Tom Conway

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This article is about the British actor. For other people with a similar name, see Thomas Conway (disambiguation).
Tom Conway

from the trailer for
Grand Central Murder (1942)
Born Thomas Charles Sanders
(1904-09-15)15 September 1904
St. Petersburg, Russia
Died 22 April 1967(1967-04-22) (aged 62)
Culver City, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Cause of death
 Cirrhosis of the Liver
Alma mater Brighton College
Occupation actor
Years active 1940–64
Spouse(s) Queenie Leonard
(1958–1963, divorced)
Lillian Eggers
(1941–1953, divorced)
Family George Sanders (brother)

Tom Conway (15 September 1904 – 22 April 1967) was a British film, television and radio actor renowned for playing private detectives and psychiatrists.

Early life

Conway was born Thomas Charles Sanders to English parents in St. Petersburg, Russia. His younger brother (b. 1906) was fellow actor George Sanders.[1] Their younger sister, Margaret Sanders, was born in 1912. At the outbreak of the Russian Revolution (1917), the family moved back to England, where Conway was educated at Bedales School and Brighton College. Tom travelled to Northern Rhodesia, where he worked in mining and ranching, then returned to England, appearing in several plays with the Manchester Repertory Company and performing on BBC Radio.

Career

Joining his brother George in Hollywood, Conway became a contract player for MGM.

Conway is perhaps best remembered for playing "The Falcon" in ten of the series' entries, taking over for his brother Sanders in The Falcon's Brother, in which they both starred that lead him to be a contract star with RKO Pictures. While working at RKO Conway starred in three Val Lewton horror films. He played Dr. Louis Judd in two otherwise unrelated films (1942's Cat People and 1943's The Seventh Victim), despite the character having been killed in Cat People. The third Lewton film in which he starred was I Walked with a Zombie (1943).

On radio, Conway played Sherlock Holmes during the 1946–1947 season of The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, following Basil Rathbone's departure from the series. In spite of a similar vocal timbre, Conway wasn't as well-received as Rathbone had been by audiences, and was replaced that season by John Stanley.

Conway's screen career diminished in the 1950s, but he appeared in a number of British films, as well as on radio and television. In 1951, he replaced Vincent Price as star of the radio mystery series The Saint, a character which Sanders had portrayed on film a decade earlier. In 1956, the two brothers both featured (as brothers) in the film Death of a Scoundrel, though Sanders had the starring role.

From 1951–1954, Conway played debonair British police detective Mark Saber, who worked in the homicide division of a large American city, in the ABC series entitled Inspector Mark Saber – Homicide Detective. In 1957, the series resumed on NBC, renamed Saber of London, with Donald Gray in the title role.[2]

In October 1957, Conway performed as Max Collodi in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode "The Glass Eye", to critical praise. His final television appearance was in 1964, playing the role of Guy Penrose in the Perry Mason episode, "The Case of the Simple Simon."

Later life and death

In 1961, Conway provided his voice for Disney's 101 Dalmatians as a collie who offers the dalmatians shelter in a barn, later guiding them home. His wife at the time, Queenie Leonard, voiced a cow in the barn.

Despite having made millions in his twenty-four-year film career, Conway later struggled to make ends meet. Failing eyesight and prolonged bouts with alcohol took their toll on him in his last years. His second wife (Leonard) divorced him in 1963, owing to his drinking problem, and his brother Sanders broke off all contact with him because of it.

Conway underwent cataract surgery during the winter of 1964–65. In September 1965, he briefly returned to the headlines, having been discovered living in a $2-a-day room in a Venice, California flophouse. Gifts, contributions and offers of aid poured in for a time.

His last years were marked with hospitalizations. It was there that former sister-in-law Zsa Zsa Gabor paid Conway a visit and gave him $200. "Tip the nurses a little bit so they'll be good to you," she told him. The following day, the hospital called her to say that Conway had left with the $200, gone to his girlfriend's house, and became gravely sick in her bed. It was 22 April 1967, and he died from cirrhosis of the liver at the age of 62 due to alcoholism. His funeral was held in London.

Filmography

References

  1. ↑ Obituary Variety, 26 April 1967.
  2. ↑ Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, The Complete Directory to Prime Time and Cable TV Shows, 1946 – present. New York City: Random House Publishing Co., 2003. Retrieved 5 January 2011. 

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