He played smooth, gentlemanly, but shady types (businessmen, spies, lawyers), and was probably best known for playing Putty Nose in James Cagney''s The Public Enemy (1931).
Murray Kinnell was responsible for getting Bette Davis her big break in movies when, after appearing with her in The Menace (1932), he suggested that his friend, the prestigious actor George Arliss, should cast her in his upcoming film, The Man Who Played God (1932).