Clinton Sundberg


Clinton Charles Sundberg was an American character actor in film and on stage.

Early years

Sundberg was born in Appleton, Minnesota. He graduated from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he was active in drama, president of his fraternity, and captain of the tennis team.

Career

Sundberg left teaching English literature for acting, appearing in plays in stock theater in New England. He appeared in a number of Broadway plays, debuting in Nine Pine Street. His most notable roles were Mr. Kraler in the original 1957 production of The Diary of Anne Frank and Mortimer Brewster in the 1944 Arsenic and Old Lace.
He became a contract player at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer where he appeared in numerous supporting roles in films of the late 1940s and early 1950s. He played Mike, the bartender who listens to Judy Garland's character's troubles in Easter Parade. In the 1949 film In the Good Old Summertime, which also starred Garland and Van Johnson, he played a friendly co-worker and confidant of Johnson's character. In Annie Get Your Gun, he played the hotel owner who hires Annie Oakley to enter the shooting contest against Frank Butler.
Sundberg appeared in "The Englishman," a 1957 episode of Have Gun - Will Travel. In 1962, he played the lead guest-starring role of Luther Boardman, a naive but troublesome newspaper publisher who comes to Laramie, Wyoming in "The Man Behind the News", one of the last episodes of the Western series Lawman. Other TV appearances include two episodes of Perry Mason: "The Case of the Drowsy Mosquito" in 1963 and "The Case of the Scarlet Scandal" in 1966. He also apperared in several TV commercials.

Partial filmography

  • Undercurrent as Mr. Warmsley
  • Love Laughs at Andy Hardy as Haberdashery Clerk
  • The Mighty McGurk as Flexter
  • Undercover Maisie as Guy Canford
  • Living in a Big Way as Everett Hanover Smythe
  • The Hucksters as Michael Michaelson
  • Song of the Thin Man as Mr. Purdy, Hotel Vesta Desk Clerk
  • Song of Love as Dr. Richarz
  • Desire Me as Salesman
  • Good News as Prof. Burton Kennyon
  • The Bride Goes Wild as Dentist
  • Easter Parade as Mike the Bartender
  • A Date with Judy as Jameson
  • Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid as Mike Fitzgerald
  • Good Sam as Nelson
  • The Kissing Bandit as Colonel Gomez
  • Words and Music as Shoe Clerk
  • Command Decision as Major Homer V. Prescott
  • Big Jack as C. Petronius Smith
  • The Stratton Story as Man on Radio Baking Pie
  • The Barkleys of Broadway as Bert Felsher
  • In the Good Old Summertime as Rudy Hansen
  • Key to the City as Clerk
  • Father Is a Bachelor as Plato Cassin
  • Annie Get Your Gun as Foster Wilson
  • Duchess of Idaho as Matson
  • The Toast of New Orleans as Oscar
  • Two Weeks with Love as Mr. Finlay
  • Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone as Donald, Steve's Bookie
  • On the Riviera as Antoine
  • The Fat Man as Bill Norton
  • As Young as You Feel as Frank Erickson
  • Take Care of My Little Girl as Fraternity Dance Guest
  • The Belle of New York as Gilford Spivak
  • The Girl Next Door as Samuels the butler
  • Sweethearts on Parade as Dr. Harold Wayne
  • The Caddy as Charles, the Butler
  • Main Street to Broadway as The Father, Mr. Harry Craig
  • The Birds and the Bees as Purser
  • Bachelor in Paradise as Rodney Jones
  • The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm as The Prime Minister / Hans
  • How the West Was Won as Hylan Seabury
  • Hotel as Lawrence Morgan
  • A Snow White Christmas as Thinker
  • The Thief and the Cobbler as Dying Soldier