George Tobias

 George Tobias (July 14, 1901 – February 27, 1980) was one of Hollywood’s great character actors, a genial “tough guy” who followed his own dream from New York’s Lower East Side to five decades on stage and screen. The son of Russian‑Jewish immigrants active in Yiddish theatre, he began acting at 15 in local productions, studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse, and made his Broadway debut in his early twenties before a Warner Bros. scout brought him to Hollywood in the late 1930s. There he became a reliable face in more than 60 films, often as the none‑too‑bright but big‑hearted pal of the lead, appearing in classics like Ninotchka, Sergeant York, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Mildred Pierce, and The Glenn Miller Story. In the 1950s he moved easily into television with shows such as Our Miss Brooks, Adventures in Paradise, The Untouchables and Perry Mason, but he reached his widest fame in the 1960s as long‑suffering neighbor Abner Kravitz on Bewitched (and later Tabitha), forever peeking through the curtains while his wife ranted about the strange Stephens family next door. Off‑screen, Tobias lived simply and privately; a lifelong bachelor who spent nearly 40 years in an on‑and‑off relationship with actress Milicent Patrick, he preferred a modest ranch in the San Fernando Valley to Hollywood glamour and kept working steadily until his retirement in the late 1970s, remembered by colleagues as a pro who loved the craft more than the spotlight.