Sonny Tufts

The Tufts family patriarch, Peter Tufts, sailed to America from Wilby, Norfolk, England in 1638.

His granduncle was businessman and philanthropist Charles Tufts, for whom Tufts University is named.

Tufts attended the Phillips Exeter Academy, He later broke with the family banking tradition by not studying business at Harvard and attending rival Yale instead and following other pursuits.

There he played for the Yale football team, served as an editor of the campus humor magazine The Yale Record, was inducted a member of the elite, secret Skull and Bones society, and performed in Yale's famous musical group, the Whiffenpoofs.

It was while on a Whiffenpoofs tour of Europe that Tufts decided to study opera, struck by the urge during a stop in Naples.

He followed up with a year of tutelage in Paris and three more in the United States.

After the release of the film, Tufts received 1700 fan letters a week and was named "The Find of 1943."

Due to an old college football injury, Tufts unable to join the military and serve overseas in the war.

Bowen Charlton "Sonny" Tufts III (July 16, 1911 – June 4, 1970) was an American stage, film, and television actor.

After graduating from Yale in 1935, Tufts auditioned with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, but eventually worked on the Broadway stage.

He appeared in Who's Who, and Sing for Your Supper in 1939.

Tufts then began singing in hotels and nightclubs.

A Yale classmate of Tufts' later convinced him to move to Hollywood to begin a career as an actor.

Upon arriving there, Tufts' friend, hotel manager Jack Donnelly, accompanied him to Paramount Pictures and introduced him to casting director Joe Egli.

Egli shot a screen test with Tufts, who was then signed to Paramount.

He is best known for the films he made as a contract star at Paramount in the 1940s, including So Proudly We Hail!.

He also starred in the cult classic Cat-Women of the Moon.

Bowen Charlton Tufts III (some sources give "Charleston" ) (nicknamed "Sonny") was born in Boston into a prominent banking family, the son of Octavia Emily (Williams) and Bowen Charlton Tufts.

His first role was as Kansas, an affable Marine and love interest of Paulette Goddard in the 1943 World War II romantic drama So Proudly We Hail!.

The film was a critical and box-office hit, largely due to the three female leads: Claudette Colbert, Paulette Goddard, and Veronica Lake.

Tufts' performance was praised by critics and the role served as a launching pad for his career.

With Hollywood's ranks of leading men heavily depleted by the war effort, Tufts was borrowed by RKO to play opposite leading lady Olivia de Havilland in the comedy Government Girl (1944); Paramount got a loan of Maureen O'Hara in exchange.

The farm-out to RKO meant Tufts had to drop out of Standing Room Only, where he was replaced by Fred MacMurray.

''Government Girl'l was a huge hit and Tufts was voted the number one "Star of Tomorrow" by Australian exhibitors for 1944.

Before filming of So Proudly We Hail! was complete, director Mark Sandrich commissioned So Proudly's screenwriter Allan Scott to write a vehicle for Tufts and his co-star Paulette Goddard.

That film, entitled I Love a Soldier (1944) was a mild hit.

Sandrich directed Tufts' next film, Here Come the Waves (1944), which was a huge success, due in part to stars Bing Crosby and Betty Hutton.

Sandrich died in 1945.

Tufts made another musical comedy Bring On the Girls (1945) with Eddie Bracken and Veronica Lake, replacing Dick Powell.

Tufts sang several songs, but the film was a box-office disappointment.

He made a cameo along with most Paramount stars in Duffy's Tavern (1945), singing "Swinging on a Star".

He was reunited with Lake in Miss Susie Slagle's (1946) alongside Joan Caulfield.

Paramount tried him in a Western The Virginian (1946), though it was in a supporting role.

He was reunited with De Havilland in The Well-Groomed Bride (1946), replacing Dennis O'Keefe but she wound up with Ray Milland at the end of the film.

However, Paramount did give Tufts the star part in Swell Guy (1946) opposite Ann Blyth.

He also got to co star opposite Betty Hutton in Cross My Heart (1946).

Tufts was the romantic male lead in Easy Come, Easy Go (1947), a Barry Fitzgerald vehicle.

It was directed by John Farrow, who also used Tufts in Blaze of Noon (1947) playing one of four brothers who fly air mail.

After a cameo in Variety Girl (1947), Tufts left Paramount.

He starred in a Western, The Untamed Breed (1948).