Biography

Worried-looking, balding, moustachioed and usually bespectacled small part character actor, prolific during the 1930s and 40s. Hobart Cavanaugh played downtrodden or henpecked little men -- the perennial victim, forever nervous or bewildered -- to absolute perfection. He was most at home as clerks, mailmen, minor officials, undertakers, shopkeepers and bank tellers. However, when called upon, he could be just as convincing as a sneaky or vaguely sinister villain's accomplice.

A former engineering student at the University of California, Cavanaugh began his acting career on the stage, making his debut on Broadway in 1916. He entered films, somewhat inauspiciously, with a forgotten B-picture, which was shot in New York by the independent Gotham Company. It took another five years, until he was signed by First National/Warner Brothers, where he remained under contract until 1936, thereafter free-lancing. His mild-mannered personae remained in constant demand in Hollywood, for he tallied up an impressive 190 screen appearances -- though often uncredited -- right up until his death in 1950.
- IMDb mini biography by: I.S.Mowis

Daughter Patricia.

Appeared in five Best Picture Oscar nominees: A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935), Captain Blood (1935), Three Smart Girls (1936), The Human Comedy (1943) and A Letter to Three Wives (1949).

He appeared in three films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: State Fair (1933), Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933) and Footlight Parade (1933). All three were released in 1933.