[3] He was a 1931[4] graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University,[2] where he participated in debate,[1] and he acted in the Cleveland Play House theater company.

[2] His obituary in The New York Times explained, "Mr. Weist, who played Adolf Hitler and Franklin D. Roosevelt, among many others, received his nickname because of his ability to imitate a broad range of accents and ages.

"[2] Weist even made an adjustment in 1935 after Hitler had surgery to create a milder, more soothing vocal tone.

Some of Weist's friends watched as he listened to a speech by Hitler and immediately afterward spoke in the newer tone himself.

His character was a quiet painter, free artist very far from art business and lost in the NY exhibition of his paintings.

Élisabeth (Kim Basinger) tries desperatly to make a connection as she feels lost in her life and closer to him than to anybody else at that moment.

On television, Weist was the announcer on Search for Tomorrow[18] and worked on Walter Cronkite's Sunday News Special and Guy Lombardo's Diamond Jubilee.