American character actor specializing in villainous roles. Born in White Plains, New York to Herman E. and Franceska Lauter, he was raised in Denver, Colorado. Although it has been suggested that he appeared briefly in a couple of films during the Thirties, his real movie career began in 1946. He came to be a familiar presence in low-budget films, serials, and television programs in the 1950s, though he only once really came close to stardom, as one of the leads in the television series Tales of the Texas Rangers (1955). Most of his career was spent as a serviceable second lead or heavy, though he continued to play bit parts in larger pictures. The son of an artist, he devoted much of his energy late in life to his own painting and running an art gallery. He died in 1990.
