Clinton Sundberg

Clinton Charles Sundberg (December 7, 1903 – December 14, 1987) was an American character actor in film and stage.

Early years

Clinton Sundberg was born in Appleton, Minnesota on December 7, 1903, the son of Grace A. Coffey Sundberg. His birth year has been disputed with sources differing between 1903 and 1906. The Internet Movie Database and Internet Broadway Database claim 1903, while Allmovie states 1906, which is supported by The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times obituaries, which reported his age as 81. However the Social Security Death Index and the 1910 United States Census both confirm 1903.

Sundberg 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 for acting and appeared in a number of Broadway plays. His most notable roles were Mr. Kraler in the original 1957 production of The Diary of Anne Frank and Mortimer Brewster (as a replacement) in the 1944 Arsenic and Old Lace. He had numerous supporting roles in films of the 1940s and 1950s. He played Mike, the bartender who listens to Judy Garland's character's troubles in Easter Parade. One of Sundberg's most memorable roles was in the 1949 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film In the Good Old Summertime (which also starred Judy Garland and Van Johnson), in which he played the part of Rudy Hansen, a friendly co-worker and confidante of Johnson's character. He also played the hotel owner who hired Annie Oakley to enter the shooting contest against Frank Butler in Annie Get Your Gun.

Sundberg also made several television appearances, including two episodes of Perry Mason: "The Case of the Drowsy Mosquito" in 1963 and "The Case of the Scarlet Scandal" in 1966. He also appeared in several television commercials.

In 1962, Sundberg was cast in the lead guest-starring role of Luther Boardman, a naive but troublesome newspaper publisher who comes to Laramie, Wyoming, to capture the story of "real West" gunfighters in "The Man Behind the News", one of the last episodes of the ABC/Warner Brothers western series, Lawman, which starred John Russell as Marshal Dan Troop. Hal Baylor appears in the episode as gunfighter Mort Peters, whom Boardman (Sundberg) goads into a shootout with Troop.

Death

Sundberg died of heart failure in Santa Monica, California.

Partial filmography

• Undercurrent (1946)
• Love Laughs at Andy Hardy (1946)
• The Mighty McGurk (1947)
• Living in a Big Way (1947)
• The Hucksters (1947)
• Easter Parade (1948)
• A Date with Judy (1948)
• Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid (1948)
• Good Sam (1948)
• Words and Music (1948)
• Command Decision (1948)
• Big Jack (1949)
• The Barkleys of Broadway (1949)
• In the Good Old Summertime (1949)
• Key to the City (1950)
• Father Is a Bachelor (1950)
• Annie Get Your Gun (1950)
• Duchess of Idaho (1950)
• The Toast of New Orleans (1950)
• Two Weeks with Love (1950)
• Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone (1950)
• On the Riviera (1951)
• The Fat Man (1951)
• As Young as You Feel (1951)
• The Belle of New York (1952)
• The Caddy (1953)
• Sweethearts on Parade (1953)
• The Birds and the Bees (1956)
• Bachelor in Paradise (1961)
• The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962)
• Hotel (1967)
• A Snow White Christmas (1980) (voice)
• The Princess and the Cobbler (1993) (voice)