Barney Phillips

Bernard Philip Ofner (October 20, 1913 – August 17, 1982), better known by his stage name Barney Phillips, was an American film, television, and radio actor. His roles include that of Sgt. Ed Jacobs on the 1950s Dragnet television series, appearances in the 1960s on The Twilight Zone, in which he played a Venusian living under cover on Earth in "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?", and a supporting role as actor Fletcher Huff in the 1970s CBS series The Betty White Show. Biography and career He was born in St Louis, Missouri, to Harry Nathan Ofner, a commercial salesman for the leather industry, and Leona (Frank) Ofner, a naturalized citizen of German origin, who went by the nickname Lonnie. He grew up and was educated in St. Louis, then moved to Los Angeles after he graduated from college in 1935. Interested in acting, he got a small part in an independently produced Grade-B Western called Black Aces in 1937, but his show business career then languished. In 1940, he was in Meet the People on Broadway. Phillips enlisted in the United States Army in July 1941, serving in the signal corps during World War II.