Tom Dugan

For those of a similar name, see Thomas Duggan (disambiguation) and Tom Dugan (American actor).

Tom Dugan
File:Tom Dugan.jpg
Born	(1889-01-01)1 January 1889 Dublin, Ireland
Died	Redlands, California, USA
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1927–1955 (films)
Spouse(s)	Marie Engle (?–?) Marie Raymond (?–?)

Tom Dugan (1 January 1889 – 7 March 1955) was an Irish film actor. He appeared in more than 260 films between 1927 and 1955. He was born in Dublin, Ireland and died in Redlands, California.

Life and career

At an early age Tom Dugan's family moved to Philadelphia where he was educated at the Philadelphia High School. After leaving school, he tried three trades (shoe cutting, neck tie cutting and paper hanging) in quick succession but he had a good tenor voice, so he decided on show business. He appeared in a travelling medicine show, then a minstrel troupe before going on stage. He was a headliner for the Keith Circuit in America for several years. He also played in musical comedies in New York and in vaudeville theatres like Earl Carroll's Vanities. He eventually became a Broadway comedian.

Tom Dugan appeared in nearly 270 films between 1927 and 1955 and had also some television roles near the end of his life.He supported comedians like Charley Chase and appeared in Lights of New York (1928), the first all-talking picture. Dugan also worked as an actor and perhaps also writer for the Hal Roach studios in the mid-1930s. He mostly played small roles, often as an Irish cop, gangster or cab driver. His best film role was perhaps the Polish actor Bronski who disguises himself as Adolf Hitler in Ernst Lubitsch's To Be or Not to Be (1942).

Selected filmography

• What Every Girl Should Know (1927)
• By Whose Hand? (1927)
• Sharp Shooters (1928)
• Dressed to Kill (1928)
• The Midnight Taxi (1928)
• The Barker (1928)
• Melody of Love (1928) - Lefty (credited as Tommy Dugan)
• The Million Dollar Collar (1929)
• Drag (1929) - Charlie Parker
• The Bad One (1930)
• The Phantom of the West (1931)
• The Vanishing Legion (1931)
• The Galloping Ghost (1931 serial)
• The Gilded Lily (1935)
• The Affair of Susan (1935)
• Case of the Missing Man (1935)
• Princess O'Hara (1935)
• Divot Diggers (1936)
• Pennies from Heaven (1936)
• Wife vs. Secretary (1936)
• Youth Takes a Fling (1938)
• The Fighting 69th (1940)
• Cross-Country Romance (1940)
• The Boys from Syracuse (1940)
• To Be or Not to Be (1942)
• Bataan (1943)
• In Society (1944)
• Accomplice (1946)
• The Shadow Returns (1946): Cab driver Shrevvy
• Bringing Up Father (1946)
• The Pilgrim Lady (1947)
• Half Past Midnight (1948)
• On the Town (1949)
• Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949)
• Crashout (1955)

External links

• Tom Dugan at the Internet Movie Database
• Tom Dugan at AllMovie
• Tom Dugan at Find a Grave
• British Film Institute (BFI)