arnold was an expert at playing rogues and authority figures, and superb at combining the two as powerful villains quietly pulling strings. he was best known for his roles in "come and get it" (1936), "sutter's gold" (1936), the aforementioned "the toast of new york" (1937), "you can't take it with you" (1938), "mr. smith goes to washington" (1939), "meet john doe" (1941), and "the devil and daniel webster" (1941). he was the first actor to portray rex stout's famous detective nero wolfe, starring in "meet nero wolfe" (1936), the film based on the first novel in the series.