Anecdotes

Was a close friend of John Barrymore and became part of his Hollywood entourage of drinkers and raconteurs, which also included Charles MacArthur, W.C. Fields, Errol Flynn, Roland Young and Anthony Quinn.

Brother of James P. Mitchell, President Dwight D. Eisenhower's Secretary of Labor 1953-1961.

1939: Appeared in three out of the 10 movies nominated for a Best Picture Oscar: Autant en emporte le vent (1939) (which won), Monsieur Smith au sénat (1939) and La chevauchée fantastique (1939) (for which he won the Oscar as Best Supporting Actor).

Is one of 9 actors to have won the Triple Crown of Acting (an Oscar, Emmy and Tony); the others in chronological order are Melvyn Douglas, Paul Scofield, Jack Albertson, Jason Robards, Jeremy Irons, Al Pacino, Geoffrey Rush and Christopher Plummer.

1953: When he claimed the Tony Award as Best Actor in a Musical for "Hazel Flagg", a musical version of the film Nothing Sacred (1937), he became the first performer to claim the Triple Crown of acting awards: Tony, Emmy (as TV's Best Actor of 1953) and Oscar (for La chevauchée fantastique (1939)).

Attended Elizabeth (New Jersey) High School and had his first job as a newspaper reporter while a student there. Following graduation, he continued working as a reporter and was hired by newspapers in Newark, Washington, Baltimore and Pittsburgh.

The youngest of seven children born to Irish immigrants who settled in New Jersey, his father James Mitchell, worked in the newspaper industry and died when Thomas was a young boy; his mother's name was Mary.

Was an avid collector of fine art, which included a Rembrandt panel acquired in 1940 from a Polish prince.

In 1939, in addition to appearing in three movies nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, he appeared in two other films that received nominations in other categories: Quasimodo (1939) and Seuls les anges ont des ailes (1939).

He remarried his first wife, Anne Stewart Brewer, after her divorce from Frederick Philip Hier Jr.. She had married him on October 23, 1936, and then divorced him on May 22, 1941.

Appeared in nine Oscar Best Picture nominees: Lost Horizon (1937), La chevauchée fantastique (1939), Monsieur Smith au sénat (1939), Autant en emporte le vent (1939), Our Town (1940), The Long Voyage Home (1940), Wilson (1944), La vie est belle (1946) and Le train sifflera trois fois (1952), with Gone with the Wind the only winner.

Even though he was an actor of great versatility, he received both of his Oscar nominations for playing drunken doctors in John Ford films.

Daughter Anne, born of his first marriage, was his only child.

Was originally cast in All That Money Can Buy (1941) [aka "The Devil and Daniel Webster"], but while filming he lost control of a horse-drawn carriage in which he and young actor Lindy Wade were riding and it crashed. He was thrown from the carriage and suffered a fractured skull. Edward Arnold replaced him and all his scenes had to be reshot. Wade recovered enough to continue in his film role.

He has appeared in eight films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Lost Horizon (1937), Place à l'avenir (1937), La chevauchée fantastique (1939), Seuls les anges ont des ailes (1939), Monsieur Smith au sénat (1939), Autant en emporte le vent (1939), La vie est belle (1946) and Le train sifflera trois fois (1952).

He was interred at the Vaultage of the Chapel of the Pines in Los Angeles.

He was a lifelong Republican.

His nephew, James P. Mitchell, was U.S. Secretary of Labor during the Eisenhower Administration.

He was cremated and his ashes are stored at a crematorium in California.

Father: James Mitchell; Mother: Mary Donnelly.