Thomas Mitchell (July 11, 1892 – December 17, 1962) was an American actor, playwright and screenwriter. Among his most famous roles in a long career are those of the father of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind and Uncle Billy in It's a Wonderful Life. Mitchell was the first person to win an Oscar, an Emmy, and a Tony Award.
Thomas Mitchell was born to Irish immigrants in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He came from a family of journalists and civic le...
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Thomas Mitchell (July 11, 1892 – December 17, 1962) was an American actor, playwright and screenwriter. Among his most famous roles in a long career are those of the father of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind and Uncle Billy in It's a Wonderful Life. Mitchell was the first person to win an Oscar, an Emmy, and a Tony Award.
Thomas Mitchell was born to Irish immigrants in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He came from a family of journalists and civic leaders. Both his father and brother were newspaper reporters (his nephew, James P. Mitchell, later served as Dwight Eisenhower's Secretary of Labor). 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...
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