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Thomas Mitchell
from the trailer for High Barbaree (1947)
Born	July 11, 1892(1892-07-11) Elizabeth, New Jersey, U.S.
Died	December 17, 1962 (aged 70) Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Years active	1923 - 1961
Awards 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 as well as a screenplay writer. He is remembered as one of the premier character actors in motion picture history.

Contents 1 Early life and career 2 Success in film, television and stage 3 Status in entertainment history 4 Later career and death 5 Selected filmography 6 Writer - Filmography 7 External links

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.

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 1940s and 50's Mitchell would continue to find work in a wide variety of roles in generally high-quality productions, such as 1944's The Keys of the Kingdom (opposite Gregory Peck) and 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 that is shown each year on broadcast television.

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 (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).

Mitchell is often regarded as one of motion pictures most talented and "realistic" 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.

Throughout the 1950s and into the early 1960s Mitchell would find considerable work 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.

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.

• Craig's Wife (1936)
• Theodora Goes Wild (1936)
• Lost Horizon (1937)
• The Hurricane (1937)
• Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)
• Only Angels Have Wings (1939)
• Stagecoach (1939)
• Gone with the Wind (1939)
• The Long Voyage Home (1940)
• Our Town (1940)
• Out of the Fog (1941)
• The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941)
• The Black Swan (1942)
• Tales of Manhattan (1942)
• The Outlaw (1943)
• Immortal Sergeant (1943)
• Bataan (1943)
• The Sullivans (1944)
• Wilson (1944)
• The Keys of the Kingdom (1944)
• The Dark Mirror (1946)
• It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
• High Noon (1952)
• While the City Sleeps (1956)
• Pocketful of Miracles (1961)

• 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)

Awards
Preceded by Walter Brennan for Kentucky	Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor 1939 for Stagecoach	Succeeded by Walter Brennan for The Westerner
Preceded by Phil Silvers for Top Banana	Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical 1953 for Hazel Flagg	Succeeded by Alfred Drake for Kismet

• Thomas Mitchell at the Internet Movie Database