15 Facts About Julius Tannen

Julius Tannen was an American monologist in vaudeville.

Julius Tannen was known to stage audiences for his witty improvisations and creative word games.

Julius Tannen had a successful career as a character actor in films, appearing in over 50 films in his 25-year film career.

Julius Tannen is probably best known to film audiences from the musical Singin' in the Rain, in which he appears as the man demonstrating a talking picture early in the film.

Julius Tannen worked as a private secretary until he was 21.

Julius Tannen made his professional vaudeville debut at the age of 21, and soon developed into a monologist, the predecessor to today's stand up comic.

Julius Tannen went on to appear in three other productions in the next year.

Julius Tannen appeared again on Broadway in 1916, and returned again in 1920, in a comic play with music, Her Family Tree, for which he received credit for writing his own scenes.

Julius Tannen was seen in two editions of Earl Carroll's Vanities, in 1925 and 1926, and in George White's Scandals.

The advent of talking pictures created a need in Hollywood for performers with stage experience, and Julius Tannen appeared in his first film in 1935, when he did an uncredited bit in Stranded.

Julius Tannen has appeared in films until 1959, when he was seen in an uncredited role in director John Sturges' Last Train from Gun Hill.

Julius Tannen continued to work until he suffered a stroke in 1964.

When Julius Tannen was 19 years old, he married Beatrice Muhleman.

Julius Tannen died at the age of 84, on January 3,1965, at the Motion Picture Country Home in Woodland Hills, California.

Lucille Ball said that seeing Julius Tannen perform in her hometown of Jamestown, New York when she was a child inspired her to go into show business.