Frank Sutton
Encyclopedia
Frank Spencer Sutton was an American
actor best remembered for his role of Gunnery Sergeant Vince Carter on the CBS
television
series Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
, the only child of Frank Sims Sutton and Thelma (née Spencer). When he was eight years old, his father became employed as a Linotype
operator at the Nashville Tennessean
in Nashville
. Frank Sims Sutton died from a gastrointestinal hemorrhage on March 16, 1938, leaving behind his wife and 14-year-old son.
Sutton developed an interest in acting, playing his first role at age nine, and also starred in the drama club at East Nashville High School during his attendance. He later said, "The first time I walked out on a stage, I had a warm feeling. I knew then I wanted to be an actor."
In 1941, Sutton graduated from East Nashville High School, and returned to Clarksville to become a radio announcer. He enlisted in the United States Army
during World War II
, and served in the South Pacific, taking part in fourteen assault landings.
, graduating cum laude with a bachelor's degree in drama in 1952.
Throughout the 1950s, Sutton played small roles in television shows such as Route 66
, Naked City
, The Greatest Show on Earth
, The Fugitive
, The Goldbergs
, Gunsmoke
, Target: The Corruptors!
, The Twilight Zone
and The Untouchables
. He had a continuing role as Cadet Eric Rattison, the great rival of the "Polaris Unit" manned by the series' heroes, in Tom Corbett, Space Cadet
from 1950 to 1955. In 1955, he received his big break in the Academy Award-winning movie Marty
, in which he played the title character's friend, Ralph. He also had a role in The Satan Bug
, a 1965 spy thriller. He returned to the stage in The Andersonville Trial
in the early 1960s.
Sutton's breakthrough role was on Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C, a 1964 episode of The Andy Griffith Show
in which he played the cynical and easily exasperated Sergeant Carter opposite Jim Nabors
' character Gomer Pyle
. This episode led to a spin-off
television series of the same name, where Sutton continued the role for five seasons, until the show ended its run in 1969. He also appeared in public service announcements in the role of Sergeant Carter. After Gomer Pyle was canceled, Sutton appeared regularly on Nabors' variety show
The Jim Nabors Hour
with Gomer Pyle co-star Ronnie Schell
; Sutton played the brother-in-law of Nabors' character in comedy sketches. Sutton performed in dinner theater, playing, among other roles, the father in Norman, Is That You?
and made guest appearances on other television programs.
at the Beverly Barn Dinner Playhouse in Shreveport, Louisiana
, Frank Sutton died of a heart attack
on June 28, 1974, at the age of 50. He was buried in his hometown of Clarksville.
Billy Marston (1962) ||
|-
| rowspan="2"| 1962 || Have Gun – Will Travel || Davey Walsh || One time role
|-
| The Twilight Zone
|| Frank, Jerry's manager || One time role
|-
| 1962—1963 || The Untouchables
|| Benny Stryker (1962)
Smiley Barris (1962)
Angie Stazak (1963)
Sgt. Davey McCain (1963)|| Combat Cpl. Episode "The Chateau"
|-
| 1963 || The Fugitive
|| (deputy) Jackson || One time role
|-
| 1964 || The Andy Griffith Show
||Gunnery Sergeant Vince Carter || One time role
|-
| 1964—1969 || Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
|| GySgt Vince Carter ||
|-
| 1969–1971 || The Jim Nabors Hour
|| Himself ||
|}
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actor best remembered for his role of Gunnery Sergeant Vince Carter on the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
series Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.The show renders the title as Gomer Pyle - USMC. is an American situation comedy that originally aired on CBS from September 25, 1964, to May 2, 1969. The series was a spinoff of The Andy Griffith Show, and the pilot was aired as the finale of the fourth season of The Andy...
Early life
Sutton was born in Elkton, KentuckyElkton, Kentucky
Elkton is a city in and the county seat of Todd County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 1,984 at the 2000 census. The city was founded by Major John Gray...
, the only child of Frank Sims Sutton and Thelma (née Spencer). When he was eight years old, his father became employed as a Linotype
Linotype machine
The Linotype typesetting machine is a "line casting" machine used in printing. The name of the machine comes from the fact that it produces an entire line of metal type at once, hence a line-o'-type, a significant improvement over manual typesetting....
operator at the Nashville Tennessean
The Tennessean
The Tennessean is the principal daily newspaper in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. Its circulation area covers 39 counties in Middle Tennessee and eight counties in southern Kentucky....
in Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
. Frank Sims Sutton died from a gastrointestinal hemorrhage on March 16, 1938, leaving behind his wife and 14-year-old son.
Sutton developed an interest in acting, playing his first role at age nine, and also starred in the drama club at East Nashville High School during his attendance. He later said, "The first time I walked out on a stage, I had a warm feeling. I knew then I wanted to be an actor."
In 1941, Sutton graduated from East Nashville High School, and returned to Clarksville to become a radio announcer. He enlisted in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and served in the South Pacific, taking part in fourteen assault landings.
