Biography for
Barney Phillips More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

20 October 1913, St. Louis, Missouri, USA

Date of Death

17 August 1982, Los Angeles, California, USA (cancer)

Birth Name

Bernard Philip Ofner

Height

5' 7" (1.70 m)

Spouse

Marie A. Davis

(? - 17 August 1982) (his death)

Trivia

Portrayed Sergeant Ed Jacobs on NBC Radio's "Dragnet" (1951-1952). He replaced Barton Yarborough, who had died at the end of 1951. He appeared in 11 episodes (4-14) as Jacobs.

His parents are interred at the New Mt. Sinai Cemetery in St. Louis. New Mt. Sinai is a Jewish cemetery.

Barney's parents were Harry Nathan and Leona Ofner. Leona's maiden name was Frank. She was born in Germany.

He was employed by Lloyd Chase Productions, 6513 Hollywood Blvd.

Barney enlisted in the army on 18 June, 1941 in Los Angeles under the name Bernard P. Ofner. According to the record he had 4 years of college and was unmarried at the time. His occupation was listed as: Actor (Motion picture actor) or Director, Motion Picture (Motion picture director) or Entertainer.

He was in the Army Signal Corps during World War II.

Barney graduated from college in 1935 and started acting shortly thereafter.

After Barney disappeared from Dragnet after the first season, it was widely believed that he had died. Apparently viewers confused him with Barton Yarborough who had died early in the first season. After several friends expressed surprise at seeing him, having believed that he had died, he took out an ad in Hollywood assuring people that he was alive and well and available to work.

Fondly remembered as the Venusian invader masquerading as soda jerk Haley, behind the diner counter of the original Twilight Zone episode "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up ?". The final denouement, in which he removes his cap revealing a third eye, must go down as one of the imperishable moments in TV history.