Clinton Charles Sundberg (December 7, 1903 [some sources say 1906] – December 14, 1987)[1][2][3][4] was an American character actor in film and on stage.
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 (1933).[5] 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.[3]
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.[3]
^His birth year had been the subject of contention, with sources differing between 1903 and 1906. The Social Security Death Index and the 1910 United States Census both confirm 1903.
^ 1910 Census, Social Security Death Index, accessed through Ancestry.com
