Orth started his career in vaudeville in 1897. He married Ann Codee who would be his wife for fifty years until her death in 1961. Together they were billed as Codee and Orth. He entered movies by making the first foreign language film shorts in sound for Warner Bros. in 1928. That started him on a long career of small parts, often playing cops or bartenders and always Irish. His best known role was as Inspector Faraday in the "Boston Blackie" TV series. He retired in 1959 after undergoing throat surgery.