Tom Wilson (actor)
Tom Wilson (* 27. August 1880 in Helena , Montana as Thomas H. Wilson , † 19th February 1965 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American actor.
life and career
Before starting his acting career, Wilson worked in the military and as a boxer. His beefy and tall boxing stature later ensured that Wilson often embodied police officers, henchmen and strong men. He got into the acting business with appearances in vaudeville shows and other plays. In the fall of 1907 he made an appearance on Broadway in the comedy Artie . Wilson made his film debut in 1914 and in the following years played minor supporting roles in The Birth of a Nation and Intolerance , the landmark films by David Wark Griffith . In his early film career, the actually fair-skinned Wilson specialized in playing African American on screen, for which he had to use black make-up . He was used several times during the silent film era on the side of star comedians Buster Keaton and Charles Chaplin . In Chaplin's The Kid , he played his best-known role as a grim policeman who had a long-term feud with Chaplin's Tramp.
In the 1920s, Wilson's career reached its peak, and he even received leading roles in a number of comedies. With the dawn of talkies at the end of the 1920s, this changed suddenly: He only played small, insignificant supporting roles or worked as an extra . Over the next three decades he played in important films such as Unter Piratenflagge (1935), Im Taumel der Weltstadt (1940), Here is John Doe (1941) and A New Star in the Sky (1954), but is often barely identifiable in these. At Monsieur Verdoux , Wilson worked again with Chaplin in 1947. In total, he starred in almost 300 films.
In 1963, Wilson ended his acting career. He died two years later at the age of 84. Nothing is known about his private life. He is buried in the Pierce Brothers Valhalla Memorial Park in North Hollywood .
Filmography (selection)
- 1915: The Birth of a Nation (The Birth of a Nation)
- 1916: The Mystery of the Leaping Fish
- 1916 intolerance (Intolerance)
- 1916: The Americano
- 1917: Pay Me!
- 1917: The immigrant (The Property Grant)
- 1917: The Wild and Woolly
- 1918: Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley
- 1918: A Dog's Life (A Dog's Life)
- 1918: The bond (The Bond)
- 1918: rifle over (shoulder arms)
- 1919: On the sunny side (Sunnyside)
- 1919: Hilarious hours (A Day's Pleasure)
- 1920: Isobel or The Trail's End
- 1921: The Kid
- 1922: My Wife's Relations
- 1922: Minnie
- 1924: The Heart Buster
- 1926: The Deserter (Across the Pacific)
- 1926: The Alabama Killer (Battling Butler)
- 1927: When a Man Loves
- 1927: Ham and Eggs at the Front
- 1927: A girl from the circus (No Control)
- 1928: Riley the Cop
- 1930: Hell Behind Bars (The Big House)
- 1933: Lost in New York (Bureau of Missing Persons)
- 1933: The Man with the Camera (Picture Snatcher)
- 1934: Treasure Island (Treasure Iceland)
- 1934: The St. Louis Kid
- 1934: We Live Again
- 1934: The horror of the racetrack (6 Day Ride Biker)
- 1935: The Case of the Curious Bride
- 1935: The FBI agent ("G" -men)
- 1935: Stranded
- 1935: Under the pirate flag (Captain Blood)
- 1936: Who Owns the City? (Bulletts or Ballots)
- 1936: The White Angel
- 1936: Gold Diggers of 1937
- 1936: The Case of the Velvet Claws
- 1937: Confession
- 1937: The Prince and the Pauper (The Prince and the Pauper)
- 1938: Valley of the Giants
- 1938: Three Sisters from Montana (The Sisters)
- 1939: Devil's Island
- 1940: In the frenzy of the cosmopolitan city (City for Conquest)
- 1940: Out for a Night (They Drive By Night)
- 1941: Cheers for Miss Bishop
- 1941: Mr. X going astray (Footsteps in the Dark)
- 1941: This is John Doe (Meet John Doe)
- 1941: Sergeant York
- 1941: With one foot in heaven (One Foot in Heaven)
- 1942: The Big Shot
- 1943: Action in the North Atlantic (Action in the North Atlantic)
- 1944: Shine On, Harvest Moon
- 1944: The Life of Mrs. Skeffington (Mr. Skeffington)
- 1946: The Big Lie (A Stolen Life)
- 1947: Nora Prentiss
- 1947: Adultery (The Unfaithful)
- 1947: Monsieur Verdoux - The woman murderer of Paris (Monsieur Verdoux)
- 1951: The Tiger (The Enforcer)
- 1951: I was an FBI Mann MC (I Was a Communist for the FBI)
- 1951: I'll See You in My Dreams
- 1952: Becoming a father is not difficult (Room for One More)
- 1954: A new star in the sky (A Star Is Born)
- 1955: The Devil's Right Hand (Texas Lady)
- 1955: Three Rivals (The Tall Men)
- 1958: Don't be afraid of spicy things (Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys!)
- 1959: knife on the throat (westbound)
- 1959: Warlock
- 1959: FBI secret agent (The FBI Story)
- 1961: The Flying Timpani (The Absent-Minded Professor)
- 1963: Don't do that, Angelika (Critic's Choice)
Web links
- Tom Wilson in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Tom Wilson in the database of Find a Grave (English)
Individual evidence
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Wilson, Tom |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Wilson, Thomas H. |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | US-American actor |
DATE OF BIRTH | August 27, 1880 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Helena , Montana |
DATE OF DEATH | February 19, 1965 |
Place of death | Los Angeles , California |