Acting career
Discharged as a sergeant, he began acting on stage. In 1949, he married Toby Igler, with whom he had two children. He attended the Columbia University School of General StudiesColumbia University School of General Studies
The School of General Studies, commonly known as General Studies or simply GS, is one of the three official undergraduate colleges at Columbia University. It is a highly selective Ivy League undergraduate liberal arts college designed for non-traditional students and confers Bachelor of Art and...
, graduating cum laude with a bachelor's degree in drama in 1952.
Throughout the 1950s, Sutton played small roles in television shows such as Route 66
Route 66 (TV series)
Route 66 is an American TV series in which two young men traveled across America. The show ran weekly on CBS from 1960 to 1964. It starred Martin Milner as Tod Stiles and, for two and a half seasons, George Maharis as Buz Murdock. Maharis was ill for much of the third season, during which time Tod...
, Naked City
Naked City (TV series)
Naked City is a police drama series which aired from 1958 to 1963 on the ABC television network. It was inspired by the 1948 motion picture of the same name, and mimics its dramatic "semi-documentary" format....
, The Greatest Show on Earth
The Greatest Show on Earth (TV series)
The Greatest Show on Earth is an American drama series starring Jack Palance about the American circus, which aired on ABC from September 17, 1963, to April 28, 1964...
, The Fugitive
The Fugitive (TV series)
The Fugitive is an American drama series produced by QM Productions and United Artists Television that aired on ABC from 1963 to 1967. David Janssen stars as Richard Kimble, a doctor from the fictional town of Stafford, Indiana, who is falsely convicted of his wife's murder and given the death...
, The Goldbergs
The Goldbergs
The Goldbergs is a comedy-drama broadcast from 1929 to 1946 on American radio, and from 1949 to 1956 on American television. It was adapted into a 1948 play, Me and Molly, and a 1973 Broadway musical, Molly.-Radio:...
, Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
, Target: The Corruptors!
Target: The Corruptors!
Target: The Corruptors! is a 35-episode crime drama starring Stephen McNally as newspaper reporter Paul Marino, which aired on ABC from September 29, 1961 to June 8, 1962. The character Jack Flood, Marino's undercover agent, was portrayed by Robert Harland...
, The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone is an American television anthology series created by Rod Serling. Each episode is a mixture of self-contained drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist...
and The Untouchables
The Untouchables (1959 TV series)
The Untouchables is an American crime drama that ran from 1959 to 1963 on ABC. Based on the memoir of the same name by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley, it fictionalized the experiences of Eliot Ness, a real-life Prohibition agent, as he fought crime in Chicago during the 1930s with the help of a...
. He had a continuing role as Cadet Eric Rattison, the great rival of the "Polaris Unit" manned by the series' heroes, in Tom Corbett, Space Cadet
Tom Corbett, Space Cadet
Tom Corbett is the main character in a series of Tom Corbett — Space Cadet stories that were depicted in television, radio, books, comic books, comic strips, coloring books, punch-out books and View-Master reels in the 1950s....
from 1950 to 1955. In 1955, he received his big break in the Academy Award-winning movie Marty
Marty (film)
Marty is a 1955 American film directed by Delbert Mann. The screenplay was written by Paddy Chayefsky, expanding upon his 1953 teleplay of the same name. The film stars Ernest Borgnine and Betsy Blair. The film enjoyed international success, winning the 1955 Academy Award for Best Picture and...
, in which he played the title character's friend, Ralph. He also had a role in The Satan Bug
The Satan Bug
The Satan Bug is a science fiction film directed by John Sturges that stars George Maharis and Anne Francis. It was loosely adapted from Alistair MacLean's 1962 novel of the same name...
, a 1965 spy thriller. He returned to the stage in The Andersonville Trial
The Andersonville Trial
The Andersonville Trial was a television adaptation of a 1959 hit Broadway play by Saul Levitt, presented as an episode of PBS's 1970-71 season of Hollywood Television Theatre....
in the early 1960s.
Sutton's breakthrough role was on Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C, a 1964 episode of The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised by CBS between October 3, 1960, and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays a widowed sheriff in the fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina...
in which he played the cynical and easily exasperated Sergeant Carter opposite Jim Nabors
Jim Nabors
James Thurston "Jim" Nabors is an American actor and singer. Born and raised in Sylacauga, Alabama, Nabors moved to Southern California because of his asthma. While working at a Santa Monica nightclub, The Horn, he was discovered by Andy Griffith and later joined The Andy Griffith Show, playing...
' character Gomer Pyle
Gomer Pyle
Gomer Pyle is a bubbly, gentle, rural auto mechanic character played by American singer/ television actor Jim Nabors. Gomer Pyle became a character on the TV sitcom The Andy Griffith Show, when actor Howard McNear, who played Floyd the barber, suffered a stroke and took a respite from acting. Jim...
. This episode led to a spin-off
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
television series of the same name, where Sutton continued the role for five seasons, until the show ended its run in 1969. He also appeared in public service announcements in the role of Sergeant Carter. After Gomer Pyle was canceled, Sutton appeared regularly on Nabors' variety show
Variety show
A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...
