Frank M. Thomas

Frank M. Thomas

Birth : 1889-07-13, Saint Joseph, Missouri, USA

Death : 1989-11-25

History

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Frank Marion Thomas (July 13, 1889 – November 25, 1989), was an American character actor of stage, screen and television fame. He and his wife, actress Mona Bruns, both lived to 100 years old. He died the day before her 90th birthday; she died 11 years later. Their son was Frankie Thomas Thomas' parents were Jesse and Virginia Thomas. He first appeared on Broadway in 1914. Thomas also played many supporting roles in films from the 1930s through the 1970s. His best-known films were We Who Are About To Die (1937), A Man to Remember (1938), A Shot In the Dark (1941), Desert Trail (1942), and No Place for a Lady (1943). His last screen appearance was in The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976). He performed frequently on television from the 1950s to the 1970s. He was president (Shepherd) of The Lambs (1962-63). His film appearances were so prolific at one point in his career that, in 1937 alone, he appeared in no fewer than 21 films.

Profile

Frank M. Thomas

Movies

The Shadow
Commissioner Weston
Lamont Cranston, a psychiatrist on retainer to the police department, is asked to assist in the Case of the Cotton Kimono murder investigation. Lamont and his girlfriend Margot Lane are not satisfied with Detective Harris' analysis and call on the two prime suspects: the victim's voice instructor and her boyfriend. When Harris, convinced that the boyfriend is guilty, frames the young man for the crime, Lamont is forced to assume his secret identity as "The Shadow", and cloaked by his power of invisibility, seeks to force the true killer to reveal himself.
Hello, Frisco, Hello
Auctioneer
In turn-of-the-century San Francisco, an ambitious vaudevillian takes his quartet from a honky tonk to the big time, while spurning the love of his troupe's star singer for a selfish heiress.
No Place for a Lady
Webley, club owner
A private detective and a blonde acquaintance whom he has rescued from a misdirected murder charge, discover a body in his beachside cottage; only it has disappeared by the time the police arrive, leaving him to be charged with hoaxing the police. With his license in jeopardy, his would-be fiancee and an inquiring reporter set out to investigate.
Mountain Rhythm
Dr. Elihu Prindle
The Weaver family buys some farmland in California, but the headmaster of a nearby boys school doesn't want them as neighbors, and before long the boys at the school are causing trouble for the Weavers.
Eyes in the Night
Police Lieutenant (Uncredited)
Blind detective Duncan Maclain gets mixed up with enemy agents and murder when he tries to help an old friend with a rebellious stepdaughter.
Sunset Serenade
Clifford Sheldon
Bad guys plot to trick a newly arrived Eastern girl out of a ranch which belongs to her infant ward. Roy, of course, saves the ranch for the girl. Songs include "I'm Headin's for the Home Corral," "He's a No Good Son of a Gun," "Sandman Lullaby," "Song of the San Joaquin," and "I'm a Cowboy Rockefeller."
Apache Trail
Maj. Lowden
The brother of a notorious outlaw is put in a charge of a stagecoach line way station in dangerous Apache territory. A stagecoach arrives at the station with a valuable box of cargo, and the outlaw brother soon shows up, though denying that he's planning to take the cargo box. Soon, however, rampaging Apaches attack the station, and the station manager, his brother and a disparate group of passengers and employees must fight them off.
A Desperate Chance for Ellery Queen
Capt. H.T. Daley
A man is framed for embezzlement and runs off to San Francisco. His wife hires Queen to try and track him down before the police get to him.
The Great Man's Lady
Frisbee
In Hoyt City, a statue of founder Ethan Hoyt is dedicated, and 100 year old Hannah Sempler Hoyt (who lives in the last residence among skyscrapers) is at last persuaded to tell her story to a 'girl biographer'. Flashback: in 1848, teenage Hannah meets and flirts with pioneer Ethan; on a sudden impulse, they elope. We follow their struggle to found a city in the wilderness, hampered by the Gold Rush, star-crossed love, peril, and heartbreak. The star "ages" 80 years.
