Tom Reese's Main TV Roles Show Character(s) Ellery Queen Sergeant Ve… Destry Joe Monty Nash Bartender Sheriff (3) Saints and Sinners (1962) Kidnaper The Bold Ones: The Protectors Tony Stovall

Main Movie Roles 2009 - Dark And Stormy Night 1979 - North Dallas Forty 1973 - The Outfit 1971 - Vanishing Point 1967 - The St. Valentine's Day Massacre 1965 - The Greatest Story Ever Told 1962 - 40 Pounds of Trouble 1960 - Flaming Star 1959 - Shadows

BIOGRAPHY:

Tom Reese (real name: Tom Allen) was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on August 8, 1928; his father and uncle were country-western singers, "The Chattanooga Boys," traveling around performing their bluegrass music with the family, including Tom, in tow. Around 1940 the Allens relocated to New York, where Tom's dad supported the family working as a steelworker in the daytime and a singing waiter at night. Tom later held the expected assortment of odd jobs (Automat busboy, usher, etc.) in New York, and (starting at 17) served two tours of duty in the Marine Corps. He later studied dramatics at the American Theater Wing under the G.I. Bill and spent 15 years on the road working nightclubs (emceeing, doing stand-up, etc.). He studied with Lee Strasberg, did some work off-Broadway and in local TV shows and made his film bow in John Cassavetes (I)' New York-made Shadows (1959). Cassavetes also had Reese fly out to Hollywood to play a part in an episode of his detective series "Johnny Staccato" (1959), Reese's Hollywood debut. He was ready to return to New York after doing the show but an agent signed him "and I've been here [California] ever since." His first major film was Flaming Star (1960), an Elvis Presley western and the start of Reese's long career in big- and small-screen oaters,including "Gunsmoke" (1955) "Bonanza" (1959), "The Virginian" (1962), "Rawhide" (1959), "Branded" (1965).


TRIVIA:

• Attended the 2006 Twilight Zone Convention at the Hilton Hasbrouck Heights, Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, August 12-13, 2006.
• In July 2006, he was a guest at the Western Film Fair in Charlotte, North Carolina along with 'Ben Murphy (I)' (qv), 'Roger Davis (II)' (qv), 'Steve Kanaly' (qv), 'Mark Goddard (I)' (qv), 'Marjorie Lord' (qv), 'Coleen Gray' (qv), 'Ronnie Schell' (qv), 'Russ Tamblyn' (qv), and 'Cheryl Rogers (I)' (qv).