Thomas Mitchell (actor)

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Thomas Mitchell

Thomas Mitchell with James Stewart in It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Born July 11, 1892
Elizabeth, New Jersey, USA
Died December 17, 1962
Beverly Hills, California, USA
Academy
 Awards		 Best Supporting Actor
1939 Stagecoach

Thomas Mitchell (July 11, 1892 – December 17, 1962) was an Academy, Emmy, and Tony award winning American film actor. He is remembered as one of the premier character actors in motion picture history.

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[edit] Early life and career

Thomas Mitchell was born the son of Irish immigrants in Elizabeth New Jersey. He came from a family of journalists and civic leaders. Both his father and brother were newspaper reporters. 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. 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 (3 times) by Hollywood. Mitchell's first credited screen role was in the 1923 film Six Cylinder Love.

[edit] Success in film, television and stage

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 would also be 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's credits read like a list from the greatest films of the 20th century. In 1939 alone he would enjoy 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 1940's and 50's Mitchell would contine to find work in a wide variety of roles in generally high quality productions, most notably 1952's High Noon as the town mayor. He is probably best known to audiences today for his role as sad-sack 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, one shown each year on broadcast television.

[edit] Status in entertaiment history

Mitchell also found success in television and stage. He was the first person to win the "triple crown" of acting awards (Oscar, Emmy, Tony). He remains one of only a handful of individuals (17 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 "Hazell Flagg" (based on the Carole Lombard film Nothing Sacred).

Mitchell is often regarded as one of motion pictures most talented character actors. His portrayals have been credited as being so diverse and convincing that many people often do not realize that one actor could have played all of them.

[edit] Later career and death

Throughout the 1950's and into the early 1960's Mitchell would find considerable work in the new medium known as television. He appeared in a varity 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.

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

[edit] Selected filmography

Preceded by:
Walter Brennan
for Kentucky		 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
1939
for Stagecoach		 Succeeded by:
Walter Brennan
for The Westerner

[edit] External link

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