Diminutive former vaudevillian whose screen humor was of the fast, physical and furious kind. Beginning his career with Paramount in 1940, Bracken was at his hilariously frenzied, bumbling, stuttering best in two Preston Sturges films: "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek" and "Hail The Conquering Hero" (both 1944). One critic at the time described the typical Bracken role as "the long-suffering, plaintive type who muddles through difficult situations, never knowing quite how he escapes with a whole skin." He briefly achieved star status in these and several other comedies and musicals at Paramount,