Tom Neal

Tom Neal (born January 28, 1914 in Evanston , Illinois , † August 7, 1972 in North Hollywood ) was an American actor and boxer.

Life

Neal grew up in Chicago as the son of a banker. He studied mathematics at Northwestern University and played a number of amateur boxing matches between 1932 and 1934. On his return to Chicago he played in touring theater and went to New York City in 1933 . He made his Broadway debut in 1935 and played his first film in 1938 in a comedy with Mickey Rooney , Out West with the Hardys .

In the 1940s, Neal quickly rose to the role of leading actor in B-films as an emphatically male-attractive hero. He was also the cinema B-film series hero in the 15-part cinema adventure Bruce Gentry - Daredevil of the Skies (1949). His most tester film is the 1945 first shown film noir -Klassiker redirection ( Detour ); in Edgar G. Ulmer's work he plays the main role of the bar pianist Al Roberts, who in the end accidentally strangles his extortionate companion ( Ann Savage ) because the telephone cord wraps around her neck, which he was pulling through a locked door.

From an early age, Neal was known for not just striking in the boxing ring. He also beat men and women outside of the ring. His marriage to the young actress Vicky Lane was divorced in 1949 because of "physical and mental cruelty" . He also made headlines for falling in love with actress Barbara Payton and her husband beating Franchot Tone into a coma, which all but ended his film career in 1951. Neal killed his third wife, receptionist Gale Bennett, in 1965 when she was shot in the back of the head with a .45 pistol. The prosecution called for the death penalty in the subsequent trial; Neal was eventually convicted of "negligent homicide" for declaring that he fought Bennett for the .45 and then the gun went off. He was released early from prison in 1971 after six years.

Neal became a gardener after his release, but died of heart failure just a year later at the age of 58 . From his second marriage to Patricia Marie Fenton, which lasted from 1956 until her death from cancer in March 1958, he had the son Tom Neal junior (1957-2015).

Filmography (selection)

1938: Out West with the Hardys
1938: The Great Heart (short film)
1939: Another Thin Man (Another Thin Man)
1939: South Seas Nights (Honolulu)
1939: Within the Law
1939: Prophet Without Honor (short film)
1940: Flight Command
1941: Under Age
1941: Jungle Girl
1942: Company Tigersprung (Flying Tigers)
1943: Behind the Rising Sun
1945: Crime, Inc.
1945: diversion (detour)
1945: Club Havana
1946: First Yank into Tokyo
1948: Beyond Glory
1949: Eagle Eye, the Brave Sioux (Apache Chief)
1949: Bruce Gentry - Daredevil of the Skies
1949: hands up, old boy! (Red Desert)
1950: Call of the Klondike
1950: gangsters, crooks, beautiful girls (The Daltons' Women)
1950: Billy the Bandit (I Shot Billy the Kid)
1950: Radar Secret Service
1958: The Last Hurray (The Last Hurray)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Neal, Tom
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American actor and boxer
DATE OF BIRTH	January 28, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH	Evanston, Illinois
DATE OF DEATH	7th August 1972
Place of death	North Hollywood