In the early sound film era, Lake typically played light romantic roles, often with a comic "Mama's Boy" tone to them, such as 1931's Indiscreet, starring Gloria Swanson.

In 1943 Columbia discontinued the Blondie series and dismissed Penny Singleton but retained Arthur Lake—leading men were hard to find during wartime.

He also lent his voice to a series of military cartoons produced by Warner Bros. for the U. S. Navy in 1945; Lake played "Mr. Hook," a hapless sailor learning the value of war bonds.

Popular demand caused Columbia to reinstate the Blondie pictures in 1945, reuniting Lake with Singleton until the series finally ended in 1950.

Arthur Lake dabbled in film production in 1948, in partnership with independent filmmaker Irving Allen, who had won the Academy Award for his short subject Climbing the Matterhorn, released by Monogram Pictures.

[5][6][7][8] In his book about the Black Dahlia murder case, author Donald H. Wolfe asserts that Arthur Lake was questioned by the Los Angeles Police Department as a suspect, having been acquainted with the victim through her volunteer work at the Hollywood Canteen.

Lake died of a heart attack in Indian Wells, California, on January 9, 1987, and is interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, in the Douras family mausoleum, along with actress Marion Davies and her husband, Horace G.