Thomas Mitchell was one of the great American character actors, whose credits read like a list of the greatest films of the 20th century: Les horizons perdus (1937); La chevauchée fantastique (1939); Quasimodo (1939); Mr. Smith au sénat (1939); Autant en emporte le vent (1939); La vie est belle (1946) and Le train sifflera trois fois (1952). His portrayals are so diverse and convincing that most people don't even realize that one actor could have played them all. He won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 1940 for his role as the drunken Doc Boone in John Ford's La chevauchée fantastique (1939).