Obliging Young Lady
Bill Keenan - Editor (uncredited)
A woman attempts to shelter a young girl from the publicity surrounding her socialite parents' divorce.
Sunset on the Desert
Judge Alvin Kirby
Judge Kirby is being blackmailed and forced to let outlaws go free. He was once the partner of Roy's father and when Roy reads in the paper that he is in trouble he heads out to help him. Arriving, Roy quickly realizes he has been mistaken for one of the outlaws and is not wanted in town. However he stays, and now posing as that outlaw, hopes to learn who is causing all the problems.
Reap the Wild Wind
Dr. Jepson
The Florida Keys in 1840, where the implacable hurricanes of the Caribbean scream, where the salvagers of Key West, like the intrepid and beautiful Loxi Claiborne and her crew, reap, aboard frail schooners, the harvest of the wild wind, facing the shark teeth of the reefs to rescue the sailors and the cargo from the shipwrecks caused by the scavengers of the sea.
Wild Bill Hickok Rides
Tweed
The Western hero takes on a ruthless land baron whose henchmen killed his best friend.
Dangerously They Live
Ralph Bryan
A doctor tries to rescue a young innocent from Nazi agents.
Among the Living
Sheriff
A mentally unstable man, who has been kept in isolation for years, escapes and causes trouble for his identical twin brother.
Sierra Sue
Banker Bromfield
To fight a poisonous weed, ranchers are burning their land. Gene is the Inspector brought in and he recommends spraying. The spraying goes well until the Larabee ranch is reached. When Larrabee refuses to allow the equipment on his land, Gene has it sprayed by airplane. Cattle must stay off recently sprayed land and when a Larrabee man shoots down the plane, the crash sends the cattle stampeding toward the newly sprayed land.
Three Sons o' Guns
Reynolds
Three reckless brothers dodge the draft then sign up and become men.
A Shot in the Dark
Klein
A reporter and a police detective sort through the clues in a night-club owner's murder.
Arkansas Judge
August Huston
Arkansas Judge is a 1941 American film starring Roy Rogers as a young lawyer defending a farmer accused of slander.
Life with Henry
Joe Nye
Henry Aldrich wants to win a trip to Alaska.
Wyoming Wildcat
Frank Gannon
A former outlaw becomes a Wells Fargo guard, but when the stagecoach is robbed, he becomes a wanted man once again.
Chad Hanna
Burke
Country boy joins a circus in the 1840s and falls in love with the bare-back rider. Later he falls in love with another circus runaway.
Brigham Young
Hubert Crum
Based on the story of the famous Mormon leader, it follows Brigham Young and his challenge to transport his people across the Rocky mountains to settle in Salt Lake City. The plot focuses on two fictitious characters, Jonathan Kent and Zina Webb and the hardships they have to face along the way.
Maryland
Dr. J. J. Bunker, Veterinarian
A woman tormented by the hunting death of her husband forbids her son to have anything to do with horses. But when he falls for the daughter of his father's trainer, he defies his mother by entering the Maryland Hunt.
Queen of the Mob
Doctor
Ma Webster (Blanche Yurka) and her boys rob a bank on Christmas Eve; G-men stop them with Tommy guns.
Lillian Russell
Official
Alice Faye plays the title role in this 1940 film biography of the early-20th-century stage star.
Shooting High
Calvin Pritchard
A movie company making a film about a famous sheriff hires his grandson as a stand-in for the lead.
Women Without Names
Prison Warden
Joyce and Fred MacNeil's honeymoon comes to an abrupt and unsatisfying halt when Fred is accused of murder. Railroaded into prison through the efforts of politically ambitious assistant DA Marlin, Fred awaits his doom on Death Row, while Joyce works overtime on the outside to clear her husband's name
High School
History Teacher
A teenager who's been raised and home-schooled at her father's Texas ranch must adjust to her new surroundings and being with other students when she's sent to a San Antonio high-school.
