Tom Ewell

Actor

About

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Also Known As

S Yewell Tompkins, Yewell Tompkins

Birth Place

Owensboro, Kentucky, USA

Born

April 29, 1909

Died

September 12, 1994

Biography

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Comic performer with stage experience who had his first featured role as a philanderer in "Adam's Rib" (1949) and went on to specialize in portraying inept women-chasers and harried ordinary men. Ewell had the good fortune to co-star with two of Hollywood's biggest sex symbols of the mid-1950s: Marilyn Monroe in "The Seven Year Itch" (1955) and Jayne Mansfield in "The Girl Can't Help It"...

Filmography

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Easy Money (1983)

Terror at Alcatraz (1982)

Return of the Mod Squad (1979)

Promise Him Anything... (1975)

Judge Jason Melbourne

The Great Gatsby (1974)

To Find a Man (1972)

Photos & Videos

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Lieutenant Wore Skirts, The (1956) -- (Movie Clip) Gregory, Not Peck

Lieutenant Wore Skirts, The (1956) -- (Movie Clip) I Didn' t See That Movie

Family & Companions

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Judith Abbott

Wife

Daughter of producer-director George Abbott; married on March 18, 1946; divorced after a year.

Marjorie Sanborn

Wife

Married on May 5, 1948.

Biography

Comic performer with stage experience who had his first featured role as a philanderer in "Adam's Rib" (1949) and went on to specialize in portraying inept women-chasers and harried ordinary men. Ewell had the good fortune to co-star with two of Hollywood's biggest sex symbols of the mid-1950s: Marilyn Monroe in "The Seven Year Itch" (1955) and Jayne Mansfield in "The Girl Can't Help It" (1956).

Filmography

Cast (Feature Film)

Easy Money (1983)

Terror at Alcatraz (1982)

Return of the Mod Squad (1979)

Promise Him Anything... (1975)

Judge Jason Melbourne

The Great Gatsby (1974)

To Find a Man (1972)

They Only Kill Their Masters (1972)

Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came (1970)

Billy Joe Davis

State Fair (1962)

Tender Is the Night (1962)

A Nice Little Bank That Should Be Robbed (1958)

The Great American Pastime (1956)

Bruce Hallerton

The Girl Can't Help It (1956)

The Lieutenant Wore Skirts (1956)

Gregory Whitcomb

Finders Keepers (1952)

Lost in Alaska (1952)

"Nugget Joe" McDermott

Willie and Joe Back at the Front (1952)

Up Front (1951)

American Guerrilla in the Philippines (1950)

A Life of Her Own (1950)

Mr. Music (1950)

["Cupcake"] Haggerty

Adam's Rib (1949)

Warren Attinger

Desert Bandit (1941)

Cast (Special)

All in Fun (1952)

Brother Rat (1939)

Life Events

1928

Stage acting debut in "The Spider" with the Al Jackson Players stock company while at college

1934

Broadway debut in "They Shall Not Die"

1935

Radio acting debut, 'The March of Time"

1940

Film acting debut in "They Knew What They Wanted"

1942

Served as a lieutenant in US Navy

1947

Starred in first Broadway hits "John Loves Mary" and "Small Wonder"

1949

First major featured film role, "Adam's Rib"

Videos

Lieutenant Wore Skirts, The (1956) -- (Movie Clip) Gregory, Not Peck Sheree North (as Katy, in one of her first lead roles) narrating the opening, introducing her snoozing husband (Tom Ewell) and his agent (Les Tremayne), script by Albert Beich and director Frank Tashlin, in The Lieutenant Wore Skirts, 1956.

Lieutenant Wore Skirts, The (1956) -- (Movie Clip) I Didn' t See That Movie Hack TV writer Greg (Tom Ewell), hanging at his bachelor pal's place with his wife away in the service, visited by frisky neighbor Sandy (Rita Moreno), who all but names Ewell's earlier movie (Billy Wilder's The Seven Year Itch), in Frank Tashlin's The Lieutenant Wore Skirts, 1956.

Great American Pastime, The (1957) -- (Movie Clip) Where Did I Come From? Opening with Tom Ewell reflecting, then with his family (Anne Francis, and Rudy Lee as young Bruce) picnicking, from the MGM baseball comedy, officially sanctioned by Little League Baseball, in The Great American Pastime, 1957.

