Tom Conway

Tom Conway (15 September 1904 – 22 April 1967) was a British film, television and radio actor remembered for playing private detectives (including The Falcon, Sherlock Holmes, Bulldog Drummond and The Saint) and psychiatrists.

Early life

Conway was born Thomas Charles Sanders in St. Petersburg, Russia, to Henry Peter Ernest Sanders (1868–1960), and Margarethe Jenny Bertha Sanders (1883–1967) née Kolbe, born in Saint Petersburg, of mostly German, but also Estonian & Scottish heritage. 

His younger brother (b. 1906 d. 1972) was fellow actor George Sanders. Their younger sister, Margaret Sanders, was born in 1912. At the outbreak of the Russian Revolution (1917), the family moved to England, where Conway was educated at Bedales School and Brighton College. He travelled to Northern Rhodesia, where he worked in mining and ranching, then returned to England, appearing in several plays with the Manchester Repertory Company and performing on BBC Radio.

Career

When he joined his brother George in Hollywood, Conway became a contract player for MGM.

Conway is perhaps best known for playing "The Falcon" in ten of the series' entries, taking over for his brother in The Falcon's Brother, in which they both starred. This work led Conway to become a contract player with RKO Pictures. While working for the studio, Conway starred in three of Val Lewton's horror films. In two otherwise unrelated films, Cat People (1942) and The Seventh Victim (1943), he played Dr. Louis Judd, although the character was killed in Cat People. The third Lewton film in which he starred was I Walked with a Zombie (also 1943).

On radio, Conway played Sherlock Holmes during the 1946–1947 season of The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, following Basil Rathbone's departure from the series.[6]:302 In spite of a similar vocal timbre, Conway was not as well-received as Rathbone by audiences; he only played Holmes for one season.

Conway's screen career diminished in the 1950s, but he appeared in a number of British films, as well as on radio and television. In 1951, he replaced Vincent Price as star of the radio mystery series The Saint,[6] a character which Sanders had portrayed on film a decade earlier. In 1956, the two brothers both featured (as brothers) in the film Death of a Scoundrel, though Sanders had the starring role.

From 1951–1954, Conway played debonair British police detective Mark Saber, who worked in the homicide division of a large American city, in the ABC series entitled Inspector Mark Saber – Homicide Detective. In 1957, the series resumed on NBC, renamed Saber of London, with Donald Gray in the title role.

Conway performed in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode "The Glass Eye" (1957) as Max Collodi, receiving critical praise. His final television appearance was in the Perry Mason episode, "The Case of the Simple Simon" (1964), playing the role of Guy Penrose.

Later life and death

Conway provided his voice for Disney's 101 Dalmatians (1961) as a quizmaster in "What's my crime" a parody of the game show What's my line" and as a collie who offers the dalmatians shelter in a barn, later guiding them home. His wife at the time, Queenie Leonard, voiced a cow in the barn.

Despite having been financially successful in his twenty-four-year film career, Conway later struggled to make ends meet. Failing eyesight and alcoholism took their toll on him in his last years. His second wife (Leonard) divorced him in 1963 because of his drinking problem, and his brother George Sanders broke off all contact with him because of it.

Conway underwent cataract surgery during the winter of 1964–65. In September 1965, he briefly returned to the headlines, having been discovered living in a $2-a-day room in a Venice, Los Angeles flophouse. Gifts, contributions and offers of aid poured in for a time.

His last years were marked with hospitalizations. It was there that former sister-in-law Zsa Zsa Gabor paid Conway a visit and gave him $200. "Tip the nurses a little bit so they'll be good to you," she told him. The following day, the hospital called her to say that Conway had left with the $200, gone to his girlfriend's house, and become gravely sick in her bed. It was 22 April 1967, and he died from cirrhosis of the liver at the age of 62. His funeral was held in London.

Filmography

• Waterloo Bridge (1940) (voice, uncredited)
• Sky Murder (1940) as Andrew Hendon
• The Great Meddler (1940) as Henry Bergh
• The Wild Man of Borneo (1941) as Actor in Film Scene (uncredited)
• The Trial of Mary Dugan (1941) as Edgar Wayne
• Free and Easy (1941) as Captain Ferris
• The Bad Man (1941) as Morgan Pell
• The People vs. Dr. Kildare (1941) as Mr. Channing
• Lady Be Good (1941) as Mr. Blanton
• Tarzan's Secret Treasure (1941) as Medford
• Mr. and Mrs. North (1942) as Louis Berex
• Rio Rita (1942) as Maurice Craindall
• Grand Central Murder (1942) as Frankie Ciro
• Mrs. Miniver (1942) as Man (uncredited)
• The Falcon's Brother (1942) as Tom Lawrence
• Cat People (1942) as Dr. Louis Judd
• The Falcon Strikes Back (1943) as Tom Lawrence
• I Walked with a Zombie (1943) as Paul Holland
• The Falcon in Danger (1943) as Tom Lawrence
• The Seventh Victim (1943) as Dr. Louis Judd
• The Falcon and the Co-eds (1943) as Tom Lawrence
• The Falcon Out West (1944) as Tom Lawrence
• A Night of Adventure (1944) as Mark Latham
• The Falcon in Mexico (1944) as Tom Lawrence
• The Falcon in Hollywood (1944) as Tom Lawrence
• Two O'Clock Courage (1945) as Ted 'Step' Allison
• The Falcon in San Francisco (1945) as Tom Lawrence
• Whistle Stop (1946) as Lew Lentz
• The Falcon's Alibi (1946) as Tom Lawrence
• Criminal Court (1946) as Steve Barnes
• The Falcon's Adventure (1946) as Tom Lawrence
• Lost Honeymoon (1947) as Dr. Robert 'Bob' Davis
• Fun on a Weekend (1947) as Jefferson Van Orsdale Jr.
• Repeat Performance (1947) as John Friday
• The Challenge (1948) as Capt. Hugh 'Bulldog' Drummond
• 13 Lead Soldiers (1948) as Capt. Hugh 'Bulldog' Drummond
• The Checkered Coat (1948) as Dr. Michael Madden
• One Touch of Venus (1948) as Whitfield Savory
• Bungalow 13 (1948) as Christopher Adams
• I Cheated the Law (1949) as John Campbell
• The Great Plane Robbery (1950) as Ned Johnson
• Painting the Clouds with Sunshine (1951) as Bennington Lansing
• Bride of the Gorilla (1951) as Dr. Viet
• Confidence Girl (1952) as Roger Kingsley
• Peter Pan (1953) as Narrator (voice)
• Tarzan and the She-Devil (1953) as Fidel
• Park Plaza 605 (1953) as Norman Conquest
• Blood Orange (1953) as Tom Conway, private investigator
• Paris Model (1953) as Maharajah of Kim-Kepore
• Prince Valiant (1954) as Sir Kay
• Barbados Quest (1955) as Tom Martin
• Breakaway (1955) as Tom 'Duke' Martin
• The She-Creature (1956) as Timothy Chappel
• The Last Man to Hang? (1956) as Sir Roderick Strood
• Death of a Scoundrel (1956) as Gerry Monte aka Sabourin
• Operation Murder (1957) as Dr. Wayne
• Voodoo Woman (1957) as Dr. Roland Gerard
• The Atomic Submarine (1959) as Sir Ian Hunt
• 12 to the Moon (1960) as Dr. Feodor Orloff
• One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) as Quizmaster / Collie (voice)
• What a Way to Go! (1964) as Lord Kensington (uncredited, Last appearance)