A FELLOW EAST EAGLE - FRANK SUTTON

-


 Frank Sutton, who everyone knows as Sgt Carter on Gomer Pyle, was born in Clarksville Tennessee on October 23, 1923. At eight years old his family moved to Nashville where his father worked in the press room of the Nashville Tennessean. His father would die when Frank was fourteen. Frank attended East High School where Debbie and I graduated in 1968. He began acting at the age of nine but decided that he wanted to be an actor while in the Drama Club there. After graduation he became a radio announcer in Clarksville until he joined the Army and was involved in fourteen assault landings in the Pacific. After the war he became an actor and acted on many popular television series such as Route 66, Gunsmoke and Twilight Zone just to name a few. His biggest role was in the Academy Award winning movie Marty starring Ernest Borgnine. Then in 1964 he got his first big break as Sgt Carter on the Andy Griffith Show which soon evolved into the Gomer Pyle Show. The show was cancelled in 1969. Frank Sutton died of a heart attack while preparing to act in a dinner theater in Louisiana on June 28, 1974.

EAST NASHVILLE HIGH SCHOOL

Frank Sutton at East- I believe he is on front row near the center
  c
Frank Sutton's statue in downtown Clarksville Tn.

Frank Sutton's grave in Clarksville's Greenwood cemetery



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THE DEATH OF JAYNE MANSFIELD

-
Image
Jayne Mansfield   Jayne Mansfield died way too young on June 29, 1967 at the age of 34 in a gruesome car wreck, She was killed instantly but contrary to urban legend she was not decapitated. Jayne was called the poor man's Marilyn Monroe. She had enjoyed about a four year stint of popularity on Broadway and in Hollywood from 1954 until 1958. Her career was in decline in the late 50's and early 60's but she was still popular in Europe and on the nightclub circuit. She took her last name from her high school sweetheart Paul Mansfield when she married him at the age of seventeen. Her second husband was a former Mr. Universe named Mickey Hargitay who was from Norway. The third and last husband was Matt Cimber. Mansfield was highly educated, attending Southern Methodist University, the University of Texas and U.C.L.A. She supposedly had an IQ of 163 and was called the smartest dumb blonde ever. Of course she couldn't be too smart. In 1966, a year before her death, while...
Read more

CARNTON PLANTATION

-
Image
   My first association with the Carnton Plantation in Franklin was when I would see the old house while hunting for Civil War relics in the early 1970's. There is a subdivision near Carnton today in the area where I hunted when it was primarily farm land. I knew it was an antebellum home but I wasn't aware of how historic Carnton was. It was in a horrible state of disrepair and I have learned since then that a farmer was using the house as his hay barn. In 1977 the owner of the property donated the house and ten acres to the Carnton Association and they have done a fantastic job of restoring the plantation to it's former glory. Originally the McGavock's owned 1400 acres. It was built by Randall McGavock in the 1820's. He was mayor of Nashville and a close friend of Andrew Jackson and James K. Polk. Jackson on several occasions was an overnight guest in the home.    His son John took over the plantation in 1843 upon the death of Randall. In 1848 John mar...
Read more

NASHVILLE AND JESSE JAMES

-
Image
The James brothers with their mother Zerelda James   Most everyone has heard of the notorious outlaws Jesse and Frank James, however; did you know that they lived in Nashville from 1875 until March 1881? Jesse's oldest son Jesse James Jr. was born in Nashville along with his sister Mary. Jesse Jr. was born at 606 Boscobel Street on August 31, 1875. Mary was born on West Hamilton Road in Bordeaux on July 17, 1879. Jesse Jr. went by the name Tim and as far as he knew his last name was Howard. He and his sister would not know their real last names until after Jesse was killed in 1882. Jesse and his wife Zerelda would also lose two male twins in infancy.  Jesse's brother Frank lived on Clarksville Pike. While living there he and his wife Annie Ralston James gave birth to a son named Robert Franklin on February 6, 1877. For a time he would be dressed as a girl and go by the name of Mary. Why his parents did this I do not know.  The brothers were on the run. Nashvill...
Read more