Biography
Mitchell was born John Grant Mitchell, Jr. in Columbus, Ohio, the only son of American Civil War general John G. Mitchell. His paternal grandmother, Fanny Arabella Hayes was the sister of President Rutherford B. Hayes. Like his father, he became an attorney, graduating from the Harvard Law School. However by his mid-to-late 20s, he tired of his legal practice and turned a long term dream into a reality by becoming an actor on Broadway. He played lead roles in plays such as It Pays to Advertise, The Whole Town's Talking, The Champion, and The Baby Cyclone.
Grant Mitchell was a brother of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity (Phi chapter).
In film he initially made an appearance in 1916 and one or two other silents amidst his extensive theatre work but Mitchell's screen career really took off with the advent of sound. Most of his appearances were in B films of the 1930s and 1940s, but he made many notable appearances in high profile films such as 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).
He died a bachelor on May 1, 1957.
Read more about this topic: Grant Mitchell (actor)
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