Tom Steele (stuntman)
Tom Steele | |
---|---|
Born | Thomas Skeoch June 12, 1909 |
Died | October 30, 1990 | (aged 81)
Alma mater | Stanford University |
Years active | 1934–1986 |
Tom Steele (born Thomas Skeoch,
Early life
Born in Scotland,[2] he was the son of a construction consulting engineer.[1] Steele came to America with his family at an early age, settling in Northern California. A very skilled horseman, he played polo competitively as a young man and also worked for a time in a steel mill, which was the source of his professional name Tom "Steele."
Steele was a student at Stanford University, where he had a football scholarship.[2]
Film career
At the start of the
During the 1930s Steele worked frequently at
Steele took over from Sharpe as stunt coordinator at Republic when Sharpe left to serve in World War II in 1942 (Steele himself was declared 4-F due to an old injury incurred at the steel mill). Steele was the only stuntman ever to be signed to a term contract (June 1943-June 1944) by Republic. He doubled for such serial leading men as Rod Cameron (who started as a stuntman himself), Richard Bailey (who rather resembled Steele), Clayton Moore, and football star Sammy Baugh. In the 1940s and early 1950s, many actors at Republic were selected due to their resemblance to Steele rather than the opposite.
In features, Steele was Wild Bill Elliott's regular double. His most notable role at Republic was as the title hero in the 1943 serial The Masked Marvel, for which he ironically received no billing whatsoever (the character was supposed to be one of four leading men—none of whom were Steele). As the Masked Marvel Steele's voice, which was a rather light, high tenor not unlike Henry Fonda's, was dubbed by the more heroic-sounding radio actor Gayne Whitman.
Steele also worked extensively outside of Republic, appearing in feature films as
Later life
In the 1960s and 70s he remained active as a stuntman but took on more acting bits, including a role as a truck driver in 1966's Harper and a bit as a security guard in the 1971 Bond epic Diamonds Are Forever. He also drove one of the vehicles used in the classic car chase from Bullitt (1968) and did driving stunts for Disney's late-1960s "Love Bug" films. His last film before retiring was 1986's Tough Guys, in which he played an elderly man caught up in a bank robbery.
In his last years, Steele was a frequent participant at
Partial filmography
- Bill Cracks Down (1937)
- Enemy Agent (1940)
- Texas to Bataan (1942)
- The Masked Marvel (1943)
- Diamonds Are Forever (1971) - W Technologies Gate Guard (uncredited)
References
- ^ ISBN 9780786409181. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
- ^ ISBN 9780786476435. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
- ISBN 9781493031306. Retrieved 24 November 2018.