Thomas Gomez (July 10, 1905 – June 18, 1971) was an American actor.
Life and career
Spanish on his father's (Sabino Tomás Gómez) 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. 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. In 1956, he replaced Burl Ives as Big Daddy in the original Broadway production of Tennessee Williams's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
Thomas Gomez died at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, California, aged 65, after 3 weeks in a coma related to injuries sustained in a car accident. He was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.
Filmography 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 Nominated – Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor 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 1960-61 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 Obituary Variety June 23, 1971.
Obituary New York Times, June 20, 1971; page 50.
"Thomas Gomez, Veteran Actor, Dies at 65 After Brief Illness" Los Angeles Times, June 21, 1971; page 3.
External links