Grant Mitchell
Born: 1874-06-17 in Columbus, Ohio, USA
Died: 1957-05-01
Known For: Acting
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.
Filmography
1975
- Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? as Self (archive footage)
1964
- The Big Parade of Comedy as Ed Loomis in 'Dinner at Eight' (archive footage) (uncredited)
1948
- Who Killed Doc Robbin? as Judge
1947
- It Happened on Fifth Avenue as Al Farrow
- Honeymoon as Congressman Crenshaw
- Blondie's Holiday as Samuel Breckenridge
- The Corpse Came C.O.D. as Mitchell Edwards
- Blondie's Anniversary as Samuel Breckenbridge
1946
- Easy to Wed as Homer Henshaw
1945
- Conflict as Dr. Grant
- Bedside Manner as Mr. Pope
- Crime, Inc. as Wayne Clark
- Leave Her to Heaven as Carlson (uncredited)
- Watchtower Over Tomorrow as Passenger with newspaper
- Guest Wife as House Detective
- Bring on the Girls as Ralph Neely
- A Medal for Benny as Mayor of Pantera
1944
- Arsenic and Old Lace as Reverend Harper
- Step Lively as Dr. Gibbs
- And Now Tomorrow as Uncle Wallace
- See Here, Private Hargrove as Uncle George
- When the Lights Go On Again as Arnold Benson
- The Impatient Years as Hotel Clerk
1943
- Dixie as Mr. Mason
- The Amazing Mrs. Holliday as Edgar Holliday
- All by Myself as J.D. Gibbons
1942
- Cairo as Mr. O.H.P. Boggs
- Meet the Stewarts as Mr. Goodwin
- Orchestra Wives as Dr. Ward
- March On, America! as John Quincy Adams (archive footage) (uncredited)
- My Sister Eileen as Walter Sherwood
- Larceny, Inc. as Mr. Aspinwall
- The Gay Sisters as Gilbert Wheeler
1941
- Tobacco Road as George Payne
- Skylark as Frederick Vantine
- The Great Lie as Joshua Mason
- Nothing But the Truth as Mr. Bishop
- The Feminine Touch as Dean Hutchinson
- The Man Who Came to Dinner as Ernest W. Stanley
- The Penalty as Judge
- One Foot in Heaven as Clayton Potter
- Footsteps in the Dark as Wellington Carruthers
1940
- New Moon as Governor of New Orleans
- The Grapes of Wrath as Caretaker
- Edison, the Man as Snade
- We Who Are Young as Jones
- It All Came True as Rene Salmon
- My Love Came Back as Dr. Kobbe
- Father Is A Prince as John W. Bower
- Castle on the Hudson as Dr. Ames - the Psychologist (uncredited)
1939
- Mr. Smith Goes to Washington as Senator MacPherson
- The Secret of Dr. Kildare as John Xerxes Archley
- On Borrowed Time as Mr. Pilbeam
- The Monroe Doctrine as John Quincy Adams
- 6,000 Enemies as Warden Alan Parkhurst
- Hell's Kitchen as Hiram Krispan
1938
- Hollywood Hotel as B.L. Faulkin
- Reformatory as Arnold Frayne
- That Certain Age as Jeweler
- Youth Takes a Fling as Duke
- Women Are Like That as Mr. Snell
- The Headleys at Home as Ernest Headley
- Peck's Bad Boy with the Circus as Henry Peck
1937
- First Lady as Ellsworth T. Banning
- The Life of Emile Zola as Georges Clemenceau
- Music for Madame as District Attorney Ernest Robinson
- The Last Gangster as Warden
- Lady Behave! as Burton Williams
1936
- Parole! as Marty Crawford
- Moonlight Murder as Paul Adams
- Piccadilly Jim as Herbert Pett
- The Devil Is a Sissy as Paul Krumpp
- The Ex-Mrs. Bradford as John Summers, Luxury's Owner
- Next Time We Love as Michael Jennings
- The Garden Murder Case as District Attorney Markham
- My American Wife as Robert Cantillon
- Her Master's Voice as Horace J. Twilling
1935
- Traveling Saleslady as Rufus Twitchell
- In Person as Thaddeus Parks
- A Midsummer Night's Dream as Egeus
- Gold Diggers of 1935 as Louis Lamson
- Men Without Names as Andrew Webster, banker
- It's in the Air as W. R. Gridley
- One More Spring as Henry Sheridan
- Things You Never See on the Screen as Self
- Seven Keys to Baldpate as Thomas Hayden
- A Dream Comes True as Egeus (archive footage) (uncredited)
- Straight from the Heart as Austin
- Redheads on Parade as Minor Role (uncredited)
- Broadway Gondolier as E.V. Richards, Radio Producer
1934
- The Show-Off as Mr. 'Pa'
- Gridiron Flash as Howard Smith
- We're Rich Again as Wilbur Page
- Twenty Million Sweethearts as Sharpe
- The Case of the Howling Dog as District Attorney Claude Drumm
- The Secret Bride as Willis Martin
- The Cat's-Paw as Silk Hot McGee
- One Exciting Adventure as Fussli
- 365 Nights in Hollywood as J. Walter Delmar
- The Poor Rich as Tom Hopkins
1933
- Our Betters as Thornton Clay
- Dinner at Eight as Ed Loomis
- I Love That Man as Dr. Crittenden - Dentist
- Dancing Lady as Jasper Bradley Sr.
- Central Airport as Mr. Blaine
- The Stranger's Return as Allen
- Tomorrow at Seven as Austin Winters
- Wild Boys of the Road as James Smith
- Saturday's Millions as Ezra Fowler
- Heroes for Sale as George Gibson
- He Learned About Women as Appleby
- King for a Night as Rev. John Williams
- Lilly Turner as Dr. Hawley
- Convention City as J.B. Honeywell
1932
- A Successful Calamity as Connors
- If I Had a Million as Prison Priest (uncredited)
- No Man of Her Own as Vane
- Three on a Match as Mr. Gilmore (uncredited)
- 20,000 Years in Sing Sing as Tester of Convicts' IQs (uncredited)
- Big City Blues as Station Agent
- Week-End Marriage as Doctor
- The Famous Ferguson Case as Martin Collins
1931
- The Star Witness as Pa Leeds
1930
- Man to Man as Barber John Martin Bolton
1922
- The Man from M.A.R.S. as Arthur Wyman
1916
- The Misleading Lady as Stephen Weatherbee