Thomas Gomez

After graduating from high school in 1923, Thomas Sabino Gomez answered a help wanted ad, which resulted in his joining the Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne theater group. Prior to that time he had not considered acting as a career. He continued working as an actor with the Lunts, traveling across country and honing his acting skills. Eventually he began performing in New York's legitimate theater.

His film debut occurred in 1942 in Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942) as, of course, a bad guy. While shooting that film he lived at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. He gained a reputation as a methodical man, who would have his daily newspaper brought to his room, where it was placed on the top of an ever growing stack. When he had time to read, he would have a bellboy come to the room and lift the stack of papers, from which he would withdraw the bottom paper. Gomez was a strong union man and served on the board of directors of the Screen Actors Guild for more than 40 years.

Along with another hefty actor, William Conrad, Gomez was one of the few cast members of the now infamous film The Conqueror (1956) who did not die from cancer, reportedly caused by radiation in the desert locale where A-bombs had been tested.

He replaced Leo McKern on short notice in the role of Thomas Cromwell in the Broadway production of 'A Man For All Seasons' in 1961. This was his first Broadway role in over 20 years. McKern had found New York terrifying, and also greatly missed his family, who had remained in England; he handed in his notice almost as soon as the play opened. He highly praised Gomez in his autobiography.

Following an auto accident in late May 1971, Thomas Gomez was in a coma for three weeks before passing away on Friday, June 18th, at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, CA.