Clinton Sundberg was a soft-spoken, small-part actor who made a career out of playing courteous, servile characters on the MGM payroll during the late 1940s and 1950s. Prior to his acting career, Sundberg was a teacher who transitioned to character acting, leveraging his meek countenance and light, raspy tenor tones to play a wide range of supporting roles.
As a character actor, Sundberg's niche was playing desk clerks, waiters, and menservants in sentimental musicals, often backing up some of MGM's biggest stars. He appeared alongside June Allyson in Good News (1947),Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in The Barkleys of Broadway (1949),and Betty Hutton in Annie Get Your Gun (1950),among others. One of his most memorable roles was as Judy Garland's benevolent bartender in Easter Parade (1948).
Sundberg also appeared in more prominent roles, such as a snippy butler in The Girl Next Door (1953) and private eye J. Scott Smart's "Man Friday" in the Universal mystery programmer The Fat Man (1951). In addition to his film work, Sundberg was a veteran of the Broadway stage, where he played notable roles such as Mortimer in "Arsenic and Old Lace" and Mr. Kraler in "The Diary of Anne Frank".
Sundberg's television career allowed him to showcase his more assertive personality and intelligent side, taking on roles as doctors and professors. He went on to appear in dozens of voice-overs and commercials in the 1970s. Clinton Sundberg passed away in 1987, shortly after his 84th birthday, due to heart failure.
