Born to American parents in Cuba, Millard Mitchell enjoyed moderate success as a New York-based stage and radio actor in the 1930s. His first appearances before the cameras were in a handful of Manhattan-filmed industrial shorts; his Hollywood feature-film bow was in MGM's Mr. and Mrs. North (1941). After the war, Mitchell toted up an impressive list of film credits, usually cast in sarcastic, phlegmatic roles. While he was afforded top billing in 1952's My Six Convicts, Mitchell's best screen role (at least in the eyes of MGM-musical buffs) was movie mogul R. F. Simpson in the splendiferous Singin' in the Rain (1952). Millard Mitchell died suddenly of lung cancer at the age of 50.