Calvin Louis Thomas (1885 – September 26, 1964) was an American stage, film and television actor, and a
theatre director
A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...
.
Biography
Born in
Kansas City, Missouri, to Jesse and Virginia Thomas, he was the older brother of actor
Frank M. Thomas. He began performing on Broadway in 1907 as Louis Thomas, making his debut as a bit player in ''Peer Gynt'' with
Richard Mansfield
Richard Mansfield (24 May 1857 – 30 August 1907) was an English actor-manager best known for his performances in Shakespeare plays, Gilbert and Sullivan operas, and the play '' Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde''.
Life and career
Mansfield was born ...
in the starring role.
[Staff]
"Calvin L. Thomas, Actor, Dies at 79"
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', September 27, 1964. Accessed July 2, 2011. Also in 1907 and again as Louis Thomas, he appeared as Servius in a production of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar at Broadway's
New Amsterdam Theatre
The New Amsterdam Theatre is a Broadway theater on 214 West 42nd Street, at the southern end of Times Square, in the Theater District of Manhattan in New York City. One of the oldest surviving Broadway venues, the New Amsterdam was built fro ...
, with
Robert Mantell as Marcus Brutus. He began performing as Calvin Thomas in 1912. Thomas made his film debut in 1915 in ''The Money Master'', but performed mostly on the Broadway stage, appearing in nearly 40 plays and musicals. He appeared as the Starkeeper in the original Broadway production of ''
Carousel'' and also had Broadway roles in ''
Kiss and Tell'', ''
Abe Lincoln in Illinois'', ''
Show Girl'', and ''We, the People''. In 1927 he performed with
Margaret Mosier in ''Junk'', and they soon married; she died in 1951. His last Broadway role was as Dr. Ormondy in the 1955 production of ''Pipe Dream''.
Thomas also appeared in several television series, including ''
Hallmark Hall of Fame'' and, in its first (1955–56) season, ''
The Honeymooners
''The Honeymooners'' is an American television sitcom which originally aired from 1955 to 1956, created by and starring Jackie Gleason, and based on a recurring comedy sketch of the same name that had been part of Gleason's variety show. It fo ...
'' (in the episodes "'Twas the Night before Christmas," "Oh My Aching Back," and "The Safety Award."
Personal life
Thomas died in
Caldwell, New Jersey in 1964 at the age of 79. He was survived by his second wife, Delia, whom he married in 1954, and two sons by his first marriage.
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References
External links
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1885 births
1964 deaths
American male stage actors
American theatre directors
People from Caldwell, New Jersey
Tony Award winners
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