Regis Toomey

Regis Toomey

1898-08-13 – 1991-10-12 (age 93) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
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Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Regis Toomey (August 13, 1898 – October 12, 1991) was an American film and television actor.

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, he was one of four children of Francis X. and Mary Ellen Toomey and attended Peabody High School. He initially pondered a law career, but acting won out and he established himself as a musical stage performer.

Educated in dramatics at the University of Pittsburgh, where he became a brother of Sigma Chi, Toomey began as a stock actor and eventually made it to Broadway. Toomey was a singer on stage until throat problems (acute laryngitis) while touring in Europe stopped that aspect of his career. In 1929, Toomey first began appearing in films. He initially started out as a leading man, but found more success as a character actor (sans his toupee).

Toomey appeared in over 180 films, including classics such as The Big Sleep with Humphrey Bogart. In 1956, he appeared as a judge, with Chuck Connors as "Andy", in the third episode, "The Nevada Nightingale", of the NBC anthology series The Joseph Cotten Show. Toomey thereafter appeared in another anthology series too as the character "Harry" in the 1960 episode "The Doctor and the Redhead", with Dick Powell and Felicia Farr, of CBS's The DuPont Show with June Allyson. In the 1961–1962 television season, he appeared in a supporting role with George Nader in the syndicated crime drama Shannon about insurance investigators. From 1963–1966, Toomey was one of the stars of the ABC crime drama, Burke's Law, starring Gene Barry. He played Sergeant Les Hart, one of the detectives assisting the murder investigations of the millionaire police captain Amos Burke. He also guest-starred on dozens of television programs, including the "Shady Deal at Sunny Acres" episode of Maverick.

In 1941, Toomey appeared in You're in the Army Now, in which he and Jane Wyman had the longest screen kiss in cinema history: 3 minutes and 5 seconds.

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Known For

Spellbound
Spellbound

1945

as Det. Sgt. Gillespie

The Big Sleep
The Big Sleep

1946

as Chief Inspector Bernie Ohls

His Girl Friday
His Girl Friday

1940

as Sanders

Evil Town
Evil Town

1987

as Doc Hooper

'G' Men
'G' Men

1935

as Eddie Buchanan

Mighty Joe Young
Mighty Joe Young

1949

as John Young

The High and the Mighty
The High and the Mighty

1954

as Tim Garfield

The Hangman
The Hangman

1959

as Soldier at Fort

The Hangman
The Hangman

1959

as Orderly (uncredited)

Show Boat
Show Boat

1951

as Sheriff Ike Vallon (uncredited)

Warlock
Warlock

1959

as Skinner

Guys and Dolls
Guys and Dolls

1955

as Arvide Abernathy

North West Mounted Police
North West Mounted Police

1940

as Constable Jerry Moore

Tomahawk
Tomahawk

1951

as Smith (uncredited)

Dakota Incident
Dakota Incident

1956

as Minstrel

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
Meet John Doe
Meet John Doe

1941

as Bert Hansen

Dive Bomber
Dive Bomber

1941

as Tim Griffin

Sister Kenny
Sister Kenny

1946

as New York Reporter (uncredited)

Song of the Open Road
Song of the Open Road

1944

as Connors