Grant Mitchell

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.

Known For

Arsenic and Old Lace

The Grapes of Wrath

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Nothing But the Truth

On Borrowed Time

Leave Her to Heaven

Acting

1944

Arsenic and Old Lace

as

Reverend Harper

1940

The Grapes of Wrath

as

Caretaker

1939

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

as

Senator MacPherson

1947

Blondie's Anniversary

as

Samuel Breckenbridge

1947

Blondie's Holiday

as

Samuel Breckenridge

1942

My Sister Eileen

as

Walter Sherwood

1941

The Man Who Came to Dinner

as

Ernest W. Stanley

1945

Conflict

as

Dr. Grant

1938

Reformatory

as

Arnold Frayne

1937

The Last Gangster

as

Warden

1945

Crime, Inc.

as

Wayne Clark

1932

No Man of Her Own

as

Vane

1934

The Cat's-Paw

as

Silk Hot McGee

1932

Three on a Match

as

Mr. Gilmore (uncredited)

1942

Cairo

as

Mr. O.H.P. Boggs

1944

Step Lively

as

Dr. Gibbs

1940

New Moon

as

Governor of New Orleans

1933

Dancing Lady

as

Jasper Bradley Sr.

1938

Hollywood Hotel

as

B.L. Faulkin

1941

Footsteps in the Dark

as

Wellington Carruthers

1935

Straight from the Heart

as

Austin

1943

The Amazing Mrs. Holliday

as

Edgar Holliday

1940

It All Came True

as

Rene Salmon

1941

Tobacco Road

as

George Payne

1933

Heroes for Sale

as

George Gibson

1935

A Midsummer Night's Dream

as

Egeus

1933

Wild Boys of the Road

as

James Smith

1942

Larceny, Inc.

as

Mr. Aspinwall

1947

It Happened on Fifth Avenue

as

Al Farrow

1936

The Ex-Mrs. Bradford

as

John Summers, Luxury's Owner

1931

The Star Witness

as

Pa Leeds

1941

One Foot in Heaven

as

Clayton Potter

1941

The Feminine Touch

as

Dean Hutchinson

1933

Lilly Turner

as

Dr. Hawley

1941

Skylark

as

Frederick Vantine

1941

Nothing But the Truth

as

Mr. Bishop

1942

Meet the Stewarts

as

Mr. Goodwin

1935

One More Spring

as

Henry Sheridan

1916

The Misleading Lady

as

Stephen Weatherbee

1933

Central Airport

as

Mr. Blaine

1932

The Famous Ferguson Case

as

Martin Collins

1936

Next Time We Love

as

Michael Jennings

1937

First Lady

as

Ellsworth T. Banning

1939

The Monroe Doctrine

as

John Quincy Adams

1936

The Garden Murder Case

as

District Attorney Markham

1945

A Medal for Benny

as

Mayor of Pantera

1934

The Case of the Howling Dog

as

District Attorney Claude Drumm

1945

Guest Wife

as

House Detective

1944

And Now Tomorrow

as

Uncle Wallace

1944

When the Lights Go On Again

as

Arnold Benson

1932

A Successful Calamity

as

Connors

1932

Week-End Marriage

as

Doctor

1932

Big City Blues

as

Station Agent

1940

Father Is A Prince

as

John W. Bower

1947

The Corpse Came C.O.D.

as

Mitchell Edwards

1936

Piccadilly Jim

as

Herbert Pett

1934

The Secret Bride

as

Willis Martin

1933

Tomorrow at Seven

as

Austin Winters

1944

The Impatient Years

as

Hotel Clerk

1933

Our Betters

as

Thornton Clay

1930

Man to Man

as

Barber John Martin Bolton

1936

My American Wife

as

Robert Cantillon

1935

Seven Keys to Baldpate

as

Thomas Hayden

1939

Hell's Kitchen

as

Hiram Krispan

1934

The Poor Rich

as

Tom Hopkins

1936

Moonlight Murder

as

Paul Adams

1938

Peck's Bad Boy with the Circus

as

Henry Peck

1940

My Love Came Back

as

Dr. Kobbe

1937

Lady Behave!

as

Burton Williams

1934

We're Rich Again

as

Wilbur Page

1934

Gridiron Flash

as

Howard Smith

1938

Women Are Like That

as

Mr. Snell

1933

Convention City

as

J.B. Honeywell

1939

On Borrowed Time

as

Mr. Pilbeam

1947

Honeymoon

as

Congressman Crenshaw

1934

365 Nights in Hollywood

as

J. Walter Delmar

1939

6,000 Enemies

as

Warden Alan Parkhurst

1935

In Person

as

Judge Thaddeus Parks

1936

The Devil Is a Sissy

as

Paul Krumpp

1933

The Stranger's Return

as

Allen

1933

Dinner at Eight

as

Ed Loomis

1945

Leave Her to Heaven

as

Carlson (uncredited)

1934

Twenty Million Sweethearts

as

Sharpe

1935

Broadway Gondolier

as

E.V. Richards, Radio Producer

1934

The Show-Off

as

Mr. 'Pa'

1938

Youth Takes a Fling

as

Duke

1943

Dixie

as

Mr. Mason

1935

Men Without Names

as

Andrew Webster, banker

1948

Who Killed Doc Robbin?

as

Judge

1933

King for a Night

as

Rev. John Williams

1936

Her Master's Voice

as

Horace J. Twilling

1941

The Penalty

as

Judge

1934

One Exciting Adventure

as

Fussli

1939

The Secret of Dr. Kildare

as

John Xerxes Archley

1935

Traveling Saleslady

as

Rufus Twitchell

1933

I Love That Man

as

Dr. Crittenden - Dentist

1932

20,000 Years in Sing Sing

as

Tester of Convicts' IQs (uncredited)

1941

The Great Lie

as

Joshua Mason

1940

Edison, the Man

as

Snade

1936

Parole!

as

Marty Crawford

1943

All by Myself

as

J.D. Gibbons

1940

We Who Are Young

as

Jones

1942

The Gay Sisters

as

Gilbert Wheeler

1933

He Learned About Women

as

Appleby

1942

Orchestra Wives

as

Dr. Ward

1935

It's in the Air

as

W. R. Gridley

1940

Castle on the Hudson

as

Dr. Ames - the Psychologist (uncredited)

1938

That Certain Age

as

Jeweler

1937

The Life of Emile Zola

as

Georges Clemenceau

1937

Music for Madame

as

District Attorney Ernest Robinson

1946

Easy to Wed

as

Homer Henshaw

1945

Bring on the Girls

as

Ralph Neely

1935

Redheads on Parade

as

Minor Role (uncredited)

1945

Watchtower Over Tomorrow

as

Passenger with newspaper

1935

A Dream Comes True

as

Egeus (archive footage) (uncredited)

1935

Things You Never See on the Screen

as

Self

1975

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?

as

Self (archive footage)

1933

Saturday's Millions

as

Ezra Fowler

1944

See Here, Private Hargrove

as

Uncle George

1935

Gold Diggers of 1935

as

Louis Lamson

1932

If I Had a Million

as

Prison Priest (uncredited)

1942

March On, America!

as

John Quincy Adams (archive footage) (uncredited)

1964

The Big Parade of Comedy

as

Ed Loomis in 'Dinner at Eight' (archive footage) (uncredited)

1945

Bedside Manner

as

Mr. Pope

1922

The Man from M.A.R.S.

as

Arthur Wyman

1938

The Headleys at Home

as

Ernest Headley

Production

Crew

Directing