Tis maddening to have a memory lurking just at the edge of your mind.....

There was also a "Thin Man" tv series, 1957 to 1959, with Peter Lawford and Phyllis Kirk. That's my second guess.

Did the actor have a mustache?

I think the person I am thinking of was somewhat like Vincent Price, who I do remember very clearly.
My naggine memory is telling me it is another guy, tho..possibly from the same era.

I looked the word up so I could add it to my vocabulary. Alas, it does not exist. At least google is not able to find the word. Google did find "naggin" so your apparent typo did increase my vocabulary.

nagging thought in my noggin.

Did you see the post I did on the phrase "red up"? that was another mystery to me?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1018623838

...those are the first three names that come to mind...

More along the lines of a B movie.

really frustrating, too, because I know of a lot of movie characters, both US and English older films...
but I am not as familar with 1950's tv characters.

He used to say "Tacky tacky tacky" as sort of a signature line..I forget what show he was in where he said that.

Off the top of my head I would say Peter Lorre but who you're thinking of could be any of a thousand good character actors.

did not mean for this to drive others as crazy as it has me.
Sorry....

You'll figure it out.

to the extent that who ever the guy was, he may have been closest to Clifton Webb.
Someone more obscure, I think, however.

he could play light or dark roles so well.

he is does fit my memory mystery, however..they guy I am thinking of was not an "A" list actor.

Smarmy in Mildred Pierce and did comedy also.

Approximately, that is -- that would help place him somewhat to know his age then and now. Also, was he handsome or more of a character actor type/non-leading man. Dark-haired? Glasses? Maybe he is on one of these lists below. Now I'm dying to know who you are talking about! Let us know if you find out! My mom's coming up for a visit tomorrow, I'll ask her. I have a couple of old movie star books too, I'll take a look through them too.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/greenman2008/5964204433/

http://www.imdb.com/list/KAcAMEwnvCg/

the Digby O'dell voice seems to be like what I remember.
And I do think, now that I look back, it might have been on radio, because the voice memory is so much stronger than any vidual image.
The accent is corrent too.
Yeah..I think that is the guy.

but also on other shows as a bit character.

I still listen to the old Reilly shows on radio, can't remember the TV show very well.
O'Dell was played by an actor name of John Brown, I believe.
He would usually greet Reilly with something like "Hello Reilly. May I say you are looking very ..... natural?"

I am wondering if the actor was in other things in which he used the same type of intonation.
the accent is right, seems to me.

how the writers use the funeral and death words for comedy. His voice truly sells it.

Well, I've got to be ..... shoveling off.