Tom Santschi (Paul William Santschi) (24 October 1880, Crystal City, Missouri - 9 April 1931, Los Angeles, California) was an American leading man and character actor of the silent film era.
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Santschi acted in over 245 films during the period 1907-1931, and directed 28 during 1914-1916. He wrote one screen play in 1914. A 1915 two-reeler In the King's Service, in which he starred with Marion Warner, surfaced at a yard sale in Maine, and was shown along with The Spoilers (1914) at a Northeast Historic Film Festival at Bucksport, Maine in 2002.
In The Spoilers in 1914, Santschi and William Farnum staged the classic movie fight of all time. The fight lasted for a full reel and looked as genuine as a filmed fight can possibly look. Every movie fight since has been compared unfavorably to this one. In 1930, Farnum and Santschi coached Gary Cooper and William "Stage" Boyd in the fight scene for the 1930 version of The Spoilers. The other two pairs of actors who tried without success to match the first fight were Milton Sills and Noah Beery in 1922 and Randolph Scott and John Wayne in 1942,[1] not to mention Jeff Chandler and Rory Calhoun in 1955, the last screen version so far.
Santschi died in his sleep from a heart attack at the age of 52. He was interred at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. His gravestone gives his date of birth as 1880.