--- name: "Grady Sutton" canonical: "https://film.one/person/grady-sutton" roles: ["Actor"] born: "5 April 1906" died: "17 September 1995" reviewed_on_fi1m: 5 average_fi1m_score: 78 average_as: "actor" average_over: 3 updated: "2026-09-20T01:17:33.394372+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Grady Sutton Actor. Born 5 April 1906 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA. Died 17 September 1995. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 5 April 1906, Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA - **Died:** 17 September 1995 - **Active:** 1935–1945 - **Also known as:** Grady Harwell Sutton - **Titles on Fi1m:** 5: 3 acting, 2 other - **Average Fi1m score:** 78, as actor, over 3 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1930s 82 (2), 1940s 72 (3) - **Score spread:** 1 at 80+, 2 at 60–79, 0 under 60 - **Lead roles:** 0 of 3 acting credits billed first or second - **Genres:** Comedy 2, Drama 2, Romance 2, Music 1 - **Screen time:** 6 hours of reviewed films - **Box office:** $10m across 3 films with figures - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grady_Sutton, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1541287, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0840316/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/13968 ## Streaming the US now - **Tubi:** [*Anchors Aweigh*](https://film.one/film/anchors-aweigh.md) (70) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Grady Sutton > A soft Southern drawl, a slow blink, and the face of a man who has realised he is the joke. Grady Sutton spent half a century as the foil, most memorably to W.C. Fields, and was rarely on screen long enough to be noticed. Watch for the pause. Grady Sutton's young men are always a beat behind everyone else, and the good part is the moment the penny drops and the eyes roll upward as if asking heaven for a second opinion. He played the same fellow for fifty years: the dim country boy, the flustered suitor, the man in a good suit who has no idea what is going on. The drawl was soft and the alarm was total. He arrived in California in 1924 and was in silents the next year, an uncredited student in *The Freshman* (1925) among them. Sound suited him, because the voice was the instrument: Hal Roach's college shorts, the *Boy Friends* series, then the run of supporting parts that fixed the type. Four films opposite W.C. Fields between 1933 and 1940 are the heart of it, from *The Pharmacist* (1933) to *The Bank Dick* (1940), where he plays Og Oggilby, the prospective son-in-law, and does the job a foil is for: stands still, takes it, and lets Fields be Fields. We have reviewed one of his films, *Alice Adams* (1935), and gave it 79, and our review does not mention him. That is the career in a sentence. He was seldom mentioned anywhere, and he was in everything. He plays Frank Dowling, Katharine Hepburn's awkward dancing partner, and we found ourselves watching him rather than her for a minute or so, which in a Hepburn film is not nothing. He does the whole flustered turn, the drawl, the panic behind the manners, and never once asks for the laugh. He worked with her again in *Stage Door* (1937), as Butch. The limitation is the obvious one. The studios typecast him, as the bumpkin and as the effeminate stooge, and the films rarely gave him more than a scene to do it in. By the 1950s and 1960s the parts had shrunk to uncredited faces in the crowd, an Ascot extra in *My Fair Lady* (1964), guest spots on television, and his last film was *Rock 'n' Roll High School* (1979), as the president of the school board. Nobody built a picture around him. Nobody was going to. He called Hepburn and Fields "two of the nicest people I ever met", which is the sort of thing a man says after fifty years of standing next to the star. Start with *The Bank Dick*. Then put on almost any American comedy of the 1930s and wait; he is usually there, slightly to the left, about to realise something. ## Biography Grady Sutton, also credited as Grady Harwell Sutton, was an American character actor. Born on 5 April 1906 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, he arrived in