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 Stree ...

. 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) * Hollywoo ...

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

Charlie Chan Charlie Chan is a fictional 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 was conceived as an alt ...

films: '' Charlie Chan in Paris'' (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 stall ...

'' (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 fi ...

'' (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 Oklaho ...

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's 1937 film ''

Heidi ''Heidi'' (; ) is a work of children's fiction published in 1881 by Swiss author Johanna Spyri, originally published in two parts as ''Heidi: Her Years of Wandering and Learning'' (german: Heidis Lehr- und Wanderjahre) and ''Heidi: How She Use ...

''; 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 host. 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 for b ...

in ''

Can This Be Dixie? ''Can This Be Dixie?'' is a 1936 American musical comedy film directed by George Marshall and featuring child star Jane Withers along with Slim Summerville and Helen Wood. In 1937 and 1938, Withers became one of the top 10 box-office stars in ...

'' (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, first in Europe and later in the United States. He began his stage career in Vienna, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, before movin ...

'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 and heart conditions in

Miami Shores, Florida Miami Shores is a village in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. History By the early 1900s, the area encompassing today's Miami Shores Village was occupied by a starch (coontie) mill, a tomato packing plant, a saw mill, a pineapple planta ...

on September 23, 1995. He is buried in

Loudon Park Cemetery Loudon Park Cemetery is a historic cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland. It was incorporated on January 27, 1853, on of the site of the "Loudon" estate, previously owned by James Carey, a local merchant and politician. The entrance to the cemetery i ...

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

References

External links

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