From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Franklin Pangborn January 23 1889 July 20 1958 was an American comedic character actor famous for playing small but memorable roles with comic flair He appeared in scores of feature films playing essentially the same character prissy polite elegant highly energetic often officious fastidious somewhat nervous prone to becoming flustered but essentially upbeat and with immediately recognizable highspeed pattertype speech He typically played an officious desk clerk in a hotel a selfimportant musician a fastidious headwaiter an enthusiastic birdwatcher and the like and was usually put in a situation of frustration or flustered by the antics of others Pangborn was an effective foil for many major comedians