City of Chance
Publisher
Texas girl goes to New York, becomes a newspaper reporter, and tries to get her gambler boyfriend to come home.
Two Thoroughbreds
Reeves
A farm boy trains a wild colt on his own.
Geronimo
Politician
The army's effort to capture Apache chief Geronimo, who is leading a band of warriors on a rampage of raiding and murder, is hampered by a feud between two officers--who are father and son.
Saga of Death Valley
Ed Tasker
When Tasker kills Roy Rogers he takes one of his young sons. Fifteen years later the other son Roy arrives buying a ranch in the valley where Tasker now controls the water supply. Roy organizes the ranchers for a showdown with Tasker not knowing that his brother is Tasker's chief henchman.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Hendricks (uncredited)
Naive and idealistic Jefferson Smith, leader of the Boy Rangers, is appointed to the United States Senate by the puppet governor of his state. He soon discovers, upon going to Washington, many shortcomings of the political process as his earnest goal of a national boys' camp leads to a conflict with the state political boss.
Scandal Sheet
District Attorney
The crimes of a tabloid publisher are exposed by a reporter, his secret illegitimate son.
$1,000 a Touchdown
Dr. Black (uncredited)
A couple inherits a college and to generate revenue offers a thousand dollars to players for each touchdown they score.
They All Come Out
Superintendent - Chillicothe
A down on his luck young man stumbles into a gang of robbers who all get landed in prison. Will he be reformed, or is he ensnared into a life of crime?
Bachelor Mother
Doctor
Polly Parrish, a clerk at Merlin's Department Store, is mistakenly presumed to be the mother of a foundling. Outraged at Polly's unmotherly conduct, David Merlin becomes determined to keep the single woman and "her" baby together.
Grand Jury Secrets
Benton
A newspaper reporter gets involved with shady stock promoters when he listens in on a jury room session.
The Rookie Cop
Police Chief Gordon H. Lane
A rookie cop tries to prove his friend is innocent of a robbery, despite the police commissioner's objection to his use of a trained German Shepherd dog named Ace.
They Made Her a Spy
Col. John Shaw
When her brother is killed by sabotage, Irene Eaton (Sally Eilers) joins the secret service and goes undercover to unroot the culprits.
Society Lawyer
Lt. Stevens
Society lawyer Christopher Durant agrees to defend his friend Phil Siddall when Siddall is arrested for the murder of an ex-girlfriend. With the help of nightclub singer Pat Abbott and crime boss Tony Gazotti (a former client), Durant launches his own investigation of the murder in order to prove his friend's innocence
Secret Service of the Air
Doc
Brass Bancroft and his sidekick Gabby Watters are recruited onto the secret service and go undercover to crack a ruthless gang that smuggles illegal aliens.
Idiot's Delight
Bert
A group of disparate travelers are thrown together in a posh Alpine hotel when the borders are closed at the start of WWII.
Burn 'Em Up O'Connor
Jim Nixon
An auto mechanic suspects sabotage in a recent series of fatal racecar accidents.
The Mysterious Miss X
District Attorney Al Ross
After being mistaken for Scotland Yard detectives, two vaudevillians (Michael Whalen, Chick Chandler) try to solve a murder in a Midwestern town.
Disbarred
Dist. Atty. G.H. Blanchard
The Bar Association disbars attorney Tyler Cradon when it appears he was implicated in the murder of a prominent vice crusader. Cradon, not wishing to be without an income,is impressed by the way Joan Carroll handled a small-town murder, poses as a real estate agent and offers to get her into a law firm of a friend of his. Placed in the office of Roberts, running a front for Cradon, Joan is taught every trick of the trade. With her cases all prepared for her, she goes from one courtroom victory to another, soon becoming the darling of the underworld and the despair of all law-enforcing authorities.
