Thomas Beck (December 29, 1909 – September 23, 1995) was an American film and stage actor during the mid to late 1930s, who first attracted attention playing juvenile leads in several Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto films.

Early life

Born in New York City, Beck entered college with the intention of becoming a doctor but abandoned that for engineering.

Career

His first professional work was in a stock company and he later played on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

. His work interested film executives who sent him to

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

. Beck was featured in 28 films in his career, with notable roles in several

Charlie Chan Charlie Chan is a fictional Honolulu Police Department, Honolulu police detective created by author Earl Derr Biggers for a series of mystery novels. Biggers loosely based Chan on Hawaiian detective Chang Apana. The benevolent and heroic Chan ...

films: ''

Charlie Chan in Paris ''Charlie Chan in Paris'' is the seventh film produced by Fox with Warner Oland as Charlie Chan. Long thought lost, it is available on DVD as part of Twentieth Century Fox Home Video's ''Charlie Chan Collection, Vol. 1''. Hamilton MacFadden ...

'' (1935), '' Charlie Chan in Egypt'' (1935), ''

Charlie Chan at the Race Track ''Charlie Chan at the Race Track'' is the 12th film in the 20th Century Fox-produced Charlie Chan series starring Warner Oland in the title role. Plot When a prominent racehorse owner winds up dead-allegedly kicked to death by his prized sta ...

'' (1936), and ''

Charlie Chan at the Opera ''Charlie Chan at the Opera'' is considered by many to be the best Warner Oland Charlie Chan film, probably due to the presence of Boris Karloff as the principal suspect, as well as faux operatic music composed by Oscar Levant. This is the 13th f ...

'' (1936). He also worked opposite

Will Rogers William Penn Adair Rogers (November 4, 1879 – August 15, 1935) was an American vaudeville performer, actor, and humorous social commentator. He was born as a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, in the Indian Territory (now part of Oklahoma ...

in '' Life Begins at 40'' (1935), in which he played the spoiled son of a landowner; appeared as a French legionnaire in '' Under Two Flags'' (1936), played Pastor Schultz, the village priest, in

Shirley Temple Shirley Temple Black (born Shirley Jane Temple; April 23, 1928 – February 10, 2014) was an American actress, singer, dancer, and diplomat, who was Hollywood's number-one box-office draw as a child actress from 1934 to 1938. Later, she was na ...

's 1937 film ''

Heidi ''Heidi'' (; ) is a work of children's fiction published between 1880 and 1881 by Swiss author Johanna Spyri, originally published in two parts as ''Heidi: Her Years of Wandering and Learning'' () and ''Heidi: How She Used What She Learned'' ( ...

''; and appeared opposite Temple's counterpart

Jane Withers Jane Withers (April 12, 1926 – August 7, 2021) was an American actress and children's radio show hostess. She became one of the most popular child stars in Hollywood in the 1930s and early 1940s, with her films ranking in the top ten list fo ...

in '' Can This Be Dixie?'' (1936). He was seen to good advantage in two 1936 Fox motion pictures, in which he had leading roles: as a pilot in

Peter Lorre Peter Lorre (; born László Löwenstein, ; June 26, 1904 – March 23, 1964) was a Hungarian and American actor, active first in Europe and later in the United States. Known for his timidly devious characters, his appearance, and accented vo ...

's first American film, the espionage thriller '' Crack-Up'' and as a rich socialite in '' Champagne Charlie''. He also worked to promote the

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...

to improve working conditions for actors, and when his career seemed ready to take off he suddenly left movie work in 1939 after the studio tried to reduce his wages. He then served in the Army, serving in the Pacific theatre during World War II, finishing as a major in 1945. He briefly returned to the theatre in 1946, appearing with

Blanche Yurka Blanche Yurka (born Blanch Jurka; June 19, 1887 – June 6, 1974) was an American stage and film actress and director. She was an opera singer with minor roles at the Metropolitan Opera and later became a stage actress, making her Broadway deb ...

in ''Temper the Wind'', in New York City.Ankerich, Michael G. The Sound of Silence: Conversations with 16 Film and Stage Personalities who Bridged the Gap Between Silents and Talkies. McFarland, 1998.

Death

Beck died after battling

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

and heart conditions in Miami Shores, Florida on September 23, 1995.

References

External links

* * 1909 births 1995 deaths American male film actors Male actors from New York City Deaths from Alzheimer's disease in Florida Deaths from dementia in Florida 20th-century American male actors {{US-film-actor-1900s-stub