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Known for his distinctive look, Jewish-American character actor Milton Selzer was a familiar face throughout the 1960s and 1970s, often portraying unsympathetic mobsters, gamblers, and criminals with a sorrowful, almost pitiable nuance in many popular crime dramas, including The Untouchables (1959), The Fugitive (1963), Hawaii Five-O (1968), and Mission: Impossible (1966). With his trademark gloomy expression, bulbous nose, and spoon-shaped ears, Selzer enjoyed a career spanning more than five decades.
Born in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1918, Selzer moved with his family to Portsmouth, New Hampshire during his youth. After graduating from Portsmouth High School in 1936, he attended the University of New Hampshire before serving in World War II. In the 1940s, he relocated to New York and trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and The New School, landing minor roles in Broadway classics such as Richard III, Julius Caesar, and Arms and the Man. By the late 1950s, he shifted focus to film and particularly television’s Golden Age, establishing himself in solid ethnic roles ranging from German to Arab characters.
In 1960, Selzer made a permanent move to Los Angeles. His film appearances included The Last Mile (1959), The Young Savages (1961), Alfred Hitchcock’s Marnie (1964), The Cincinnati Kid (1965), The Legend of Lylah Clare (1968), In Enemy Country (1968), and Lady Sings the Blues (1972). However, it was television where he truly flourished, accumulating hundreds of guest roles. He occasionally portrayed more respectable characters such as store owners, judges, and colonels, consistently bringing authenticity and depth to every role.
Later in his career, Selzer secured regular roles in series like Needles and Pins (1973) and The Famous Teddy Z (1989). Approaching 80 years old, he retired in the late 1990s and passed away from pulmonary and stroke complications just before turning 88 in Oxnard, California.
