Frank Sutton - Acting Career

Acting Career

Discharged as a sergeant, he began acting on stage. In 1949, he married Toby Igler, with whom he had two children. He attended the Columbia University School of General Studies, graduating cum laude with a bachelor's degree in drama in 1952. Throughout the 1950s, Sutton played small roles in television shows such as Route 66, Naked City, The Greatest Show on Earth, The Fugitive, The Goldbergs, Gunsmoke, Target: The Corruptors!, The Twilight Zone and The Untouchables. He had a continuing role as Cadet Eric Rattison, the great rival of the "Polaris Unit" manned by the series' heroes, in Tom Corbett, Space Cadet from 1950 to 1955. In 1955, he received his big break in the Academy Award-winning movie Marty, in which he played the title character's friend, Ralph. He also had a role in The Satan Bug, a 1965 spy thriller. He returned to the stage in The Andersonville Trial in the early 1960s.

Sutton's breakthrough role was on Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C, a 1964 episode of The Andy Griffith Show in which he played the cynical and easily exasperated Sergeant Carter opposite Jim Nabors' character Gomer Pyle. This episode led to a spin-off television series of the same name, where Sutton continued the role for five seasons, until the show ended its run in 1969. He also appeared in public service announcements in the role of Sergeant Carter. After Gomer Pyle was canceled, Sutton appeared regularly on Nabors' variety show The Jim Nabors Hour with Gomer Pyle co-star Ronnie Schell; Sutton played the brother-in-law of Nabors' character in comedy sketches. Sutton performed in dinner theater, playing, among other roles, the father in Norman, Is That You? and made guest appearances on other television programs.