Cliff Osmond Movies
American actor
Cliff Osmond was working in Southern repertory, summer stock and children's theatre when he was plucked from obscurity by director Billy Wilder, who cast Osmond as an oafish gendarme in
Irma La Douce (1963). Osmond remained a loyal and stalwart member of Wilder's unofficial stock company. He played wannabe lyricist Barney Milsap in
Kiss Me, Stupid (1964), flummoxed insurance detective Purkey in
The Fortune Cookie (1966), and political stooge Jacobi in The Front Page (1974). After his "Wilder" days, Osmond was seen in such menacing roles as Pap in the 1981 TV adaptation of
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In 1988, Cliff Osmond wrote and produced the independent feature The Penitent. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