A Man to Remember
Jode Harkness
On the day of his funeral, a dedicated smalltown doctor is remembered by his neighbors and patients.
Mr. Doodle Kicks Off
Coach Hammond
A wealthy businessman promises to donate a huge endowment to his college alma mater, but there's one condition -- his loser of a son, a student at the school, must become a football hero. Comedy.
Smashing the Rackets
Judge Wend
Jim 'Socker' Conway, former boxer and FBI hero, is maneuvered for political reasons into a do-nothing job in the district attorney's office. Meanwhile, he meets wild debutante Letty Lane, girlfriend of mob mouthpiece Steve Lawrence; and Letty's much nicer sister Susan. Now the slot machine gang brutally beats Jim's friends Franz and Otto. And Jim finds a way to use his nominal position to go into the racket- busting business. But his success puts Letty in deadly peril...
Crime Ring
Thomas Redwine
Fake fortunetellers win the confidence of clients and then get them to part with their money by buying mining stocks which are worthless.
The Saint in New York
Prosecutor (Uncredited)
A crime spree in New York forces the police commissioner to turn to Englishman Simon Templar, who fights lawlessness and corruption through unorthodox methods. Templar sets his sights on individual crimes bosses, and after bringing down two vicious leaders through disguise and deception, discovers that there is a mastermind behind all the city's crime.
Blind Alibi
Larson
A Paris sculptor (Richard Dix) fakes blindness in Los Angeles to recover his blackmailed sister's love letters.
Joy of Living
Arthur (Uncredited)
Falling in love with the voice of Broadway chanteuse Margaret Garret, cocksure young tycoon Daniel Brewster decides to rescue the star from her hectic lifestyle of frenzied fans and mooching relatives. When Margaret has her ardent suitor arrested, the judge appoints her as Daniel's probation officer, forcing the duo to spend time together. As Daniel teaches Margaret to let her hair down and enjoy life, she begins to fall for her fun-loving admirer.
Law of the Underworld
Police Captain Gargan
A respected citizen with secret ties to the local mob is faced with revealing his criminal connections to save two innocent people from execution
Go Chase Yourself
Police Chief
When a bank is robbed, a not-so-bright teller is wrongly suspected of being part of the holdup team. Comedy.
This Marriage Business
Mayor Frisbee
A cocky reporter turns a small town marriage license clerk into a media celebrity.
Maid's Night Out
'Mac' McCarthy
A millionaire's son works as a milkman for a month to win a bet with his father. While delivering milk he falls in love with a young debutante whom he mistakes for a maid.
Night Spot
Headwaiter
A young singer, Marge Dexter, becomes involved in trouble when she works in a nightclub in which two of the band-members are in reality undercover-police officers who believe that the club is the headquarters of a dangerous gang of crooks.
Everybody's Doing It
Charlie
Gangsters are attempting to control the solutions (and winning) of the puzzles in a national newspapers picture puzzles contest craze.
Crashing Hollywood
Detective Decker
A true-to-life gangster movie stirs up an all out mob assault on Hollywood.
Quick Money
Jim Clark
Bluford H. Smythe, who has made it big in the big city, has returned to his small hometown of Glenwood after being away for twenty years. Accompanying him is his personal secretary, Ambrose Ames. Despite it being purely a vacation to get some rest and relaxation, the leading citizens of the town welcome him back with some official gatherings. Mayor Jonas Tompkins, who never liked Bluford, holds no grudges against him and too welcomes him with open arms. Although Bluford had no intention of making the news public, the townsfolk learn that he has indeed come back to do business, specifically develop a summer resort in Glenwood to rival that of the best summer resorts worldwide.
Danger Patrol
Rocky Sanders
An explosives carrier at an oil field falls in love with a colleague's daughter.
