Bob Cummings | 1942 Academy Awards Ceremony

Actor Bob Cummings celebrating at the Academy Awards after-party in 1942.

While he wasn't nominated for his role as the hunted, innocent Barry Crane in director Alfred Hitchcock's "Saboteur" or the union-oraganizing Joe O'Brien in George Stevens' "The Devil and Miss Jones", Cummings' performance in both made an impression on audiences.

The lightweight, reliable comedic actor would be given meatier roles in such notable films as "Kings Row", "Dial M for Murder" and "The Lost Moment".

While Cummings would become a five-time Emmy winner for Best Male Actor in a weekly television series ("Love that Bob"), it was his against-type casting as Juror #8 in the first-ever performance of "12 Angry Men" -- a play that was written especially for CBS's Studio One -- that would define the character for such acting luminaries as Henry Fonda and Jack Lemmon.