Mitchell Lewis
Mitchell J. Lewis ( born June 26, 1880 in Syracuse, New York; † August 24, 1956 in Los Angeles, California ) was an American actor.
Life and career
Mitchell Lewis served at a young age in the Spanish- American War. By no later than 1905, he worked as an actor, first, however, only at the theater. At the age of 34, he gave his film debut in 1914. During the silent film era Lewis was a successful supporting actor who occasionally also played leading roles himself. Because of his great stature, he was on the one hand often used in menacing roles, on the other hand, he played for his versatility often alien or exotic species, such as Sheihk Idrim in the silent version of Ben Hur in 1925. Starting from 1924 he was for the rest of his career mostly play for the studio MGM.
The change in the sound film he initially succeeded well. Mid -1930s were Lewis rolls but getting smaller and he received only rarely for his short, timed performances a credit in the film credits. He had a well-known and at the same time exemplary brief appearance as a captain of the castle of the wicked witch in The Wizard of Oz, he spoke in this role only three short missions. Mitchell Lewis worked until his death on as an actor and put it in a more than 200 films.
Mitchell Lewis was married three times and had a daughter. He died in 1956 at the age of 76 years and was buried at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale.