PTO is the eldest prisoner stuck in the infinite white room, and the man who played him, Ian Wolfe (born in 1896), was the eldest member of the cast. Every time a new prisoner arrives, PTO gives the same "mumblings of an old man," about how to temper one's anxiety and rage, and instead observe one's surroundings, much to the dismay of SEN's irritable ears.
Imagine observing the surroundings Wolfe must have seen as an actor in close to 200 films and 100 TV shows, starting with 1934's "The Fountain" and ending with 1990's "Dick Tracy." In between, he worked with revered directors like Alfred Hitchcock, Frank Capra, William Wyler, Stanley Donen and Billy Wilder, and supported such movie stars as Clark Gable, Marlene Dietrich, James Dean, Charles Laughton, and Harrison Ford.
The Illinois native was rather candid about his vocation, stating it wasn't at all a glamorous way to make a living, as he continually struggled to provide food for himself and his family. As a character actor, he knew his place in the pecking order, once telling the Los Angeles Times, "I was the dust that made them twinkle," and that his "claim to fame" in the industry was "that I have survived."
Wolfe lived to be 95, and passed away in 1992.
