In 1930, he made his debut on Broadway in the play, Torch Song, which won acclaim in New York and attracted the interest of Hollywood. Shortly afterwards, Paramount Pictures signed Kibbee and he moved to California. Later, he became part of Warner Bros.’ stock company, contract actors who cycled through different productions in supporting roles. Kibbee’s specialty was daft and jovial characters, and he is perhaps best remembered for the films 42nd Street (1933), Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933), Captain Blood (1935), and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), though he also played the expat inn owner in Joan Crawford’s Rain (1932). One of his few starring performances during this period was in the title role of Babbit (1934), a much altered and compressed version of Sinclair Lewis’ novel.

Guy Kibbee eggs is the name for a breakfast dish which consists of a hole cut out of the center of a slice of bread, and an egg cracked into it, all of which is fried in a skillet. The actor prepared this dish in the 1935 Warner Bros. film Mary Jane’s Pa, hence the eponym. This dish is also known by other names, such as “egg in a basket” and “egg in a frame.”

Kibbee died of Parkinson’s disease at the Percy Williams Home for actors in East Islip, New York on May 24, 1956.

Guy Kibbee is also mentioned in the iconic Hot August Night concert/album performed by Neil Diamond in 1972 at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles: