Thomas Mitchell

Among Mitchell's most famous film roles in a long career are those of Scarlett O'Hara's father Gerald O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, alcoholic Doc Boone in Stagecoach (1939), Pat Garrett in The Outlaw, and Mayor Jonas Henderson in High Noon. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Stagecoach. He also played Uncle Billy in Frank Capra's Christmas classic It's a Wonderful Life (1946) with James Stewart.

Thomas Mitchell studied at St. Patrick High School. The recorded working language is English. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are Western. Distinctions recorded are Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical, star on Hollywood Walk of Fame and Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie.

• Name — Thomas Mitchell • Birth Name — Thomas John Mitchell • Born — 11 July 1892 • Birthplace — Elizabeth, New Jersey, U.S. • Died — 17 December 1962 • Place of death — Beverly Hills, California, U.S. • Resting Place — Chapel of the Pines Crematory • Occupation — * Actor • writer • director • Years Active — 1916–1962 • Spouse — * (m. married 1941) • Relatives — James P. Mitchell (nephew)

Thomas Mitchell was the first male actor to gain the Triple Crown of Acting by winning an Oscar, an Emmy, and a Tony Award. He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Stagecoach, with a previous nomination in the same category for The Hurricane (1937). He was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards for Best Actor in a Drama Series: in 1952 and 1953 for his role in the medical drama The Doctor—winning in 1953—and in 1955 for an appearance on a weekly anthology series. He won a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical in 1953 for his role as Dr Downer in the musical comedy Hazel Flagg.

Thomas John Mitchell was born on July 11, 1892, to Irish immigrants, James Mitchell and Mary Donnelly, in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He came from a family of journalists and civic leaders. Both his father and brother were newspaper reporters, and his nephew, James P. Mitchell, later served as Dwight Eisenhower's Secretary of Labor. The younger Mitchell also became a newspaper reporter after graduating from St. Patrick High School in Elizabeth. However, Mitchell soon found that he enjoyed writing theatrical skits much more than chasing scoops. In 1927 Mitchell joined The Lambs.

• Illustration — Trailer for High Barbaree (1947) 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 continued 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. • Illustration — Portraying Tom Blue in The Black Swan (1942) Mitchell's breakthrough role was as the embezzler in Frank Capra's film Lost Horizon (1937). Following this performance, he was much in demand in Hollywood. That same year, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Hurricane, directed by John Ford. Over the next few years, Mitchell appeared in many significant films. Forty-three of the 59 films in which he acted were made in the 10-year period from 1936 to 1946. Considered one of the finest character actors in film, in 1939 alone he had key roles in 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. In his acceptance speech, he quipped, "I didn't know I was that good". Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, Mitchell acted in a wide variety of roles in productions such as 1940's Swiss Family Robinson, 1942's Moontide, 1944's The Keys of the Kingdom (as an atheist doctor) and High Noon (1952) as the town mayor. • Illustration — Mitchell (right) with Tyrone Power in trailer for The Black Swan (1942) From the 1950s and into the early 1960s, Mitchell worked primarily in television, appearing in a variety of roles in some of the most well-regarded early series of the era, including Playhouse 90, Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater (in a pilot episode that became the CBS series Johnny Ringo), and Hallmark Hall of Fame productions. In 1955, he played Kris Kringle in The 20th Century-Fox Hour version of The Miracle on 34th Street opposite Teresa Wright and MacDonald Carey. Thomas Mitchell starred in three syndicated television series, each running 39 episodes, for producers Jack J. Gross and Philip N. Krasne. In 1954-55 there was the television adaptation of the radio program Mayor of the Town. In The O. Henry Playhouse (1956-57), Mitchell portrayed the author O. Henry, with the writer telling his slice-of-life stories. Mitchell was so successful in his portrayal that he was asked to visit high school English classes. His first appearance in Baton Rouge, Louisiana was so inspiring to the students that producers Gross and Krasne sent Mitchell on a nationwide tour of high schools. In 1959 Mitchell starred in Glencannon, filmed in England by Gross-Krasne and starring Mitchell as a ship's engineer. Mitchell's last screen role was as a larcenous but genteel Damon Runyon character in Frank Capra's Pocketful of Miracles (1961). Mitchell's last stage role was Columbo, a detective character previously played by Bert Freed on an episode of The Chevy Mystery Show and later made famous on NBC and ABC television by Peter Falk.

Mitchell died on December 17, 1962, at age 70 from peritoneal mesothelioma in Beverly Hills, California. He was cremated at the Chapel of the Pines Crematory and, at his request, his ashes were placed in private vaultage.

• Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1950 — Showtime, U.S.A. — Performer — Episode: "American Red Cross Drive" • 1951 — Celanese Theatre — Uncle Sid — Episode: "Ah, Wilderness!" • Armstrong Circle Theatre — Performer — Episode: "The Long View" • 1951–1952 — Tales of Tomorrow — Prof. Frederick Vaneck/Captain Nemo — 3 episodes • Betty Crocker Star Matinee — Performer — 2 episodes • Pulitzer Prize Playhouse — Mr. Antrobus • Studio One in Hollywood — Various Roles — 4 episodes • 1951–1956 — Lux Video Theatre — Various Roles — 6 episodes • 1952 — Robert Montgomery Presents — Performer — Episode: "The Farmer's Hotel" • Lights Out — Performer — Episode: "The Eyes from San Francisco" • Gulf Playhouse — Performer — Episode: "Mr. Nothing" • Suspense — Henry Brown/Dr. Paul Morgan — 2 episodes • 1953 — The Doctor — Matthew Day — Episode: "Desk of Matthew Day" • The Backbone of America — Fred Tupple — Television Movie • Of Time and the River — William Olivier Grant — Television Movie • Of Time and the River Part II • 1954 — Omnibus — Shark Wicks — Episode: "Nobody's Fool" • Medallion Theatre — Performer — Episode: "The Gentle Deception" • Fireside Theatre — Performer — Episode: "Afraid to Live" • 1954–1955 — Mayor of the Town — Mayor Thomas Russell — 39 episodes • General Electric Theatre — Mender McClure — 2 episodes • The United States Steel Hour — Scotty/Silas Lapham • 1954–1957 — The Ford Television Theatre — Various Roles — 6 episodes • 1955 — Damon Runyon Theater — Sylvester — Episode: "It Comes Up Money" • The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn — Pap Finn — Television Movie • Screen Directors Playhouse — Dr. Joseph H. Walton — Episode: "The Final Tribute" • The Alcoa Hour — Cap. Jarvis — Episode: "Undertow" • The 20th Century Fox Hour — Kris Kringle — Episode: "The Miracle on 34th Street" • 1955–1956 — The Star and the Story — Various Roles — 3 episodes • Schlitz Playhouse of Stars — Carl Smith/Sam Hawkins — 2 episodes • 1956 — Celebrity Playhouse — Cal Logan — Episode: "They Flee By Night" • Chevron Hall of Stars — Performer — 2 episodes • Telephone Time — Andrew Hamilton • 1957 — The O. Henry Playhouse — O. Henry — 39 episodes • 1958 — Shirley Temple's Storybook — Emperor — Episode: "The Nightingale" • Kraft Television Theatre — Whitehall — Episode: "The Velvet Trap" • Playhouse 90 — Mr. Carson — Episode: "Natchez" • 1958–1961 — Zane Grey Theater — Various Roles — 3 episodes • 1959 — Laramie — Judge Matthew Hedrick — Episode: "Dark Verdict" • Goodyear Theatre — Sarge — Episode: "The Lady Bug" • Glencannon — Capt. Colin Glencannon Sgt. Harry Mork — 39 episodes • The Untouchables — Milo Sullivan — Episode: "The Underworld Bank" • 1960 — Sunday Showcase — Performer — Episode: "The Secret of Freedom" • The Right Man — Grover Cleveland — Television Movie • 1961 — The Joke and the Valley — Truman Winters • Adventures in Paradise — Hubert Willis — Episode: "A Penny a Day" • Stagecoach West — Ethan Blount — Episode: "Image of a Man" • Our American Heritage — Joseph Murray — Episode: "The Invisible Teddy"