The Jim Nabors Hour
The Jim Nabors Hour
The Jim Nabors Hour was a variety television series hosted by Jim Nabors that aired on the CBS television network from 1969 to 1971.Fresh from his success with Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., which put his backwoods "Gomer Pyle" character from The Andy Griffith Show in a military context, the show not only...
with Gomer Pyle co-star Ronnie Schell
Ronnie Schell
Ronald Ralph "Ronnie" Schell is an American actor, stand-up comedian and cartoon voice actor . Early in his career he appeared as himself as a contestant on You Bet Your Life opposite Groucho Marx, demonstrating a comic barrage of jive talk.-Life and career:Schell was born in Richmond, California...
; Sutton played the brother-in-law of Nabors' character in comedy sketches. Sutton performed in dinner theater, playing, among other roles, the father in Norman, Is That You?
Norman, Is That You?
Norman, Is That You? is a 1970 play in two acts by American playwrights Ron Clark and Sam Bobrick about a Jewish couple coming to terms with their son's homosexuality. The work is notably the first play written by both writers. After 19 preview performances, the play officially opened on Broadway...
and made guest appearances on other television programs.
Death
While preparing for a performance of the comedy LuvLuv (play)
Luv is a play by Murray Schisgal.A mix of absurdist humor and traditional Broadway comedy more in the Neil Simon vein, Luv concerns two college friends - misfit Harry and materialistic Milt - who are reunited when the latter stops the former from jumping off a bridge, the play's setting. Each...
at the Beverly Barn Dinner Playhouse in Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport is the third largest city in Louisiana. It is the principal city of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana and is the 109th-largest city in the United States....
, Frank Sutton died of a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
on June 28, 1974, at the age of 50. He was buried in his hometown of Clarksville.
Filmography
Olie (1962)Billy Marston (1962) ||
|-
| rowspan="2"| 1962 || Have Gun – Will Travel || Davey Walsh || One time role
|-
| The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone is an American television anthology series created by Rod Serling. Each episode is a mixture of self-contained drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist...
|| Frank, Jerry's manager || One time role
|-
| 1962—1963 || The Untouchables
The Untouchables (1959 TV series)
The Untouchables is an American crime drama that ran from 1959 to 1963 on ABC. Based on the memoir of the same name by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley, it fictionalized the experiences of Eliot Ness, a real-life Prohibition agent, as he fought crime in Chicago during the 1930s with the help of a...
|| Benny Stryker (1962)
Smiley Barris (1962)
Angie Stazak (1963)
Sgt. Davey McCain (1963)|| Combat Cpl. Episode "The Chateau"
|-
| 1963 || The Fugitive
The Fugitive (TV series)
The Fugitive is an American drama series produced by QM Productions and United Artists Television that aired on ABC from 1963 to 1967. David Janssen stars as Richard Kimble, a doctor from the fictional town of Stafford, Indiana, who is falsely convicted of his wife's murder and given the death...
|| (deputy) Jackson || One time role
|-
| 1964 || The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised by CBS between October 3, 1960, and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays a widowed sheriff in the fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina...
||Gunnery Sergeant Vince Carter || One time role
|-
| 1964—1969 || Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.The show renders the title as Gomer Pyle - USMC. is an American situation comedy that originally aired on CBS from September 25, 1964, to May 2, 1969. The series was a spinoff of The Andy Griffith Show, and the pilot was aired as the finale of the fourth season of The Andy...
|| GySgt Vince Carter ||
|-
| 1969–1971 || The Jim Nabors Hour
The Jim Nabors Hour
The Jim Nabors Hour was a variety television series hosted by Jim Nabors that aired on the CBS television network from 1969 to 1971.Fresh from his success with Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., which put his backwoods "Gomer Pyle" character from The Andy Griffith Show in a military context, the show not only...
|| Himself ||
|}
| Films | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1955 | Marty Marty (film) Marty is a 1955 American film directed by Delbert Mann. The screenplay was written by Paddy Chayefsky, expanding upon his 1953 teleplay of the same name. The film stars Ernest Borgnine and Betsy Blair. The film enjoyed international success, winning the 1955 Academy Award for Best Picture and... |
Ralph | Uncredited |
| 1957 | Four Boys and a Gun | Ollie Denker | |
| 1961 | Town Without Pity Town Without Pity Town Without Pity is a 1961 American, Austrian and West German international co-production film drama starring Kirk Douglas, directed by Gottfried Reinhardt. It was made by Mirisch Productions for United Artists.... |
Sgt. Chuck Snyder | |
| 1965 | The Satan Bug The Satan Bug The Satan Bug is a science fiction film directed by John Sturges that stars George Maharis and Anne Francis. It was loosely adapted from Alistair MacLean's 1962 novel of the same name... |
Donald | |
| 1974 | Hurricane | Bert Pearson | Television movie released posthumously |