Grant Mitchell
Known For
Acting
Born
1874-06-17 in Columbus, Ohio, USA
Died
1957-05-01
Biography
Grant Mitchell (born John Grant Mitchell Jr.) was an American stage and screen actor. He is best remembered for his portrayals of fathers, husbands, bank clerks, businessmen, school principals and similar type characters, usually supporting, in films of the 1930s and 1940s. Mitchell, a Yale post graduate at Harvard Law, gave up his law practice to become an actor, making his stage debut at age 27. He appeared in lead roles on Broadway in such plays as "It Pays to Advertise", "The Champion", "The Whole Town's Talking", and "The Baby Cyclone", the last which was specially written for him by George M. Cohan. His screen career took off with the advent of sound (years earlier he had appeared in at least two silent films). He appeared primarily in B films, though from time to time enjoyed being a part of A-quality productions such as Dinner at Eight (1933), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942), and Arsenic and Old Lace (1944). Grant Mitchell retired from show business in 1948. He died, age 82, in Los Angeles in 1957.
Most Known For
In Person
as Thaddeus Parks
Central Airport
as Mr. Blaine
Reformatory
as Arnold Frayne
Guest Wife
as House Detective
Convention City
as J.B. Honeywell
Step Lively
as Dr. Gibbs
Dixie
as Mr. Mason
Parole!
as Marty Crawford
The Grapes of Wrath
as Caretaker
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
as Senator MacPherson
Crime, Inc.
as Wayne Clark
Arsenic and Old Lace
as Reverend Harper
Skylark
as Frederick Vantine
Leave Her to Heaven
as Carlson (uncredited)
Three on a Match
as Mr. Gilmore (uncredited)
Heroes for Sale
as George Gibson
It Happened on Fifth Avenue
as Al Farrow
The Man Who Came to Dinner
as Ernest W. Stanley
Tobacco Road
as George Payne
Dinner at Eight
as Ed Loomis