Glass was born in Radom, Congress Poland, Russian Empire, to a Jewish family.^[1] He emigrated to the United States at an early age and grew up in New York City.^[2] He attended City College.^[3]

Glass worked in vaudeville,^[2] and appeared on Broadway in 1931 in the Elmer Rice play Counsellor-at-Law.^[4] He continued to act and direct on Broadway until 1936,^[5] when he was signed as a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player.^[6]

He made his first film appearance in 1937 with an uncredited role in True Confession, and his first credited film appearance came in two episodes of the serial Dick Tracy Returns (1938).^{[citation needed]} Beginning in 1937, Glass worked regularly in films, helped by friends such as producer John Houseman.^{[citation needed]} He was a frequent member of Columbia Pictures' short subjects department roster, and a favorite of directors Jules White and Del Lord.^{[citation needed]} White prominently featured Glass in The Three Stooges' 1940 short Nutty But Nice and costarred him with Buster Keaton in the 1939 short Mooching Through Georgia. A Toluca Lake neighbor friend of Moe Howard of The Three Stooges, which inspired the myth that Moe arranged for Glass to have parts in Stooges' films; actually, Howard had little to no input into casting.^[2] Glass also appeared in other Three Stooges shorts Three Little Sew and Sews (1939), From Nurse to Worse (1940), You Nazty Spy! (1940) and I'll Never Heil Again (1941). He did not appear in any films released between 1942 and 1947, possibly because of military service, but he generally worked in a handful of films almost every year thereafter, playing small roles and bit parts, including additional Three Stooges shorts Hokus Pokus (1949), Three Hams on Rye (1950) and Flagpole Jitters (1956). He was reportedly briefly blacklisted, during which time he found work as a carpenter.^{[citation needed]} Glass appeared uncredited in the 1952 film The Bad and the Beautiful as the costumer for The Doom of the Cat Men, a film within a film. He played a railroad ticket agent in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest (1959). Highlights of Glass's film career include playing Doc, the drugstore owner, in West Side Story (1961), Popcorn in Blake Edwards's thriller Experiment in Terror (1962), and bad guy Leopold W. Gideon in Stanley Donen's Charade (1963). Other film appearances included the Elvis Presley film Kid Galahad (1962), Who's Got the Action? (1962), Papa's Delicate Condition (1963), Blindfold (1965), A Big Hand for the Little Lady (1966), The Fortune Cookie (1966), Blackbeard's Ghost (1968), Never a Dull Moment (1968), The Love Bug (1969), Lady Sings the Blues (1972), Save the Tiger (1973), The All-American Boy (1973), and the TV movie Goldie and the Boxer (1979). His final film appearance was in the low-budget comedy Street Music (1981).

Glass began showing up on television in 1952, when he was cast on an episode of The Red Skelton Show.^{[citation needed]} He later was frequently seen on CBS in Jackie Gleason's The Honeymooners sketches.^[2] He was in an early episode of Gunsmoke, "The Photographer", as "Old Grubby", a scruffy little prospector who is brutally murdered and scalped to obtain a cheaply thrilling photograph of Western violence. Later in 1958 he played Sam Peeples, a beaten up cowboy forced to take a murder rap. All in all he was in 9 episodes, at times in a recurring role playing a townsman named "Husk". From 1955 to 1958, Glass played Sgt. Andy Pendleton on You'll Never Get Rich (better remembered as The Phil Silvers Show). In 1957, he appeared as Jackson, an arms dealer to Indians, in an episode of the syndicated western series Boots and Saddles. He appeared in the syndicated crime drama Sheriff of Cochise and the ABC western series The Rebel, starring Nick Adams. He also appeared in David Janssen's crime drama Richard Diamond, Private Detective. Glass guest-starred in three sitcoms in the early years of television, NBC's The People's Choice, starring Jackie Cooper; CBS's Angel, with Annie Fargé; and ABC's Guestward, Ho!, starring Joanne Dru. In the fall of 1963, Glass guest-starred in an episode of the 13-week CBS combination sitcom/drama, Glynis, starring British actress Glynis Johns as a mystery writer, with Keith Andes as her attorney-husband. In 1964 he guest-starred in an episode of the sitcom The Cara Williams Show, in 1965 he appeared in an episode of the comedy-drama Kentucky Jones, and in 1966 he appeared in two episodes of The Fugitive, working with David Janssen once more. Glass popped up in the 1967 episode of The Monkees titled "Monkees in the Ring" as fight promoter Joey Sholto, and as convicted forger Freddie the Forger in a fifth-season episode of NBC's Get Smart titled "Do I Hear a Vaults?" (1970).^[7] He played Sol Cooper on the Diahann Carroll vehicle Julia from 1968 to 1971, and was nominated in 1969 for an Emmy Award for his performance in the "A Little Chicken Soup Never Hurt Anybody" episode.^{[citation needed]} Glass also played Uncle Moe Plotnick on the short-lived series Bridget Loves Bernie (1972–1973). In 1981 he appeared on Barney Miller, as Stanley Golden, in the episode "Field Associate" and also in 1975, in the episode "You Dirty Rat", as Mr. Sam Becker, the exterminator, from Becker & Sons. His final TV appearance was as a pickpocket on Cagney & Lacey in 1982.

Glass was married to actress Kitty McHugh, sister of character actor Frank McHugh and bit player Matt McHugh.^{[citation needed]} Kitty committed suicide on 3 September 1954. Glass later married actress Jean (also known as Jhean) Burton, but that marriage ended in divorce.^[6]

Glass died in Encino Hospital in Encino, California, on 15 June 1984 at the age of 78, after a long illness.^[8]

• Ned Glass at the Internet Broadway Database  
• Ned Glass at IMDb
• Ned Glass at the TCM Movie Database
• Ned Glass at AllMovie
• Ned Glass at Rotten Tomatoes
• Ned Glass at the Wayback Machine (archived February 8, 2002) at Great Character Actors
• Obituary in The New York Times