Rudley first appeared on stage in 1926 and had his Broadway debut in 1931, appearing in Did I Say No. Other Broadway credits include How Long Till Summer, Sons and Soldiers, Macbeth, Eight O'Clock Tuesday, Another Sun, The World We Make, The Eternal Road, Battle Hymn, Mother, The Threepenny Opera and We, the People. He also appeared in Abe Lincoln in Illinois. Rudley and Keenan Wynn joined forces in the mid-1940s to create Players Production, a small theater venue in Los Angeles with the goal of presenting revivals of plays. Rudley was also a playwright who, along with Fanya Lawrence, created the farce Adam Ate the Apple.
Film
In 1940 Rudley appeared in the film version of Abe Lincoln in Illinois. For the next four decades he appeared in dozens of supporting film roles, including The Seventh Cross and Rhapsody in Blue, a fictionalized biography of George Gershwin in which he portrayed Ira Gershwin. He appeared in A Walk inthe Sun as a World War II U.S. Army sergeant who experiences a psychological breakdown in combat, Joan of Arc and The Young Lions in which he played an unsympathetic U.S. Army captain.
Television
On television, Rudley appeared both in dramas, often as military men, and comedies. He appeared on seven episodes of the CBS series "You Are There" hosted by Walter Cronkite. He also appeared on My Friend Flicka. In 1957, he guest starred as a Prussian cavalry officer in an episode of the syndicatedwestern series, Boots and Saddles. In 1957, he appeared in the role of Sam Brennan in some early episodes of NBC's western drama, The Californians, set in the San Francisco gold rush of the 1850s. He made four guest appearances on Perry Mason between 1958-1962 including the part of murderer George Durrell in 1958’s “The Case of the Prodigal Parent” and as Edward Nelson in the 1960 episode "The Case of the Gallant Grafter". He was one of only eleven actors to play all three pivotal roles in Perry Mason episodes—victim, defendant and murderer. In 1959, he appeared as John McAuliffe on Border Patrol. He guest starred twice as Jeremy Thorne in NBC's western series Laramie. In the sixties he co-starred in two short-lived NBC half-hours, the drama, "Michael Shayne" with Richard Denning in 1960-61 and the Juliet Prowse comedy Mona McCluskey in 1965-66. In 1963, he appeared in two episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies. Also that year, he played the part of an overbearing father in "The All-Night Party" episode of Leave it to Beaver. In 1973, Rudley guest starred in one episode of Griff. From 1967 through 1969 he co-starred as Herb Hubbard for two seasons on NBC-TV's The Mothers-in-Law with Eve Arden and Kaye Ballard. In 1981, he made four appearances on Dallas as Howard Barker, an attorney who represented J.R. Ewing in his divorce and child custody fight with his former wife, Sue Ellen.
Personal life
Rudley was first married to Ann Loring. They had a son, Stephen.
Death
Rudley died in 2006, aged 96, from a heart attack.
Filmography
Interviews
Scary Monsters Magazine no. 65 "The Black Sleep: An Interview With Herbert Rudley" Interview by Lawrence Fultz Jr.
Monster Bash Magazine no. 5 "On The Set of The Black Sleep" Interview by Lawrence Fultz, Jr.