California in 1924 and made his film debut in *The Mad Whirl* (1925). He began in silent films and continued in sound pictures, often in college-themed shorts such as *The Boy Friends* series before moving into supporting roles. Sutton appeared in more than 180 films and numerous television episodes between 1925 and 1979. He played Frank Dowling in *Alice Adams* (1935) and was a recurring foil to W. C. Fields in *The Pharmacist* (1933), *Man on the Flying Trapeze* (1935), *You Can't Cheat an Honest Man* (1939) and *The Bank Dick* (1940). Other credits include *My Man Godfrey* (1936), *Stage Door* (1937), *Anchors Aweigh* (1945), *White Christmas* (1954), *A Star Is Born* (1954), *My Fair Lady* (1964), *Batman* (1966) and *Rock 'n' Roll High School* (1979). He died on 17 September 1995 in Woodland Hills, California. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, nytimes.com, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (5) ### Performed in (3) — the average rests on these - *Anchors Aweigh* (1945), Fi1m 70, as Bertram Kraler — [page](https://film.one/film/anchors-aweigh.md) - *Stage Door* (1937), Fi1m 85, as Butch — [page](https://film.one/film/stage-door.md) - *Alice Adams* (1935), Fi1m 79, as Frank Dowling — [page](https://film.one/film/alice-adams.md) ### Also credited (2) — thanks, archive footage, uncredited - *Since You Went Away* (1944), Fi1m 63, as Soldier Hunting for Susie Fleming (uncredited) — [page](https://film.one/film/since-you-went-away.md) - *The More the Merrier* (1943), Fi1m 82, as Diner Counterman (uncredited) — [page](https://film.one/film/the-more-the-merrier.md) ## Complete filmography (194) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Rock 'n' Roll High School* (1979), as School Board President - *Support Your Local Gunfighter* (1971), as Elmer / Storekeeper - *The Odd Couple* (1970), series, as Pop - *Myra Breckinridge* (1970), as Kid Barlow - *The Great Bank Robbery* (1969), as Rev. Simms - *Hawaii Five-O* (1969), series, as Minister - *Something for a Lonely Man* (1968), as Male Secretary - *I Love You, Alice B. Toklas!* (1968), as Funeral Director - *The Pruitts of Southampton* (1966), series, as Sturgis - *Paradise, Hawaiian Style* (1966), as Mr. Cubberson - *The Chase* (1966), as Mr. Siftifieus (uncredited) - *Batman* (1966), series, as Irving Cash - *The Bounty Killer* (1965), as Minister - *Tickle Me* (1965), as Mr. Dabney - *My Fair Lady* (1964), as Ascot Extra / Guest at Ball (uncredited) - *4 for Texas* (1963), as Bank Clerk - *Petticoat Junction* (1963), series, as Chef - *Burke's Law* (1963), series, as Hubie - *Come Blow Your Horn* (1963), as Clothing Store Manager (uncredited) - *Billy Rose's Jumbo* (1962), as Driver - *Dennis the Menace* (1959), series, as Alvin Jessup - *Rawhide* (1959), series, as Desk Clerk - *77 Sunset Strip* (1958), series, as Doorman - *Lawman* (1958), series, as Stiles, Ben Toomey - *Sugarfoot* (1957), series, as Charles - *The Naked Dawn* (1955), Actor - *Cheyenne* (1955), series, as Photographer - *The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp* (1955), series, as Store Clerk - *White Christmas* (1954), as Mr. Herring (uncredited) - *December Bride* (1954), series, Actor - *A Star Is Born* (1954), as Artie Carver (uncredited) - *Living It Up* (1954), as Gift Shop Owner (uncredited) - *General Electric Theater* (1953), series, as The Questioner - *The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet* (1952), series, as The Photographer, Mr. Van Buskirk - *10,000 Horses Singing* (1952), as Mr. Caslon - *Air Hostess* (1949), as Ned Jenkins - *Grand Canyon* (1949), as Halfnote - *Last of the Wild Horses* (1948), as Curly, the cook - *Jiggs and Maggie in Court* (1948), as Mr. Twiddle - *My Dear Secretary* (1948), as Sylvan Scott - *Romance on the High Seas* (1948), as Ship Radio Operator (uncredited) - *My Wild Irish Rose* (1947), as Brown - *Always Together* (1947), as Jack, the Soda Jerk (uncredited) - *Philo Vance's Gamble* (1947), as Willetts - *Beat the Band* (1947), as Harold - *The Fabulous Suzanne* (1946), as Mastenson - *Susie Steps Out* (1946), as Dixon - *The Plainsman and the Lady* (1946), as Secretary - *The