Ralph Manza

Ralph Manza was an American character actor whose career in film and television ran to more than 160 appearances. Born in San Francisco, he studied pre-med at UC-Berkeley before he was drafted during World War II; assigned to an Army acting troupe, he toured Iceland in musicals and afterward trained at Elizabeth Halloway's School of Acting in San Francisco. He joined the ABC soap opera General Hospital in 1963 as Mike Costello, then became a familiar guest actor on primetime series, from Highway Patrol and Alfred Hitchcock Presents to The Twilight Zone, Gunsmoke, Barney Miller, The Golden Girls and, later, Seinfeld and Friends. He played assistant district attorney Al Bonacorsi in The D.A.'s Man in 1959 and the chauffeur Jay Drury on Banacek. His film work included Hitler in Mel Brooks's Blazing Saddles (1974) and a fisherman in Godzilla (1998).