I have the phrase “You don’t say!” stuck in my head, done by a particular actor in a particular movie - but I have no clue what actor or what movie.
I know it was a male, I want to say maybe early 40’s? I want to say receding hairline, what hair he has was dark. It was a B&W movie. He was on the phone, and all you heard was "You don’t say… you don’t SAY… " in a gossipy tone. What mostly sticks in my head was his voice - a combination of Burt Lahr’s Cowardly Lion meets Charles Nelson Reilly.
Are you thinking of this guy, Gale Gordon, who played Lucy’s boss in one of Lucille Ball’s shows? That’s who I always think of when I hear/think of this phrase, for some reason.
I thought it might be Jack Benny, and Gale Gordon appeared on the Jack Benny Show, and they have both used the phrase. But I found this sitechecking on that, where it states:
“Ed Wynn had previously begun a practice of butting into the commercials on his show, saying, “Well, well,” and “You don’t say?” at every claim made by the announcer.”
It was not Spike Jones, his voice was too masculine. Definitely not Benny Hill. Gale Gordon? Again, too masculine. Ed Wynn’s voice is close, but it’s not him.
He looked more like Frank McHugh, maybe a tad pudgier.
Wasn’t it a favorite phrase of a British comedienne famous for his duo work? He used to sing and dance as well. After searching, I was thinking of Morecambe and Wise, and also that I was wrong.
Bert Gordon, AKA ‘The Mad Russian’ used the phrase quite a few times IIRC, his voice would match your description.
Some jokes and catchphrases would get so popular that just about anyone would be using them, not just the originator, so there would be a lot of potential actors to pick from.
That must be what I’m thinking of. For some reason, I thought I remembered there being a Looney Tunes or Merrie Melodies cartoon that had this skit (Bugs Bunny is what I was thinking), but I might be conflating it with the Three Stooges bit.