Cameron
McDowell Mitzell was born on November 4, 1918 in Dallastown, Pennsylvania, one
of seven children of a minister. As a child during the Depression, he wore his
sisters' hand-me-down shoes and coats. While attending school, he became
interested in acting, and one of his high school teachers lent him the money to
go to a New York City dramatic school.
It was while he was struggling at odd jobs in New York that he wrote
letters to producers, actors and agents.
None of his hundreds of letters ever got a reply, until he criticized a
performance of Alfred Lunt's in the motion picture “The Guardsman”. Lunt replied, inviting Cameron to audition.
Afterward, Lynn Fontanne told him, "Acting is your life's work, and you're
not only going to be a good actor, you're going to be a great actor." She changed his name to Mitchell, and the rest
is history.Cameron appeared in over 230 films and TV appearances from “The Last Installment: A Crime Does Not Pay Subject” a film short in 1945 to “Jack-O” in 1995. Among his many films were two Euro-westerns: “Minnesota Clay” and “The Last Gun” (both 1964). Mitchell is probably best remembered for his role as Buck on the long running TV series “The High Chaparral” (1967-1971).
Cameron Mitchell died of lung cancer on July 6, 1994 in Pacific Palisades, California.
Today we remember Cameron Mitchell on what would have been his 95th birthday.
And indeed, he became one of the best actors from his generation !!!:)
ReplyDeleteMy great respects for him - and be sure that he has many fans in my country (Brazil)l...
Stephan Segantini
PS- Someone must write a book about Cameron Mitchell someday !