Guy Kibbee

Character actor Guy Kibbee got his start entertaining passengers on Mississippi riverboats when in his teens. He then moved on to the stage, eventually making his way to Hollywood where he became a regular in Warner Brothers films, playing his round features and wide eyes to comic effect. Kibbee spent years in the theater, eventually making it to Broadway in 1930, performing in both "Torch Song" and "Marseilles" that same year. The next year, he made the jump to the big screen, falling into his trademark role of upbeat yet not particularly bright characters, often flustered by challenging situations. As a stock player in Warner Brothers pictures, he can frequently be found backing up such stars of the era as James Cagney, Warren William, and Dick Powell. In more memorable roles, he plays a distressed governor in Frank Capra's "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" and a crewmate in support of Errol Flynn in "Captain Blood." He brought his typical traits to an uncommon leading role as the title character in "Babbitt," a film based on the popular novel by Sinclair Lewis about a greedy middle class businessman who struggles to maintain an air of respectability amidst scandal. After a steady run of films through the '30s and '40s including a couple of late career Westerns by the renowned team of John Ford and John Wayne, Kibbee played in a few TV shows before retiring in 1950.