U.S. theatrical convention used in the credits commonly to conceal dual roles or for a corpse or other anthropomorphic props. Spelvin first “appeared” on Broadway in the cast list of Charles A. Gardiner's Karl the Peddler in 1886. Winchell Smith employed the character in many of his plays, beginning with Brewster's Millions in 1906. He appeared with Maude Adams in Joan of Arc (1908), as a Betting Man in High Button Shoes (1947), and as Colonel Dent in Jane Eyre (1958).

D.W. Griffith cast Spelvin as a Union soldier in his epochal film The Birth of a Nation (1915) and as a dancer in Way Down East (1920). He also had a small role in the Academy Award-winning From Here to Eternity (1953). Spelvin was first listed in television credits in the dramatic series The Fugitive, and from time to time he has filled out the cast of such daytime soap operas as The Guiding Light and Edge of Night.

When a female character is needed, the player is listed as Georgiana, or Georgette, Spelvin. Spelvin's British counterparts are Walter Plinge, Mr. F. Anney, and Mr. Bart.