Thomas Gomez (July 10, 1905 – June 18, 1971) was an American actor.[1][2]
Thomas Gomez | |
|---|---|
 Thomas Gomez in The Gambler from Natchez (1954) | |
| Born | Sabino Tomás Gómez (or Sabino Tomas Gomez or Thomas Sabino Gomez) July 10, 1905 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | June 18, 1971 (aged 65) Santa Monica, California, U.S. |
| Resting place | Westwood Memorial Park |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1923–1971 |
Life and career
editThis section needs additional citations for verification. (February 2023) |
Spanish on his father (Sabino Tomás Gómez)'s side (Gibraltar and Santander, Spain) and French-Irish on his mother's side (Alsace and County Cork), Gomez's parents migrated to New York City shortly before his birth in 1905 as Sabino Tomás Gómez (or Sabino Tomas Gomez or Thomas Sabino Gomez).
He began his acting career in theater in 1923, studying under actor Walter Hampden in a production of Cyrano de Bergerac in Syracuse, New York.[1] 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.
Gomez was the first Spanish-American to be nominated for an Academy Award when he received this accolade for his performance in the 1947 film Ride the Pink Horse. 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, The Rifleman, and Gunsmoke.
Gomez had many notable stage roles, such as the one in the original Broadway run of A Man for All Seasons. Billboard lauded the "humanity and finely effective detail of his character work" in the short-running 1942 Broadway play The Flowers of Virtue.[3] In 1956, he replaced Burl Ives as Big Daddy in the original Broadway production of Tennessee Williams's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.[1]
Thomas Gomez died at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, California, aged 65, after spending 3 weeks in a coma from being in a car accident. [1][4][5] He was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.
Filmography
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1942 | Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror | R.F. Meade, Nazi agent | |
| Who Done It? | Colonel J.R. Andrews | ||
| Pittsburgh | Joe Malneck | ||
| Arabian Nights | Hakim | ||
| 1943 | White Savage | Sam Miller | |
| Frontier Badmen | Ballard | ||
| Corvette K-225 | Smithy | ||
| Crazy House | N.G. Wagstaff | ||
| 1944 | Phantom Lady | Inspector Burgess | |
| Follow the Boys | Himself | Uncredited | |
| In Society | Drexel | ||
| The Climax | Count Seebruck | ||
| Bowery to Broadway | Tom Harvey | ||
| Dead Man's Eyes | Captain Drury | ||
| Can't Help Singing | Jake Carstairs | ||
| 1945 | Frisco Sal | Police Captain Dan Martin | |
| Patrick the Great | Max Wilson | ||
| I'll Tell the World | J.B. Kindell | ||
| The Daltons Ride Again | 'Professor' J.K.McKenna | ||
| 1946 | Night in Paradise | King Croesus | |
| Swell Guy | Dave Vinson | ||
| 1947 | Johnny O'Clock | Guido Marchettis | |
| Singapore | Mr. Mauribus | ||
| Ride the Pink Horse | Pancho | ||
| A Double Life | Cassio | Voice, Uncredited | |
| Captain from Castile | Father Bartolome Romero | ||
| 1948 | Casbah | Louvain | |
| Key Largo | Richard "Curly" Hoff | ||
| Angel in Exile | Dr. Estaban Chavez | ||
| Force of Evil | Leo Morse | ||
| 1949 | Sorrowful Jones | Reardon | |
| Come to the Stable | Luigi Rossi | ||
| That Midnight Kiss | Guido Russino Betelli | ||
| I Married a Communist | Vanning | ||
| 1950 | The Eagle and the Hawk | General Liguras | |
| The Furies | El Tigre | ||
| Kim | Emissary | ||
| 1951 | Harlem Globetrotters | Coach Saperstein | |
| Anne of the Indies | Blackbeard | ||
| 1952 | Macao | Police Lieutenant Felizardo Sebastian | |
| The Sellout | Sheriff Kellwin C. Burke | ||
| The Merry Widow | King of Marshovia | ||
| Pony Soldier | Natayo Smith | ||
| 1953 | Sombrero | Don Homero Calderon | |
| 1954 | The Gambler from Natchez | Captain Antoine Barbee | |
| The Adventures of Hajji Baba | Osman Aga | ||
| 1955 | The Looters | George Parkinson | |
| Las Vegas Shakedown | Al "Gimpy" Sirago | ||
| The Magnificent Matador | Don David | ||
| Night Freight | Haight | ||
| 1956 | The Conqueror | Wang Kahn | |
| Trapeze | Bouglione | ||
| 1957 | Collector's Item: The Left Fist of David | Ivor Hager | TV movie |
| 1958 | The Texan | Jake Romer | episode S1 E2 "The Man With The Solid Gold Star" |
| 1959 | The Rifleman | Artemus Quarles | Episode: "Stranger at Night" |
| Twilight Zone | Mr. Cadwallader | Episode: "Escape Clause" | |
| John Paul Jones | Esek Hopkins | ||
| But Not for Me | Demetrios Bacos | ||
| 1961 | Twilight Zone | Peter Sykes | Episode: Dust |
| The Power and the Glory | Delgado | TV movie | |
| Summer and Smoke | Papa Zacharias | ||
| 1968 | Shadow Over Elveron | Arturo Silvera | TV movie |
| Stay Away, Joe | Grandpa | ||
| 1970 | Beneath the Planet of the Apes | Minister | |
| 1972 | Gunsmoke | Agustin Hildago | Episode: "Hildago" (aired posthumously) |
References
edit- ^ a b c d Obituary Variety June 23, 1971.
- ^ Obituary New York Times, June 20, 1971; page 50.
- ^ Eugene Burr (June 13, 1942). "From Out Front". Billboard. p. 9. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
- ^ "Veteran Actor Thomas Gomez Dies at Age 65". San Francisco Examiner. June 19, 1971. p. 24.
- ^ "Thomas Gomez, Veteran Actor, Dies at 65 After Brief Illness" Los Angeles Times, June 21, 1971; page 3.
