Thomas Mitchell (actor)

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Thomas John Mitchell (born July 11, 1892 in Elizabeth , New Jersey , † December 17, 1962 in Beverly Hills , Los Angeles ) was an American actor and author . He was the first man ever to achieve the feat of winning the most important prizes in the three most important fields of work for US actors - Oscar (film), Emmy (television) and Tony Award (theater). Today he is best known for his prominent supporting roles in many Hollywood classics: In Gone with the Wind as Gerald O'Hara, in Ringo as Doc Boone, in Isn't Life Beautiful? as Uncle Billy and at twelve noon as Mayor.

life and career

Thomas Mitchell grew up in New Jersey as the youngest of seven children of an Irish immigrant family . Many members of the educated family worked as journalists or in other social activities. His nephew, James P. Mitchell, was Secretary of Labor under Dwight D. Eisenhower . After graduating from St. Patrick High School in Elizabeth , Thomas Mitchell, like his late father and brother, initially worked as a newspaper reporter. After a short time, however, he found more pleasure in writing comedic skits for the theater. In 1913, Mitchell finally made the leap to professional actor. Initially, he was largely supported by the actor Charles Coburn , who hired the young actor Mitchell in his Shakespeare company.

Mitchell made his Broadway debut in 1916 in the piece Under Sentence . He was able to establish himself as an actor, writer and director on Broadway and appeared there in at least 27 plays by 1960, some in leading roles. The plays Little Accident (1928) and Cloudy with Showers (1931), written by Mitchell himself, were major successes at the time of their creation. Six of his plays were eventually made into films, including So ein Papa (1944) with Gary Cooper and Teresa Wright in the lead roles. Mitchell made his film debut in 1923 in the silent film Six Cylinder Role . However, he remained mainly connected to the theater and did not make his next film Craig's Wife until 13 years later. At this point, Mitchell moved to Hollywood and immediately received major supporting roles. He first became known to a large audience in 1937 with the role of a dizzying banker in Frank Capra's adventure film In the Fetters of Shangri-La . Just a year later, he received his first Oscar nomination for his role as Dr. Kersaint in the film ... then came the hurricane .

In the following years Mitchell was seen as the actor of very different, but often slightly comical and self-important minor characters. In 1939 he played in five recognized classics: in the screen epic Gone with the Wind he portrayed Scarlett O'Hara's proud father Gerald O'Hara, in the political satire Mr. Smith Goes to Washington he played a Washington newspaper reporter, in the literary film adaptation Hunchback of Notre Lady he was the beggar king Clopin, in SOS fire on board he appeared as a pilot alongside Cary Grant and in the Western Ringo he played the drunken Doc Boone. For his appearance in Ringo he received the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 1940 , which he commented on with the words "I didn't know I was that good" .

Mitchell remained a busy performer for the remainder of his career in such films as Night in the Harbor (1942) and Keys to Heaven (1944). He had one of his most famous roles today as Billy Bailey, James Stewart's rather clumsy uncle , in the Christmas classic Isn't Life Beautiful? (1946) directed by Frank Capra. In Fred Zinnemann's western classic Twelve Noon (1952) he was seen alongside Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly in the role of the small town mayor, who wants to avoid trouble as much as possible and is therefore rather cowardly. At that time, Mitchell began regularly in master and guest roles in television participate emerging television. In 1954 he played the title character of the series Mayor of the Town and in 1959 he also had a leading role in the television series Glencannon . He was nominated three times for the Emmy and won it in 1953 for the series The Doctor for Best Actor. That same year he won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Comedy for his role as Dr. Downer in Hazel Flagg , a musical version of the film To whom nothing is sacred . This made him the first male actor and, after Helen Hayes, the second person to win an Oscar (film), an Emmy (television) and a Tony Award (theater), thus winning the most important prizes in the three most important fields of work for actors . To date, this has only been achieved by just over 20 actors.

In his last film, The Lower Ten Thousand (1961) with Bette Davis and Glenn Ford , Mitchell was again directed by Frank Capra and embodied a judge in gambling debt. He had one of his last roles at the theater in 1962 in the role of Inspector Columbo , which later became world famous through Peter Falk and his television series. At first, Mitchell was supposed to play the role of Columbo in a film, but he was already too sick to accept the offer. He died of stomach cancer a little later at the age of 70 . He left behind his second wife, whom he married in 1941. He separated from his first wife in 1939 after only two years of marriage.

Awards

  • 1938: Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for ... then came the hurricane
  • 1940: Ringo wins an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor
  • 1940: 2nd place for Best Actor at the New York Film Critics Circle Award for The Long Road to Cardiff
  • 1952: Emmy nomination for Best Actor
  • 1953: Emmy Award for Best Actor
  • 1953: Tony Award for Best Actor for Hazel Flagg
  • 1955: Emmy nomination for Best Actor with a guest appearance
  • 1960: Two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for television and film

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Commons : Thomas Mitchell  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Thomas Mitchell at Matineeclassics ( Memento of the original from January 18, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / matineeclassics.com
  2. ↑ Thomas Mitchell at Hollywood's Golden Age
  3. ↑ a b c Thomas Mitchell at hollywoodsgoldenage.com
  4. ↑ Uwe Killing: One more small question: How Peter Falk became Columbo. In: Spiegel Online . April 11, 2016. Retrieved June 9, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Mitchell, Thomas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mitchell, Thomas John (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American actor and writer
DATE OF BIRTH July 11, 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH Elizabeth , New Jersey , United States
DATE OF DEATH 17th December 1962
Place of death Beverly Hills , Los Angeles , United States