He was born in Dublin, Ireland and died in Redlands, California, after injuries sustained in a road accident.

He also played in musical comedies in New York City and in vaudeville theatres like Earl Carroll's Vanities.

He supported comedians like Charley Chase and appeared in Lights of New York (1928), the first all-talking picture.

He mostly played small roles, often as an Irish cop, gangster or cab driver.

His best film role was perhaps the Polish actor Bronski who disguises himself as Adolf Hitler in Ernst Lubitsch's To Be or Not to Be (1942).