Career
A general purpose actor who worked primarily at 20th Century Fox, he had mostly bit and/or supporting parts in movies, appearing in more than two hundred films, including,, There"s Number Business Like Show Business and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes with Marilyn Monroe) (1953),, and Director Preston Sturges once praised Tannen for his acting ability, being quoted as saying, "If you have a middle-aged character part, either Gentile or Jewish, either comic or dramatic, I urge you to give it to Tannen, and I guarantee that you will be enchanted by his authority, his unction, his voice, his theatrical resource, and his profound ability." Tannen also made many appearances on such television series as Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Perry Mason, Lassie, The Twilight Zone, Rawhide, The Rifleman and Jefferson Drum. As a television screenwriter, Tannen wrote episodes for Petticoat Junction, I Dream Of Jeannie, Gilligan"s Island, The Brady Bunch, All In The Family and Maude.
Tannen died in 1980 in San Bernardino, California at the age of 65 of a heart attack.