Frank Sutton

Frank Spencer Sutton
Sutton (right) as Gunnery Sergeant Vince Carter with Jim Nabors as Gomer Pyle, 1966.
Born	Frank Spencer Sutton (1923-10-23)October 23, 1923 Clarksville, Tennessee, U.S.
Died	June 28, 1974(1974-06-28) (aged 50) Shreveport, Louisiana, U.S.
Cause of death	Heart attack
Resting place	Greenwood Cemetery in Clarksville, Tennessee
Alma mater	Columbia University
Spouse(s)	Toby Igler Sutton (married 1949-1974, his death)
Children	Joseph and Amanda
Parent(s)	Frank Sims and Dorris Thelma Spencer Sutton

Frank Spencer Sutton (October 23, 1923 – June 28, 1974) was an American actor best remembered for his role as Gunnery Sergeant Vince Carter on the CBS television series Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.

Sutton was born in Clarksville in Montgomery County in northern Tennessee, the only child of Frank Sims Sutton (1885-1938) and the former Dorris Thelma Spencer (1903-1986). When he was eight years old, his father became employed as a Linotype operator at the Nashville Tennessean in Nashville. His father died from a gastrointestinal hemorrhage and left behind his wife and 14-year-old son.

Sutton developed an interest in acting, playing his first role at age nine and also starring in the drama club at East Nashville High School, where he graduated in 1941. 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."

After high school, Sutton returned to Clarksville to become a radio announcer. He enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War II and served in the South Pacific, taking part in 14 assault landings.

Honorably discharged at the war's end as a sergeant, he began acting on stage. He attended the Columbia University School of General Studies, graduating cum laude with a bachelor's degree in drama in 1952.

Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, Sutton played small roles in television shows such as Decoy, Route 66, Naked City, The Greatest Show on Earth, The Fugitive, The Goldbergs, 87th Precinct, Gunsmoke, Target: The Corruptors, Empire, 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.