Known for uttering one of the most famous ending lines to a movie: "Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown." (in Chinatown (1974)).
He served in the Army during World War II and, some time between his discharge and his film debut, in 1949, he changed his name, adding an "L" and altering the pronunciation from "MON-tle" to "man-TELL.".
Prolific American character actor who appeared on the Broadway stage and later became a familiar face guesting in a staple of classic television series in the 50s and 60s. He was the son of an émigré Austrian butcher and served with the U.S. Army during World War II. In addition to his work on The Twilight Zone (1959), he is also fondly remembered as J.J. Gittes Jack Nicholson's partner in Chinatown (1974), who speaks the final line in the film: "Forget it Jake. It's Chinatown".
He has appeared in three films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Marty (1955), The Birds (1963) and Chinatown (1974).
He had three children with his wife, Mary: son, Robert; and daughters, Jeanne, and Cathy.