Born in Salt Lake City, Utah on November 20, 1887, as Frederic Mansfield, the son of actress Laurene Santley and the stepson of stage actor Eugene Santley.
He also appeared in numerous plays during this period, including more than a dozen Broadway productions.
[2] He would make his feature film debut with a small role in 1930's Leathernecking, a musical comedy starring Irene Dunne.
[4] Some of the more notable films he appeared in were: Anything Goes (1936), starring Bing Crosby and Ethel Merman;[5] the 1937 Tyrone Power vehicle, Alexander's Ragtime Band;[6] the Michael Curtiz film Yankee Doodle Dandy (1943), starring James Cagney;[7] 1946's Night and Day, the Cole Porter biopic starring Cary Grant, Alexis Smith, and Monty Woolley;[8] Vincente Minnelli's Father of the Bride (1950), starring Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, and Elizabeth Taylor;[9] and the 1951 comedy, Angels in the Outfield.
[10] His final appearance was in the big budget musical, The Farmer Takes a Wife (1953), released after his death.