Adam's Rib (1949) -- (Movie Clip) My Dear Husband What amounts to a gritty, Manhattan opening by director George Cukor and writers Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin, Judy Holliday hunting down husband Tom Ewell and bimbo Jean Hagen, in the 1949 Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn hit, Adam's Rib.

Tender Is The Night (1962) -- (Movie Clip) French Riviera Technique not too convincing but an accurate rendering of the first scene of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, introducing Dick (Jason Robards Jr.), Abe (Tom Ewell), Nicole (Jennifer Jones) and Rosemary (Jill St. John), from Tender Is The Night, 1962.

Seven Year Itch, The (1955) -- (Movie Clip) I Could Have His first night in his Manhattan apartment, with the wife and child away for the summer, Richard (Tom Ewell) imagines her (Evelyn Keyes) and his secretary (Marguerite Chapman), in The Seven Year Itch, 1955, directed by Billy Wilder from George Axelrod's play and screenplay, co-starring Marilyn Monroe.

Seven Year Itch, The (1955) -- (Movie Clip) With A Married Man Married Richard (Tom Ewell) with the wife out of town, receives the bubbly new "girl" from upstairs, with her bottle of birthday champagne and ditzy blonde reasoning, in Billy Wilder's The Seven Year Itch, 1955.

Seven Year Itch, The (1955) -- (Movie Clip) I Had To Ring Your Bell Tom Ewell as Manhattan temporary bachelor Richard Sherman, in his original role from George Axelrod's original play, musing when the new girl upstairs turns out to be Marilyn Monroe, early in Billy Wilder's The Seven Year Itch, 1955.

Seven Year Itch, The (1955) -- (Movie Clip) Cools The Ankles Billy Wilder's famous contrivance with Marilyn Monroe (as the never-named "girl" from upstairs) on the subway grate, with married Richard (Tom Ewell), who's wrangled an innocent date, in The Seven Year Itch, 1955.

Life Of Her Own, A (1950) -- (Movie Clip) We Can Help You On her first day at the new agency, prospective model Lily (Lana Turner) gets advice from agent Tom (Tom Ewell), meets Maggie (Jean Hagen) and nervous Mary (Ann Dvorak), in George Cukor's A Life Of Her Own, 1950.

Girl Can't Help It, The (1956) -- (Movie Clip) Start Working On Me Writer and director Frank Tashlin's jokes with Jayne Mansfield (as "Jerri") stopping traffic, then with the milk bottles, as she awakens her surprised new agent Tom (Ewell), recovering from a bender after being hired by her gangster boss, in The Girl Can't Help It, 1956.

Girl Can't Help It, The (1956) -- (Movie Clip) A Big Canary! Resurgent gangster Fats (Edmond O'Brien) makes his offer to washed-up dipsomaniac show biz agent Tom Miller (Tom Ewell), who's about to back out until he meets the prospect, girlfriend Jerri (Jayne Mansfield), early in Frank Tashlin's The Girl Can't Help It, 1956.

They Only Kill Their Masters - (Original Trailer) A small-town police chief (James Garner) uncovers a mystery while investigating a dog accused of killing its owner in They Only Kill Their Masters (1972).

Lieutenant Wore Skirts, The - (Original Trailer) A middle-aged man is left to tend house while his wife is accepted by the Air Force training program and becomes a Lieutenant in The Lieutenant Wore Skirts (1956).

Life of Her Own, A - (Original Trailer) Lana Turner is an innocent small-town girl who climbs to the top of the modeling business man by man in George Cukor's A Life Of Her Own (1950).

Seven Year Itch, The - (Textless Trailer) A married man whose wife is on vacation falls for the blonde bombshell (Marilyn Monroe) upstairs in Billy Wilder's The Seven Year Itch (1955).

Adam's Rib - (Original Trailer) Husband and wife lawyers argue opposite sides in a sensational women's rights case in Adam's Rib (1949), directed by George Cukor.

Girl Can't Help It, The - (Original Trailer) A gangster sets out to turn his girlfriend into a rock star in The Girl Can't Help It (1956).

Great American Pastime, The - (Original Trailer) A mild-mannered lawyer gets more than he bargained for when he takes over a little league team in The Great American Pastime (1956).

Companions

Judith Abbott

Wife

Daughter of producer-director George Abbott; married on March 18, 1946; divorced after a year.

Marjorie Sanborn

Wife

Married on May 5, 1948.

Bibliography

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