Thomas Mitchell

Many call 1939 Hollywood’s Greatest Year. So what should we call the actor who appeared in five of the top films released back then?

Incredibly lucky.

Anyone would be thrilled to appear in even one of Thomas Mitchell’s 1939 hits. For him, it was just one gig after another. Yet today, all of Mitchell’s credits turned out to be classics: Only Angels Have Wings, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Stagecoach, and Gone With the Wind.

Not surprising (given the iconic status of the pics) that Mitchell worked for such stellar directors as Howard Hawks, Frank Capra, Victor Fleming and John Ford. Also not surprising (given Mitchell’s versatility) that those same filmmakers hired the actor repeatedly for projects like Lost Horizon, The Outlaw, Adventure, The Long Voyage Home, It’s a Wonderful Life and Pocketful of Miracles.

However, Mitchell’s two Oscar nominations came under the helm of his fellow Irishman Ford, and both were for playing doctors with drinking problems – an issue both men battled off-screen – in The Hurricane and Stagecoach. The latter movie won Mitchell the trophy as Best Supporting Actor, and when he accepted the prize, he joked, “I didn’t know I was that good.”

But Mitchell was that good – in fact, he was the first person to score acting’s “Triple Crown” (Oscar, Emmy, Tony). His filmography spans genres, from comedies (Theodora Goes Wild) to Westerns (High Noon) to noirs (While the City Sleeps), thanks to his gift for inhabiting diverse characters. Then again, Mitchell got off to a great start: He stepped on stage in 1913 at the age of 21, and was trained by his mentor, another Oscar-winning character actor named Charles Coburn (The More the Merrier).

Mitchell made his Broadway debut in 1916, and trod the boards on and off until the mid-1930s. Yet it was only in 1936, when Mitchell arrived in Hollywood to shoot Craig’s Wife, that his career really took off.

At the time, Mitchell mused, “A lot of people say I’ve deserted my art because I left Broadway and the stage. Hell, I’m no artist. I’m a working man. I’ve got a trade, just like any other mechanic, and I follow my trade where the work is. Right now, it’s in Hollywood. But I’m not tied to Hollywood.”

Hollywood became tied to Mitchell, though. Lending support to famous stars like James Stewart made Mitchell popular around Tinseltown. Capra remembers trying to cast the role of Diz, a reporter in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. The director couldn’t figure out who could make the role come alive, despite his hunch that a left-handed actor might offer the quirky quality Capra was looking for.

Just then, Capra’s producer Joe Sistrom remarked, “Best southpaw I know is the guy you always rave about. Tommy Mitchell.” At that moment, Capra recalled in his autobiography, “Bells rang. Everyone shouted his version of ‘Eureka!’ Tommy Mitchell was heaven’s answer to our prayer. In fact, he was soon to become heaven’s answer to many a director’s prayer.”

Speaking of heaven: Mitchell died on December 17, 1962, just two days after his Hunchback of Notre Dame co-star Charles Laughton passed away in the same hospital. Somewhere in their celestial resting place, one can imagine that those two old pros are putting on a helluva show.