High Flyers
Officer Collins
Two men running a carnival airplane ride are hired to fly to retrieve what they think are photos for a reporter. Actually, they are retrieving diamonds stolen from a noted gem dealer. As it turns out, their plane crashes on the very estate of the dealer. Thinking the duo are police officers, the dealer offers his home for their convalescence from the accident. Meanwhile, the diamonds have been snatched by a kleptomaniac dog and buried on the estate. When the smugglers track down the pair, they try to convince the dealer that they are officials from an institution from which the two have escaped. Before long, the carnival fellows, the crooks, the gem dealer and his family, along with a platoon of cops, are tearing up the grounds to find where the dog has buried the diamonds.
Breakfast for Two
Sam Ransome
After a night on the town, Jonathan Blair wakes to find that Texan Valentine Ransome has escorted him home. Valentine is attracted to Jonathan and sets out first to reform him, and his family's near-bankrupt shipping company, and then to marry him. In her way is Jonathan's fiancée, actress Carol Wallace.
Forty Naughty Girls
Jeff Plummer
Hildegarde Withers and Inspector Piper try to solve a murder while attending a popular Broadway show.
The Big Shot
A.C. Murdock
A small-town veterinarian inherits $2 million from an uncle he barely knew. His attempts to help mankind don't go smoothly.
Meet the Missus
Barney Lott
A small town Ohio barber accompanies his ditzy wife to Atlantic City, where she competes in the Happy Noodle Company's Mrs. America Contest.
Behind The Headlines
Naylor
A radio reporter sets out to rescue his ex-girlfriend when she is kidnapped by gangsters.
You Can't Buy Luck
Lieutenant Bond
When a gambler is accused of murder, the pretty orphanage employee he loves sets out to prove him innocent of the crime.
The Outcasts of Poker Flat
Mr. Redford
The 1937 film version of Bret Harte's story, starring Preston Foster.
The Soldier and the Lady
Railroad Official (Uncredited)
In the face of rebellion in Russia, Czar Alexander II sends soldier Michael Strogoff 2,000 miles away, with a critical message for Grand Duke Vladimir. On the train journey, Michael befriends a traveler and comes into contact with a mysterious spy, who both unexpectedly aid him in his quest. Once behind enemy lines, Michael is near his hometown and his mother, whom he must avoid in order to fulfill his mission.
The Man Who Found Himself
Mr. Roberts
Young Jim Stanton is a conscientious surgeon, but spends too many off-duty hours pursuing his passion for aviation to suit his stuffy father. When it is discovered that a passenger killed in a plane that Jim crashes was a married woman, the resulting scandal prompts the hospital to put Jim on probation. His pride wounded, Jim takes to the open road and enjoys the simpler life of a vagabond. In Los Angeles--where he is arrested for vagrancy and put to work on a road crew--Jim runs into old pal Dick Miller, who gets him a job as a mechanic for Roberts Aviation. But maintaining his anonymity becomes more difficult, particularly when a pretty nurse, Doris King, decides to make Jim's redemption her personal crusade.
China Passage
Captain Williams
Americans Tommy Baldwin and Joe Dugan are hired to transport a fabulous diamond from Shanghai to San Francisco. They will be paid handsomely on success or killed on failure. The diamond is stolen as they take possession of it.
Don't Tell the Wife
Insperator Mallory
After being released from prison, con man Thurston Hall gathers his gang of cronies--along with innocent chump Guy Kibbee--to help him sell worthless stock in a New Mexico gold mine.
We're on the Jury
Mr. Van Cobb
A juror at a murder trial is convinced the defendant is innocent.
They Wanted to Marry
Detective
Newspaper photographer Jim Tyler sneaks into a society girl's wedding, and the bride's sister decides she prefers him to her upper-crust suitors. She even likes his pigeon, who travels everywhere with him.
