Herburt Vigran, 76; Radio, TV, Film Actor

Character actor Herburt (Herb) Vigran, who portrayed a series of tough cops in such films as “Bedtime for Bonzo” but went outside the law in efforts to destroy the Man of Steel on the old “Adventures of Superman” TV series, is dead at age 76.

Vigran died Saturday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where the Woodland Hills resident had been hospitalized for about a month with complications from cancer, said his son, Richard.

Vigran, a law school graduate who passed the Bar exam in Indiana in the 1930s but chose acting over the law, was one of several villains used regularly on the “Superman” series of the 1950s.

He also was seen regularly on the old “I Love Lucy” and “Gunsmoke” television series.

On radio he probably was best known as “The Sad Sack,” a 1946 program that told of the travails of a GI re-entering civilian life.

His other radio credits included “Father Knows Best,” “Sara’s Private Caper,” “Family Skeleton” and “Tales of the Texas Rangers.”

Last year he received the Diamond Circle Award for his contributions to radio from the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters.

Vigran made his first Broadway appearance in 1937 in “Having a Wonderful Time” and then in “Boy Meets Girl.”

In “Bedtime for Bonzo,” he played a policeman who helped question Ronald Reagan about the theft of a necklace by Bonzo, the chimp who was being raised as a human being.

Vigran’s film credits also included “White Christmas” with Bing Crosby.

He is survived by his wife, Belle, and another son, Robert.