Actor. He is best remembered for his recurring portrayal of the level-headed Sergeant Biff O'Hara on the television series "The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin". Born Joseph Sauers, after working in stock companies, he immigrated to the United States in 1926 to pursue a career in the motion picture industry. After attaining additional training at the Pasadena Playhouse, he was discovered by director William A. Wellman during a casting call for extras at Warner Bros. Studios. Impressed by his blonde good looks, professionalism, and articulate voice, he arranged for him to begin a career in the film and television industry beginning with him being under his supervision in a minor role in "The Public Enemy" (1931). From there, he would go on to appear in over 200 features; often typecast as gangsters, con-artists, gamblers, henchmen, jailbirds, doctors, politicians, pharmacists, husbands, fathers, doctors, lawyers, jurors, curmudgeons, landlords, best friends, neighbors, clergymen, immigrants, blue-collared guys, detectives, photographers, reporters, chauffeurs, waiters, servants, boyfriends, eccentrics, soldiers, sailors, cowboys, sheriffs, policemen, guards, and patriarchs. He appeared in such feature films as "Surrender" (1931), "Shopworm" (1932), "College Humor" (1933), "Jimmy the Gent" (1934), "Eight Balls" (1935), "The Petrified Forest" (1936), "Navy Blues" (1937), "Passport Husband" (1938), "Union Pacific" (1939), "The Grapes of Wrath" (1940), "Santa Fe Trail" (1941), "Fall In" (1942), "Prairie Chickens" (1943), "Moon Over Las Vegas" (1944), "The Naughty Nineties" (1945), "Gilda" (1946), "Christmas Eve" (1947), "Fighting Father Dunne" (1948), "Pinky" (1949), "Curtain Call at Cactus Creek" (1950), "Pride of Maryland" (1951), "Mr. Walkie Talkie" (1952), "It Came from Outer Space" (1953), "Johnny Dark" (1954), "The Killing" (1956), "North to Alaska" (1960), and "How the West Was Won" (1962). During the advent of television, he flourished as a household name appearing in various guest spots on such syndicated sitcoms as "Racket Squad," "Stories of the Century," "The Abbott and Costello Show," "It's a Great Life," "Sugarfoot," "Maverick," "Peter Gunn," "Bat Masterson," "Harrigan and Son," "Surfside 6," and "Everglades!". During his career, he was a member of the Screen Actors Guild, was supportive of the Motion Picture and Television Fund, had been a regular parishioner of the Catholic church, was an active member of the Hollywood Democratic Committee, presided as a chairman for his local charters of the American Red Cross and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, was one of the founding members of the Canyon Theatre Guild, and he was married to fellow actresses Jeane Wood from 1930 to 1933 and June Golden from 1937 to 1960 (his first union ended in divorce, the second concluded upon Golden's death, and from his final marriage he fathered five children). In 1962, he retired from acting and spent the final years of his life dividing time between his homes in California and Oregon, was a keen player of the stock market, and focused on charitable and religious causes, until his death from the complications of liver cancer.