Actor · Acting

Regis Toomey

Born 1898-08-13

Died 1991-10-12

📍 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Regis Toomey (August 13, 1898 – October 12, 1991) was an American film and television actor.

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, he was one of four children of Francis X. and Mary Ellen Toomey and attended Peabody High School. He initially pondered a law career, but acting won out and he established himself as a musical stage performer.

Educated in dramatics at the University of Pittsburgh, where he became a brother of Sigma Chi, Toomey began as a stock actor and eventually made it to Broadway. Toomey was a singer on stage until throat problems (acute laryngitis) while touring in Europe stopped that aspect of his career. In 1929, Toomey first began appearing in films. He initially started out as a leading man, but found more success as a character actor (sans his toupee).

Toomey appeared in over 180 films, including classics such as The Big Sleep with Humphrey Bogart. In 1956, he appeared as a judge, with Chuck Connors as "Andy", in the third episode, "The Nevada Nightingale", of the NBC anthology series The Joseph Cotten Show. Toomey thereafter appeared in another anthology series too as the character "Harry" in the 1960 episode "The Doctor and the Redhead", with Dick Powell and Felicia Farr, of CBS's The DuPont Show with June Allyson. In the 1961–1962 television season, he appeared in a supporting role with George Nader in the syndicated crime drama Shannon about insurance investigators. From 1963–1966, Toomey was one of the stars of the ABC crime drama, Burke's Law, starring Gene Barry. He played Sergeant Les Hart, one of the detectives assisting the murder investigations of the millionaire police captain Amos Burke. He also guest-starred on dozens of television programs, including the "Shady Deal at Sunny Acres" episode of Maverick.

In 1941, Toomey appeared in You're in the Army Now, in which he and Jane Wyman had the longest screen kiss in cinema history: 3 minutes and 5 seconds.

Filmography 234

Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood

as Burlesque Stagehand

The Phantom of Hollywood

as Sam Streeter

The Carey Treatment

as Sanderson the Pathologist

as Michael Atterbury

Change of Habit

as Father Gibbons

as Billy Heckman

The Time Tunnel

as Dr. Ben Berkhart

The Night of the Grizzly

as Cotton Benson

as Calvin Betts

The Legend of Jesse James

as Defense Attorney Reed

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea

as George Penfield

Man's Favorite Sport?

Petticoat Junction

as Detective Lester Hart

as Joseph Denton

as Studio Exec with the Baron

as Arthur Wheeler

as Judge Thomas Otto

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea

as Dr. Jamieson

King of the Roaring 20's – The Story of Arnold Rothstein

The Last Sunset

Guns of the Timberland

as Sheriff Taylor

The DuPont Show with June Allyson

as Dr. Harry Randolph

as Soldier at Fort

as Orderly (uncredited)

as Judge Claymore

Wanted: Dead or Alive

as Lenny the Bartender

as Joe Donaldson

as Ben Granville

Richard Diamond, Private Detective

as Lt. Dennis McGough

Curfew Breakers

as Coach Bettger

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre

as Will Jenkins

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre

as Sheriff Barnes

as Regis Toomey

The Adventures of Jim Bowie

Dakota Incident

Three for Jamie Dawn

Great Day in the Morning

as Father Murphy

as Arvide Abernathy

Matinee Theater

The 20th Century Fox Hour

The Millionaire

as Pete Marlowe

Atomic Energy as a Force for Good

as Mike Farrell

The Human Jungle

The High and the Mighty

as Tim Garfield

Drums Across the River

as Sheriff Jim Beal

The Backbone of America

as Bill Carmody

as Col. Markham

Take the High Ground!

as Chaplain (uncredited)

Main Street to Broadway

as Desk Sergeant (uncredited)

Letter to Loretta

as Everett Strawn

Letter to Loretta

as Henry Herman

Letter to Loretta

as Father Middleton

Letter to Loretta

Letter to Loretta

as Mr. McCarthy

Letter to Loretta

Island in the Sky

as Sergeant Harper

Son of Belle Starr

It Happens Every Thursday

General Electric Theater

Never Wave at a WAC

as General Ned Prager

as Farley Norris

Cavalcade of America

The Battle at Apache Pass

My Six Convicts

Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

as Colonel Hawks

Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

as Babe Bricker

Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

The People Against O'Hara

as Fred Colton, Police Sound Man

The Tall Target

as Insp. Tim Reilly (uncredited)

as Sheriff Ike Vallon (uncredited)

as Capt. Charles Danning

as Smith (uncredited)

Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone

as Reporter (uncredited)

Undercover Girl

Beyond the Forest

The Devil's Henchmen

Come to the Stable

as Monsignor Talbot

Mighty Joe Young

The Phantom Creeps

as Lt. Jim Daley

The Boy with Green Hair

I Wouldn't Be in Your Shoes

as Police Inspector Clint Judd

as (uncredited)

Reaching from Heaven

The Bishop's Wife

as Inspector O'Haffey

as Detective Heller

The Thirteenth Hour

Child of Divorce

as New York Reporter (uncredited)

Her Sister's Secret

as Chief Inspector Bernie Ohls

Mysterious Intruder

as James Summers

Follow That Woman

as Barney Manners

as Det. Sgt. Gillespie

Betrayal from the East

as Agent Posing as 'Sgt. Jimmy Scott'

Strange Illusion

as Timothy Walsh

Murder in the Blue Room

as Inspector McDonald

When the Lights Go On Again

as Steve Downey

Raiders of Ghost City

as Capt. Clay Randolph [Chs. 1-6]

Song of the Open Road

Follow the Boys

as Dr. Henderson

Adventures of the Flying Cadets

as Capt. Ralph Carson

as Lt. Cmdr. Clark

Tennessee Johnson

as Blackstone McDaniel

The Forest Rangers

as Frank Hatfield

as Dr. Steven Bishop

You're in the Army Now

as Captain Joe Radcliffe

They Died with Their Boots On

as Fitzhugh Lee

as Jim Martin (uncredited)

Law of the Tropics

as Tom Marshall

The Nurse's Secret

as Inspector Tom Patten

Reaching for the Sun

The Devil and Miss Jones

as 1st Policeman

A Shot in the Dark

as William Ryder

The Lone Wolf Takes a Chance

March On, Marines

as Drill Sergeant

North West Mounted Police

as Constable Jerry Moore

'Til We Meet Again

Northwest Passage

His Girl Friday

Indianapolis Speedway

Trapped in the Sky

Confessions of a Nazi Spy

as Tom - in Coffee Shop (uncredited)

as Paddy O'Rourke

Street of Missing Men

Society Smugglers

as Johnny Beebe

Wings of the Navy

as First Flight Instructor

The Mysterious Miss X

as Jack Webster

The Phantom Creeps

as Lt. Jim Daly

Pirates of the Skies

Smashing the Spy Ring

Illegal Traffic

as Doctor Wilson - Veterinarian

The Invisible Menace

as Lt. Matthews

as Fred Hawkins

Back in Circulation

The Lady Escapes

as American reporter (uncredited)

Bulldog Edition

Skull and Crown

as Bob Franklin, alias Rocky Morgan

as Speed Demming

Shadows of the Orient

as Inspector Bob Baxter

as Eddie Buchanan

One Frightened Night

Shadow of Doubt

as John Hastings

She Had to Choose

Murder on the Blackboard

as Detective Smiley North

What's Your Racket

Hollywood on Parade No. B-1

Big Time Or Bust

She Had to Say Yes

as Tommy Nelson

Laughing at Life

as Pat Collins / Mc Hale

Soldiers of the Storm

as Brad Allerton

as Michael Rolph

as Robert Palmer

A Strange Adventure

as Detective-Sergeant Mitchell

They Never Come Back

The Crowd Roars

The Midnight Patrol

as David Livingston

as Jimmie Slocum

as Dustin Hotchkiss

Murder by the Clock

as Office Cassidy

The Finger Points

as Charlie 'Breezy' Russell

Finn and Hattie

as Henry Collins

Other Men's Women

A Man from Wyoming

Good Intentions

as Richard Holt

Shadow of the Law

The Light of Western Stars

as Robert Metcalf

as Jimmy McArthur

Street of Chance

as 'Babe' Marsden

The Wheel of Life

as Lt. MacLaren

as Danny McGann