• Year — Title — Role — Playwright — Venue • 1916 — Under Sentence — Performer — Roi Cooper Megrue Irvin S. Cobb — Harris Theatre, Broadway • 1917 — Nju — Osip Dymov — Bandbox Theatre, Broadway • 1918 — Crops and Croppers — Theresa Helburn — Belmont Theatre, Broadway • Redemption — Artyomyeff — Leo Tolstoy — Plymouth Theatre, Broadway • 1919 — Dark Rosaleen — Performer — W. D. Hepenstall Whitford Kane — Belasco Theatre, Broadway • 1920 — Not So Long Ago — Sam Robinson — Arthur Richman — Booth Theatre, Broadway • 1921 — The Playboy of the Western World — Christy Mahon — John Millington Synge — Bramhall Playhouse, Broadway • 1923 — Kiki — Adolphe — David Belasco — Belasco Theatre, Broadway • 1926 — The Wisdom Tooth — Charley Bemis — Marc Connelly — Little Theatre, Broadway • Glory Hallelujah — Thomas Mitchell — Broadhurst Theatre, Broadway • 1927 — Blood Money — James Bolton — George Middleton — Hudson Theatre, Broadway • 1927–28 — Nightstick — Tommy Glennon — John Wray, J.C. Nugent Elliott Nugent Elaine Sterne Carrington — Selwyn Theatre, Broadway • 1928–29 — Little Accident — Norman Overbeck — Thomas Mitchell — Morosco Theatre, Broadway • 1931 — Cloudy with Showers — Peter Hammill — Thomas Mitchell • 1932 — Riddle Me This — McKinley — Daniel N. Rubin — John Golden Theatre, Broadway • Clear All Wires — Buckley Joyce Thomas — Bella Spewack & Sam Spewack — Times Square Theatre, Broadway • 1933 — Honeymoon — Bob Taylor — Samuel Chotzinoff & George Backer — Little Theatre, Broadway Vanderbilt Theatre, Broadway • 1935 — Fly Away Home — James Masters — Dorothy Bennett & Irving White — 48th Street Theatre, Broadway • Stick-in-the-Mud — Paw Meriwether — Frederick Hazlitt Brennan • 1941 — Crazy with the Heat — Performer — Sam E. Werris, Mack Davis, Max Liebman, Don Herold & Arthur Sheekman, — 44th Street Theatre, Broadway • 1947–49 — An Inspector Calls — Inspector Goole — J.B. Priestly — Booth Theatre, Broadway • 1949 — The Biggest Thief in Town — Bert Hutchins — Dalton Trumbo — Mansfield Theatre, Broadway • 1949–50 — Death of a Salesman — Willy Loman (replacement) — Arthur Miller — Morosco Theatre, Broadway • 1953 — Hazel Flagg — Dr. Downer — Ben Hecht — Mark Hellinger Theatre, Broadway • 1960 — Cut of the Axe — Rollie Evans — Sheppard Kerman — Ambassador Theatre, Broadway Staged by • Year — Title — Venue • 1931 — Cloudy with Showers — Morosco Theatre, Broadway • 1932–33 — Honeymoon — Little Theatre, Broadway Vanderbilt Theatre, Broadway • 1933 — Forsaking All Others — Times Square Theatre, Broadway • Twenty-five Dollars an Hour — Theatre Masque, Broadway • 1935 — Fly Away Home — 48th Street Theatre, Broadway • Something Gay — Morosco Theatre, Broadway • 1935–36 — At Home Abroad — Winter Garden Theatre, Broadway • 1935 — Stick-in-the-Mud — 48th Street Theatre, Broadway

• Year — Program — Episode/source • 1953 — Theatre Guild on the Air — A Square Peg • 1945 — Suspense — 1945-02-22 John Barby and Son

Thomas Mitchell is recorded as screenwriter, playwright, actor and theatre director.