as J. Hamilton Beamish
Down to Their Last Yacht (1934)
as Captain 'Sunny Jim' Roberts
Gold Diggers: FDR'S New Deal... Broadway Bound (2006)
as Self (archive footage)
In Search of a Sinner (1920)
as Waiter
The Law Forbids (1924)
as Clyde Vernon
Seven Keys to Baldpate (1925)
Actor
Faint Perfume (1925)
as Orrin Crumb
Mike (1926)
as Slinky
Bright Lights (1925)
as Barney Gallagher
The Auction Block (1926)
as Nat Saluson
Soul Mates (1925)
as Tancred's chauffeur
A Virtuous Vamp (1919)
as Mr. Bell
Nothing But the Truth (1920)
as The Monocle Man