Alphonse Martell (1890-1976) was born in Strasbourg (then in Germany, now in France). It is unclear when he travelled to the USA, but he appeared in his first films in 1924, for various minor production companies.
Martell was in at least 200 films and many television episodes, making his final appearance in Mission: Impossible in 1968. His speciality was playing waiters.
Notable productions featuring Martell, almost always without credit, include Possessed (1931), Edgar G Ulmer’s The Black Cat (1934), Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife (1938), I Was an Adventuress (1940), Meet John Doe (1941), The Mask of Dimitrios (1944), The Song of Bernadette (1945), The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952), The Prisoner of Zenda (1952) and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953).
Martell can be seen in eleven MGM musicals: Student Tour, A Night at the Opera, Everybody Sing, Broadway Melody of 1940, I Married an Angel, Bathing Beauty, The Barkleys of Broadway, Rich, Young and Pretty, Show Boat, Lovely To Look At and I’ll Cry Tomorrow.
