[1] Early in his career he had many featured roles, in such films as: RKO's The Runaway Bride in 1929, starring Mary Astor; 1931's Ten Cents a Dance, starring Barbara Stanwyck and directed by Lionel Barrymore; and White Heat in 1934.

He would occasionally receive a starring role, as in 1930's Just Like Heaven, which co-starred Anita Louise.

Some of the more notable films he appeared in include: A Star is Born (1937), which stars Janet Gaynor and Fredric March; Blondie (1938); the Bette Davis vehicle, Dark Victory (1939); Day-Time Wife (1939), starring Tyrone Power and Linda Darnell; It's a Wonderful World (1939), with James Stewart and Claudette Colbert; Rings on Her Fingers (1942), starring Henry Fonda and Gene Tierney; the Danny Kaye and Dinah Shore film, Up in Arms (1944), which also stars Dana Andrews; 1947's Killer McCoy with Mickey Rooney, Brian Donlevy, and Ann Blyth; Homecoming (1948), starring Clark Gable, Lana Turner, and Anne Baxter; That Wonderful Urge (1949), starring Tyrone Power and Gene Tierney; David and Bathsheba (1951), starring Gregory Peck and Susan Hayward; and Cecil B. DeMille's 1952 blockbuster, The Greatest Show on Earth.

His final appearance in film was in 1954's The Eddie Cantor Story, in which he had a small supporting role.

[3] In the late 1940s he also began working as a make-up artist, which he transitioned full-time to in 1955; this was due to injuries sustained during a car accident, which left him physically disfigured.