Jay Novello

Who was Jay Novello?

Jay Novello was an American radio, film, and television character actor.

Born in Chicago as Michael Romano, of Italian descent, Novello began his career as a radio actor, having played Jack Packard on the Hollywood version of I Love a Mystery for a brief period in the middle 1940s. He usually put his suave, cultured voice and dexterity at accents to use in supporting roles, often of an ethnic nature.

He was heard regularly on Rocky Jordan, the radio version of The Lone Wolf, and the long-running serial One Man's Family. He was also heard on Escape, Crime Classics, Lux Radio Theater, Suspense, and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, among others.

In film, Novello alternated between pompous or fussy professionals and assorted ethnic roles, often as Italian or Hispanic characters. One of his earliest and more familiar film appearances is in the 1945 Laurel and Hardy comedy The Bullfighters, in which Novello plays a Latin restaurateur. Though prolific in the movies, Novello was limited mostly to bits in minor films, one of his more noteworthy assignments being the officious Spanish consul in Frank Capra's Pocketful of Miracles.