Amiable lead and character actor Dean Jagger worked as a vaudeville and stage actor before debuting onscreen in 1929. During his long career (spanning over five decades), he played a wide variety of roles. The first few years of his screen career were spent in minor films, prompting him to quit making films in the mid-'30s and focus on Broadway; having made his name on stage, Jagger came back to films in 1940 to play lead roles. For his work in Twelve O'Clock High (1950), he won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. He did much TV work, and in the '60s was popular as high school principal Albert Vance in the TV series Mr. Novak.