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Tom Fadden

{{short description|American actor (1895–1980)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Tom Fadden

| image = Tom Fadden in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers.jpg

| caption = Tom Fadden in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)

| birth_date = {{birth date|1895|1|6}}

| birth_place = Bayard, Iowa, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1980|4|14|1895|1|6}}

| death_place = Vero Beach, Florida, U.S.

| birthname =

| occupation = Actor

| spouse = {{plainlist|

  • Genevieve Bartolocci
  • Jane Fadden

}}

| yearsactive = 1915–1977

}}

File:Robert Walker-Tom Fadden in Vengeance Valley.jpg and Tom Fadden (right) in Vengeance Valley (1951)]]

Tom Fadden (January 6, 1895 – April 14, 1980) was an American actor. He performed on the stage, vaudeville, in films and on television during his long career.

Early life

Fadden was born in Bayard, Iowa, on January 6, 1895; his father was a mining engineer. Early in life the family moved farther west, moving from state to state, including the Dakotas, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, and Nebraska. In Nebraska Fadden graduated from Creighton University.{{cite news |last1=Longden |first1=Tom |title=Tom Fadden: Character actor 1895-1980 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-des-moines-register-tom-fadden/126913071/ |access-date=June 22, 2023 |work=The Des Moines Register |date=December 21, 2003 |page=11|via = Newspapers.com}}

Career

After graduating from college, Fadden joined a theater company in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1915.{{cite web | url=http://www.mediabang.org/name-144344-tom-fadden | publisher=MediaBang | title=Tom Fadden | accessdate=January 7, 2015}} He acted in stock companies and vaudeville during the 1910s and 1920s. In 1924 he made his Broadway debut, starring as Peter Jekyll in The Wonderful Visit.{{cite web | url=http://ibdb.com/production.php?id=9476 | publisher=Internet Broadway Database | title=The Wonderful Visit | accessdate=January 7, 2015}} Over the next fifteen years he appeared in almost two dozen productions on the Great White Way, including Nocturne (1925), The Butter and Egg Man (1925–26), Elmer Gantry (1928), The Petrified Forest (1935) and Our Town (1938).{{cite web | url=http://ibdb.com/person.php?id=40064 | publisher=Internet Broadway Database | title=Tom Fadden | accessdate=January 7, 2014}} During a revival of The Butter and Egg Man in London Fadden met and married his first wife, Genevieve Bartolocci.

He made his film debut with a small role in 1939's I Stole a Million, which stars George Raft and Claire Trevor. His next film, Destry Rides Again, starred Marlene Dietrich and James Stewart.{{cite web | url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=8229 | publisher=American Film Institute | title=Destry Rides Again | accessdate=January 7, 2015}} His film career spanned almost forty years, and encompassed over 90 films, mostly in small or supporting roles, although with an occasional starring role, as in 1940's Zanzibar{{cite web | url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/SearchResult.aspx?s=&Type=PN&Tbl=&CatID=DATABIN_CAST&ID=147514&searchedFor=Tom_Fadden_&SortType=ASC&SortCol=RELEASE_YEAR | publisher=American Film Institute | title=Tom Fadden | accessdate=January 7, 2015}}{{cite web | url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/AbbrView.aspx?s=&Movie=8217 | publisher=American Film Institute | title=Zanzibar | accessdate=January 7, 2015}} and the 1940 serial Winners of the West.

In the 1940s he appeared in other films such as the Bob Hope comedy, My Favorite Blonde (1942);{{cite web | url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=27364 | publisher=American Film Institute | title=My Favorite Blonde | accessdate=January 7, 2015}} Pardon My Sarong (1942), starring Abbott and Costello;{{cite web | url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=27585 | publisher=American Film Institute | title=Pardon My Sarong | accessdate=January 7, 2015}} The Naughty Nineties (1945), again starring Abbott and Costello;{{cite web | url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=24509 | publisher=American Film Institute | title=The Naughty Nineties | accessdate=January 7, 2015}} the film noir, The Big Sleep (1946), starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall;{{cite web | url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=24697 | publisher=American Film Institute | title=The Big Sleep | accessdate=January 7, 2015}} and director Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life (1946), where Fadden portrayed the tollhouse keeper on the bridge, who reacts to Clarence's (the angel) explanation of who he is to George Bailey (James Stewart).{{cite web | url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=27682 | publisher=American Film Institute | title=It's a Wonderful Life | accessdate=January 7, 2015}} Capra remembered Fadden's work and cast him among many of Capra's old cronies for the 1961 Damon Runyon comedy Pocketful of Miracles (1961).

Tom Fadden bore more than a passing resemblance to familiar character player Irving Bacon, and in time they both wound up playing similar mild-mannered roles. In the 1950s, Fadden appeared in Dallas (1950), starring Gary Cooper and Ruth Roman;{{cite web | url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=26283 | publisher=American Film Institute | title=Dallas | accessdate=January 7, 2015}} 1956's Invasion of the Body Snatchers, where his character is one of the first victims to succumb to the alien invaders;{{cite web | url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=51874 | publisher=American Film Institute | title=Invasion of the Body Snatchers | accessdate=January 7, 2015}} and Baby Face Nelson (1957), starring Mickey Rooney and Carolyn Jones.{{cite web | url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=52091 | publisher=American Film Institute | title=Baby Face Nelson | accessdate=January 7, 2015}}

Fadden was also an early arrival on television. One of his first TV roles was that of Eben Kent, the earthman who adopts Kal-El on the inaugural episode of The Adventures of Superman. He appeared in other television shows during the decade, including recurring roles on Broken Arrow (1956–58) and Cimarron City (1958–59).{{cite web | url=http://www.allmovie.com/artist/tom-fadden-p22462 | publisher=AllMovie | title=Tom Fadden | accessdate=January 7, 2015}} Although he appeared in few films in the 1960s, he worked regularly on television during the decade, including Gunsmoke (in the 1961 episode “A Man and A Day” & the 1964 episode “Run Sheep, Run”), Perry Mason (1962 episode “The Case of the Crippled Cougar”), and a recurring role on Petticoat Junction. His final acting credit was the 1977 science fiction horror film, Empire of the Ants, starring Joan Collins.

Fadden died of natural causes on April 14, 1980, in Vero Beach, Florida.

Filmography

(Per AFI database)

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References

{{Reflist|30em}}

External links

  • {{IMDb name|0264900|Tom Fadden}}
  • {{IBDB name|40064}}

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Category:American male film actors

Category:American male stage actors

Category:American vaudeville performers

Category:1895 births

Category:1980 deaths

Category:Creighton University alumni

Category:Male actors from Iowa

Category:20th-century American male actors

Category:People from Vero Beach, Florida