Magnificent Rogue* (1946), as George Sheffield - *Nobody Lives Forever* (1946), as Horace, the Counterman at Joe's Diner (uncredited) - *My Dog Shep* (1946), as John H. Latham - *Two Sisters from Boston* (1946), as Recital Guest (uncredited) - *Dragonwyck* (1946), as Astor House Clerk (uncredited) - *Partners in Time* (1946), as Cedric Weehunt / Caleb Weehunt - *Hit the Hay* (1945), as Wilbur W. Whittlesey III - *Sing Your Way Home* (1945), as Ship's Book Shop Clerk, Book Shop Proprietor (uncredited) - *She Went to the Races* (1945), as Hotel Clerk (uncredited) - *Song of the Prairie* (1945), as William Van Welby - *Anchors Aweigh* (1945), as Bertram Kraler — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/film/anchors-aweigh.md) - *On Stage Everybody* (1945), as Cathcart (uncredited) - *A Bell for Adano* (1945), as Pfc. Edward - Algiers Mail Clerk (uncredited) - *Captain Eddie* (1945), as Lester Thomas - *Pillow to Post* (1945), as Alex, Coast Oil Flunky (uncredited) - *A Royal Scandal* (1945), as Boris (uncredited) - *Salty O'Rourke* (1945), as Floorwalker (uncredited) - *Her Lucky Night* (1945), as Joe - *Grissly's Millions* (1945), as Robert Palmor, Jr. - *Hi, Beautiful* (1944), as Attendant - *Goin' to Town* (1944), as Cedric - *Casanova Brown* (1944), as Best Man - *The Great Moment* (1944), as Homer Quimby - *Johnny Doesn't Live Here Anymore* (1944), as George - *Since You Went Away* (1944), as Soldier Hunting for Susie Fleming (uncredited) — Fi1m 63, [page](https://film.one/film/since-you-went-away.md) - *Nine Girls* (1944), as Photographer - *What a Woman* (1943), as Mr. Clark - *A Lady Takes a Chance* (1943), as Malcolm Scott - *Young Ideas* (1943), as Undetermined Minor Role (unconfirmed) - *The More the Merrier* (1943), as Diner Counterman (uncredited) — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/the-more-the-merrier.md) - *Somewhere I'll Find You* (1942), as Restaurant Diner - *The Affairs of Martha* (1942), as Justin Peacock Jr. - *Whispering Ghosts* (1942), as Jonathan Flack - *The Bashful Bachelor* (1942), as Cedric Wiehunt - *Dudes Are Pretty People* (1942), as George Peyton - *Four Jacks and a Jill* (1942), as Nightclub Patron (uncredited) - *Cadet Girl* (1941), as Elmer - Train Passenger (uncredited) - *Three Girls About Town* (1941), as Meeting Doorman - *Father Takes a Wife* (1941), as Tailor Fitter - *Doctors Don't Tell* (1941), as Dr. Piper - *Flying Blind* (1941), as Chester Gimble - *She Knew All the Answers* (1941), as Ogleby - *Mr. District Attorney* (1941), as Hat Salesman - *The Bank Dick* (1940), as Og Oggilby - *Too Many Girls* (1940), as Football Coach (uncredited) - *Sky Murder* (1940), as Buster - Chris' Boyfriend - *He Stayed for Breakfast* (1940), as Salesman - *Lucky Partners* (1940), as Reporter (uncredited) - *We Who Are Young* (1940), as New Father (uncredited) - *Millionaires in Prison* (1940), as Jock, Vander's Nephew (uncredited) - *Torrid Zone* (1940), as Sam - *Millionaire Playboy* (1940), as Jerry - *City of Chance* (1940), as R.O. Champion - *Three Sons* (1939), as Grimson - *Angels Wash Their Faces* (1939), as Gildersleeve - *In Name Only* (1939), as Paul Graham (uncredited) - *Naughty but Nice* (1939), as Mr. Mankton (uncredited) - *It's a Wonderful World* (1939), as Lupton Peabody - *Blind Alley* (1939), as Holmes - *They Made Her a Spy* (1939), as Quiet Man on Train - *The Flying Irishman* (1939), as Clothing Store Sales Clerk - *Three Smart Girls Grow Up* (1939), as Clarence, a Guest - *Blondie Meets the Boss* (1939), as Camera Store Clerk (uncredited) - *You Can't Cheat an Honest Man* (1939), as Chester Dalrymple (uncredited) - *Hard to Get* (1938), as Stanley Potter - *The Mad Miss Manton* (1938), as Secretary to District Attorney - *A Man to Remember* (1938), as Raymond (uncredited) - *Three Loves Has Nancy* (1938), as George Wilkins, Jr. - *Having Wonderful Time* (1938), as Gus - *Vivacious Lady* (1938), as Culpepper - *Joy of Living* (1938), as Florist (Uncredited) - *Love Takes Flight* (1937), as Donald - *Stage Door* (1937), as Butch — Fi1m 85, [page](https://film.one/film/stage-door.md) - *Behind the Mike* (1937), as Curly Conway - *Dangerous Holiday* (1937), as Max - *Turn Off the Moon* (1937), as Truelove Spencer - *We Have Our Moments* (1937), as Clem Porter - *Waikiki Wedding* (1937), as Everett Todhunter - *She's Dangerous* (1937), as Drunk at Nightclub Bar - *Two Minutes to Play* (1936), as Hank Durkee - *Pigskin Parade* (1936), as Mortimer Higgins - *Valiant Is the Word for Carrie* (1936), as Mat Burdon - *King of the Royal Mounted* (1936), as RCMP Const. Slim Callum - *My Man Godfrey* (1936), as Charlie Van Rumple (uncredited) - *Palm Springs* (1936), as Bud - *Dr. Socrates* (1935), as Grocery Clerk - *Alice Adams* (1935), as Frank Dowling — Fi1m 79, [page](https://film.one/film/alice-adams.md) - *Man on the Flying Trapeze* (1935), as Claude Neselrode - *A Night at the Biltmore Bowl* (1935), as Grady Sutton - *Pickled Peppers* (1935), Actor - *Stone of Silver Creek* (1935), as Jimmy - *Wig-Wag* (1935), as Grady / Millicent - *Laddie* (1935), as Peter Dover - *Hunger Pains* (1935), Actor - *Hollywood Trouble* (1935), as Marvin Guppy - *The Dancing Millionaire* (1934), as Ronnie Graff - the Dancing Millionaire - *Gridiron Flash* (1934), as Pudge Harrison - *Ocean Swells* (1934), as Grady - *Contented Calves* (1934), as Grady Sutton - Attorney at Law - *Bachelor Bait* (1934), as Don Belden / Diker - *Rough Necking* (1934), as Grady - *The Undie-World* (1934), as Grady - *Bridal Bail* (1934), as Grady - *Walking Back Home* (1933), as Grady Fleetwood - *Only Yesterday* (1933), as Charlie Smith (Uncredited) - *The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi* (1933), as Pledge - *Ace of Aces* (1933), as Party Guest with Newspaper (uncredited) - *Flirting in the Park* (1933), as Clark - *Husbands' Reunion* (1933), as Elmer - *College Humor* (1933), as Timid Freshman - *See You Tonight* (1933), as Brady Womper - *The Story of Temple Drake* (1933), as Bob (uncredited) - *Uncle Jake* (1933), as Hank - *The Pharmacist* (1933), as Cuthbert Smith - *Don't Play Bridge With Your Wife* (1933), as Baker's Rival Suitor - *Hot Saturday* (1932), as Archie - *Movie Crazy* (1932), as Man Afraid of Mice (Uncredited) - *Pack Up Your Troubles* (1932), as The Wrong Eddie - *Wild Babies!* (1932), as Songwriter Alabam' Sutton - *Too Many Women* (1932), as Alabam - *You're Telling Me* (1932), as Alabam Sutton - *The Knockout* (1932), as Alabam - *Love Pains* (1932), as Alabam - *This Reckless Age* (1932), as "Stepladder" Schultz (uncredited) - *The Kick-Off!* (1931), as Alabam - *Mama Loves Papa* (1931), as Alabam' - *Call a Cop!* (1931), as Alabam - *Air-Tight* (1931), as Alabam - *Love Fever* (1931), as Alabam - *High Gear* (1931), as Alabam - *Blood and Thunder* (1931), as Alabam (uncredited) - *Ladies Last* (1930), as Alabam - *Bigger and Better* (1930), as Grady 'Alabam' Sutton - *Doctor's Orders* (1930), as Alabam - *Let's Go Native* (1930), as Diner (uncredited) - *Wild Company* (1930), as Anita's Boyfriend - *So This Is College* (1929), as Football Game Spectator (uncredited) - *Welcome Danger* (1929), as Man at Party (silent version) (scenes deleted) - *Sailor's Holiday* (1929), as Sailor Extra in Cafe (uncredited) - *The Sophomore* (1929), as Cupie - Freshman Fraternity Brother (uncredited) - *Why Be Good?* (1929), as Guest at Junior's First Party (uncredited) - *The Boy Friend* (1926), Actor - *Brown of Harvard* (1926), as One of the Dickeys (uncredited) - *Skinner's Dress Suit* (1926), as Party Guest (uncredited) - *The Freshman* (1925), as Student Who Goes to Dean (uncredited) - *The Mad Whirl* (1925), as Bit Part ## Gallery - ![Grady Sutton](https://film.one/media/person/1227928/gallery-4ada977b6e1c.jpg) Grady Sutton — unknown (film screenshot), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e9/Florence_Bates-Grady_Sutton_in_My_Dear_Secretary.jpg/1280px-Florence_Bates-Grady_Sutton_in_My_Dear_Secretary.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Grady Sutton](https://film.one/media/person/1227928/gallery-d177cb76a960.jpg) Grady Sutton — Image via TMDB - ![Grady Sutton](https://film.one/media/person/1227928/gallery-a2f1d84a6156.jpg) Grady Sutton — Image via TMDB --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/grady-sutton