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Thomas Gomez

 
Actor: Thomas Gomez
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Actors
  • Born: Jul 10, 1905 in Long Island, New York
  • Died: Jun 18, 1971 in California
  • Occupation: Actor
  • Active: '40s-'50s
  • Major Genres: Drama, Comedy
  • Career Highlights: Key Largo, Force of Evil, Ride the Pink Horse
  • First Major Screen Credit: Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942)

Biography

Awarded a scholarship to a prestigious New York drama school at 17, Thomas Gomez first stepped on the Broadway stage as a cadet in Walter Hampden's Cyrano de Bergerac. He joined Alfred Lunt's company in the 1930s, playing character parts of varying sizes. He also made a pioneering television appearance in a 1940 broadcast of a long-forgotten playlet called "A Game of Chess". After garnering good reviews for his performance in the 1942 play Flowers of Virtue, Gomez was signed to play a megalomanic Nazi spy in his first film, Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1942). By virtue of his weight, his raspy voice and his baleful appearance, Gomez was often cast as heavies, though he evinced a preference for characters with "some rascality, warmth and dimension." Of Spanish heritage, Gomez refused to play Latin characters unless they could be presented "with sympathy, or at least with humanity." In 1947, Gomez was Oscar-nominated for just such a role in Ride the Pink Horse. Amidst his dramatic roles, Gomez proved a worthy foil to such comedians as Bob Hope and Abbott and Costello. Thomas Gomez' extensive television work included the part of a most courtly devil in the 1959 Twilight Zone episode "Escape Clause," Soviet functionary Malenkov in the like-vintage Playhouse 90 drama "The Plot to Kill Stalin," and a Minnesota Fats-type pool player in a well-circulated 1965 Mister Ed installment; he also played Pasquale in the 1953 TV revival of radio's Life With Luigi. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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Wikipedia: Thomas Gomez
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Thomas Gomez

Gomez publicity photo
Born Sabino Tomas Gomez
July 10, 1905(1905-07-10)
New York, New York, USA
Died June 18, 1971 (aged 65) (after a car accident)
Santa Monica, California, USA
Occupation actor

Thomas Gomez (July 10, 1905 – June 18, 1971) was an American actor.

Born Sabino Tomas Gomez in New York, New York, Gomez began his acting career in theater during the 1920s and was a student of the actor Walter Hampden. He made his first film Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror in 1942 and by the end of his career had appeared in sixty films.

He received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the film Ride the Pink Horse (1947). Directed by and starring Robert Montgomery, it was later used as the basis for an episode of the same name for the television series Robert Montgomery Presents in which Gomez reprised his role.

His other film roles include Who Done It? (1942), Key Largo (1948), Force of Evil (1948), The Conqueror (1956) and his final film Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970). A frequent performer on television, Gomez also appeared in guest roles in such series as The Twilight Zone, Route 66, Dr. Kildare, Mr. Ed, Burke's Law, The Virginian, It Takes a Thief, Bewitched and Gunsmoke.

Gomez had many notable stage roles, in Broadway and off-Broadway shows, and replaced Leo McKern as Thomas Cromwell in the original Broadway run of A Man for All Seasons.

Thomas Gomez died in Santa Monica, California from injuries sustained in a car accident and was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.

Filmography

Year Film Role Other notes
1942 Arabian Nights Hakim
Pittsburgh Joe Malneck
Who Done It? Colonel J.R. Andrews
Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror R.F. Meade, Nazi agent
1943 Crazy House N.G. Wagstaff
Corvett K-225 Smithy
Frontier Badmen Ballard
White Savage Sam Miller
1944 Dead Man's Eyes Captain Drury
Bowery to Broadway Tom Harvey
The Climax Count Seebruck
In Society Drexel
Phantom Lady Inspector Burgess
1945 I'll Tell the World J.B. Kindell
Patrick the Great Max Wilson
Frisco Sal Police Captain Dan Martin
Can't Help Singing Jake Carstairs
1946 Swell Guy Dave Vinson
A Night in Paradise King Croesus
The Daltons Ride Again McKenna
1947 A Double Life Voice of Cassio
Ride the Pink Horse Pancho
Singapore Mr. Mauribus
Johnny O'Clock Pete Marchettis
1948 Force of Evil Leo Morse
Angel in Exile Dr. Estaban Chavez
Key Largo Richard "Curly" Hoff
Casbah Louvain
Captain from Castile Father Bartolome Romero
1949 I Married a Communist Vanning
The Midnight Kiss Guido Russino Betelli
Come to the Stable Luigi Rossi
Sorrowful Jones Reardon
1950 Kim Emissary
The Furies El Tigre
The Eagle and the Hawk General Liguras
1951 Harlem Globetrotters Coach Saperstein
Anne of the Indies Blackbeard
1952 Pony Soldier Natayo Smith
The Merry Widow King of Marshovia
The Sellout Sheriff Kellwin C. Burke
Macao Lieutenant Sebastian
1953 Sombrero Don Homero Calderon
1954 The Adventures of Hajji Baba Osman Aga
The Gabler from Natchez Captain Antoine Barbee
1955 Night Feight Haight
The Looters George Parkinson
The Magnificent Matador Don David
Las Vegas Shakedown Al "Gimpy" Sirago
1956 Trapeze Bouglione
The Conqueror Wang Kahn
1959 But Not for Me Demetrios Bacos
Escape Clause (Twilight Zone Episode) (TV) Mr. Cadwallader
John Paul Jones Esek Hopkins
1961 Summer and Smoke Papa Zacharias
The Power and the Glory (TV) Delgado
1968 Stay Away, Joe Grandpa
Shadow Over Elveron (TV) Arturo Silvera
1970 Beneath the Planet of the Apes Minister

External links



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Actor. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Thomas Gomez".  Read more