Criminal Lawyer
William Walker
Barry Brandon, a criminal lawyer, visits the night club of Denny Larkin, his primary client, with Betty Walker, a spoiled society girl. The police raid the club and Brandon pleads that the whole group is guilty, just to get even with Larkin for a rebuke. On the same night in court, Madge Carter is on trial for disorderly conduct, and Brandon volunteers to defend her, and proves the case against her if a frame-up. Finding that she is penniless, Brandon hires her as his secretary, and falls in love with her. Brandon is appointed district attorney and has ambitions of becoming the state governor. Having dinner at Betty's home, she maneuvers him, while he is drunk, into marrying her. Later, Madge is a witness when Larkin shoots down a fellow gangster. By threatening Brandon's life, he forces her to commit perjury at his trial, and say he fired in self-defense. Brandon, the prosecuting attorney (who has had his marriage to Betty annulled) knows she is lying but doesn't know why.
Racing Lady
Bradford
A shrewd millionaire who owns races horses for publicity for his automobile business, claims ownership of a female horse trainer's thoroughbred in order to get the trainer.
We Who Are About to Die
M.L. Carter
John Thompson is kidnapped by mobsters after quitting his job. Then he is arrested, tried, and sentenced to death for murders they committed. A suspicious detective thinks he is innocent and works to save his life.
Wanted: Jane Turner
Banks
Investigators set out to capture a gang of thieves transporting stolen cash through the U.S. mail.
Without Orders
Arthur Trueman
At Portland, Oregon, playboy pilot Len Kendrick lands at the end of a cross-country record flight, met by his father J.P. Kendrick who owns Amalgamated Air Lines. Len is a media darling, adored by fans for his daring flights. He is in love with Amalgamated stewardess Kay Armstrong who is dating veteran pilot "Wad" Madison. Len dates her sister Penny who learns that his hard-drinking and recklessness has caused the death of his co-pilot. Penny knows that he was drinking before the fateful flight and only escaped prosecution by bribing a bartender. She leaves Len who ends up at Amalgamated as a line pilot, being tutored by Wad.
The Big Game
Coach
A quarterback stands against gangsters out to control the college sports scene.
Mummy's Boys
Phillip Browning
Wheeler & Woolsey comedy about two moronic ditch diggers, recruited for an archaeology expedition, getting mixed up with jewel thieves and an ancient Egyptian "curse."
Don't Turn 'em Loose
Attorney Pierce
A conscientious attorney who is a member of the State Parole Board, finds his own son, using an alias, up for parole and makes the decision to cast the approving vote.
Grand Jury
John Taylor
When a grand jury acquits a gangster accused of murder, a retired elderly citizen decides it's up to him to see that the criminal is proven guilty and put behind bars.
M'Liss
Alf Edwards
The third film version of the Bret Harte tale, starring Anne Shirley as a miner's daughter in a small town who falls for a handsome young schoolteacher.
The Last Outlaw
Dr. Charles Mason
After serving 25 years in prison for robbery, Dean Payton returns to his home town to see his daughter, Sally, who is unaware he is her father. He befriends Cal Yates, the now semi-retired assistant sheriff who originally caught him, and Chuck Wilson, a young rancher who has eyes for Sally. Wanted criminal Al Goss holds up the local bank and makes his getaway, taking Sally hostage. Showing he still has what it takes, Payton, along with Yates and Wilson, take off into the hills on horseback to try to track Goss down. - Written by Doug Sederberg
Special Investigator
Postmaster
A lawyer changes from defending public enemies to bringing them to justice after his brother is killed.
The Ex-Mrs. Bradford
Mike North (uncredited)
A doctor is driven into an investigation of sinister goings-on at a race track by his mystery writer ex-wife.
Wednesday's Child
Attorney for Mr. Phillips (in some prints as Tom Franklin)
A 10-year-old's happy life is shattered when his parents are divorced.
Nearly Married
Harry Lindsey
Silent comedy, based on a 1913 stage play of the same title.