Biography
American actor Milton Frome made an unlikely film debut as the cowboy star of Grand National's
Ride 'Em Cowgirl (1939)--unlikely in that the tall, bald actor spent the rest of his career playing nervous corporate types and "second bananas" for some of show business' greatest clowns. After touring with the USO during World War II, the vaudeville-trained Frome was an early arrival on the television scene: he worked as a straight man and foil on
Milton Berle's variety series, and also functioned as the hapless target of the antics of Martin and Lewis on
The Colgate Comedy Hour. The actor was also busy in live and filmed detective and action series (he frequently appeared in
Superman with his good friend
George Reeves) as well as in two-reel comedies with The Three Stooges. After
Jerry Lewis broke away from
Dean Martin, Frome continued to function as one of Lewis' stock company in such films as
The Delicate Delinquent (1957),
The Nutty Professor (1963) and
Disorderly Orderly (1964). TV sitcom buffs remember Milton Frome best as Lawrence Chapman, the hapless mogul who ran a film studio owned by rustic millionaire Jed Clampett on
The Beverly Hillbillies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide