Thomas Mitchell (actor)

Infobox actor
name = Thomas Mitchell

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imagesize = 200px
caption = from the trailer for
"High Barbaree" (1947)
birthdate = birth date|1892|7|11|mf=y
birthplace = Elizabeth, New Jersey, USA
deathdate = death date and age|1962|12|17|1892|7|11|mf=y
deathplace = Beverly Hills, California, USA
birthname =
yearsactive = 1923-1961
academyawards = Best Supporting Actor
1939 "Stagecoach"
emmyawards = Lead Actor - Miniseries/Movie
1952
tonyawards = Leading Actor in a Musical
1953 "Hazel Flagg"
awards = Hollywood Walk of Fame
6100 Hollywood Boulevard
1651 Vine Street

Thomas Mitchell (July 11, 1892 – December 17, 1962) was an American film, stage, and television actor and screenwriter. Among his most famous roles in a long career are those of the father of Scarlet O'Hara in "Gone with the Wind" and Uncle Billy in "It's a Wonderful Life". In addition, he was the first to win an Oscar, an Emmy, and a Tony Award.

Early life

Thomas Mitchell was born to Irish immigrants in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He came from a family of journalists and civic leaders. Both his father and brother were newspaper reporters (the brother, James P. Mitchell, later served as Dwight Eisenhower's Secretary of Labor). Like them, the younger Mitchell also became a newspaper reporter right after high school. Soon, however, Mitchell found he enjoyed writing comic theatrical skits much more than chasing late-breaking scoops.

Acting career

He became an actor in 1913, at one point touring with Charles Coburn's Shakespeare Company. Even while playing leading roles on Broadway into the 1920s Mitchell would continue to write. One of the plays he co-authored, "Little Accident", was eventually made into a film (three times) by Hollywood. Mitchell's first credited screen role was in the 1923 film "Six Cylinder Love".

Mitchell's breakthrough role was as the regenerate embezzler in Frank Capra's classic 1937 film "Lost Horizon". Following this performance, he was much in demand in Hollywood. That same year, he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for his performance in the film "The Hurricane", directed by John Ford.

Over the next few years, Mitchell appeared in many of the greatest films of the 20th century. In 1939 alone. he had key roles in five classic films: "Stagecoach", "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington", "Only Angels Have Wings", "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", and "Gone with the Wind". While probably better remembered as Scarlett O'Hara's loving but doomed father in "Gone with the Wind", it was for his performance as the drunken Doc Boone in "Stagecoach", co-starring John Wayne (in Wayne's breakthrough role), that Mitchell won the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award.

Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, Mitchell acted in a wide variety of roles in productions such as 1944's "The Keys of the Kingdom" ( as an atheist doctor) and 1952's "High Noon" (as the town mayor). He is probably best known to audiences today for his role as Uncle Billy in Capra's 1946 Christmas classic "It's a Wonderful Life" opposite James Stewart. This film, while not well received when it was released, has over time become a classic that is shown each year on broadcast television.

From the 1950s and into the early 1960s, Mitchell worked in the new medium known as television. He appeared in a variety of roles in some of the most well-regarded early series of the era, including "Playhouse 90", "Zane Gray Theatre", and "Hallmark Hall of Fame" television productions. In 1954, he starred in the TV series "Mayor of the Town" and in the early 1960s originated the stage role of "Columbo", later made famous on television by Peter Falk.

Death

Thomas Mitchell died in 1962 at age 70 from cancer in Beverly Hills, California. He was cremated and his ashes stored in the vault at the Chapel of the Pines Crematory in Los Angeles.

Awards and honors

Mitchell was the first person to win the "triple crown" of acting awards (Oscar, Emmy, Tony). He remains one of only a handful of individuals (26 to date) to have won each of these awards. In 1952, he won the Best Actor Emmy (Comedy Actor category), and the following year a Tony Award for best performance by an actor in the musical "Hazel Flagg" (based on the Carole Lombard film "Nothing Sacred").

He has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for his work in motion pictures at 1651 Vine Street and one for his work in television at 6100 Hollywood Boulevard.

Filmography

As actor

* "Six Cylinder Love" (1923) (film debut)
* "Craig's Wife" (1936)
* "Theodora Goes Wild" (1936)
* "When You're in Love" (1937)
* "Lost Horizon" (1937)
* "Make Way for Tomorrow" (1937)
* "The Hurricane" (1937)
* "Trade Winds" (1938)
* "Stagecoach" (1939)
* "Only Angels Have Wings" (1939)
* "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (1939)
* "Gone with the Wind" (1939)
* "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1939)
* "Swiss Family Robinson" (1940)
* "Our Town" (1940)
* "Angels Over Broadway" (1940)
* "The Long Voyage Home" (1940)
* "Three Cheers for the Irish" (1940)
* "Out of the Fog" (1941)
* "The Devil and Daniel Webster" (1941)
* "Joan of Paris" (1942)
* "Moontide" (1942)
* "This Above All" (1942)
* "Tales of Manhattan" (1942)
* "The Black Swan" (1942)
* "Immortal Sergeant" (1943)
* "The Outlaw" (1943)
* "Bataan" (1943)
* "Flesh and Fantasy" (1943)
* "The Fighting Sullivans" (1944)
* "Buffalo Bill" (1944)
* "Wilson" (1944)
* "Dark Waters" (1944)
* "The Keys of the Kingdom" (1944)
* "The Dark Mirror" (1946)
* "It's a Wonderful Life" (1946)
* "The Romance of Rosy Ridge" (1947)
* "Alias Nick Beal" (1949)
* "The Big Wheel" (1949)
* "High Noon" (1952)
* "Destry" (1954)
* "Secret of the Incas" (1954)
* "While the City Sleeps" (1956)
* "Pocketful of Miracles" (1961)

As writer

* "Little Accident" (1930 - play, "Little Accident")
* "Papa Sans le Savoir" (1932 - play, "Little Accident")
* "All of Me" (1934; screenplay)
* "Life Begins with Love" (1937; screenplay)
* "Little Accident" (1939 - play, "Little Accident")
* "Casanova Brown" (1944)

External links

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