Chester Clute

Chester Lamont Clute was an American actor born on February 18, 1891, in Orange, New Jersey. He worked across both stage and screen, building a career that spanned Broadway productions in the late 1920s and early 1930s before establishing a prolific presence in Hollywood films. He died of a heart attack on April 2, 1956, in Woodland Hills, California, at the age of 65, and is buried at Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery.

Clute's Broadway career ran from 1926 to 1935 and encompassed several productions. His earliest credited stage appearance came in She Couldn't Say No in 1926, followed by The New Yorkers in 1927. He continued working on Broadway into the next decade, appearing in Oh, Promise Me in 1930, Triplets in 1932, and Page Miss Glory in 1934. His final Broadway credit was Ceiling Zero in 1935.

Clute made his film debut in 1930 and went on to appear in nearly 250 Hollywood productions. Physically distinctive — diminutive in stature, bald, and sporting a bristling moustache — he was a recognizable character actor who worked predominantly in unbilled roles, typically delivering one or two lines per appearance.