Tom McDermott(1912-1996)
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Hardworking actor with a 64-year career on and off Broadway, in
television and films. His characterization of Permes Lykos on "Captain
Video and His Video Rangers" is considered to be a precursor to the Mr.
Spock role as an alien on the later "Star Trek" television and film
series.
He had no formal training but began acting in a Chicago high school in "Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", achieving a foamy-mouthed transformation by slipping Alka-Seltzer tablets into his mouth. He was a very active member of Actors Equity and married his actress-girlfriend so they could share living quarters during a touring stage play with propriety. Though that play closed after two performances, the marriage lasted through 61 years.
His stage roles included "Three Sisters" with Katharine Cornell and Judith Anderson, "The Best Man" with Melvyn Douglas, "Macbeth", and as the Secretary of State in Larry Gelbart's 1989 staging of "Mastergate", and he was Captain Vere in the first staging of "Billy Budd".
He had no formal training but began acting in a Chicago high school in "Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", achieving a foamy-mouthed transformation by slipping Alka-Seltzer tablets into his mouth. He was a very active member of Actors Equity and married his actress-girlfriend so they could share living quarters during a touring stage play with propriety. Though that play closed after two performances, the marriage lasted through 61 years.
His stage roles included "Three Sisters" with Katharine Cornell and Judith Anderson, "The Best Man" with Melvyn Douglas, "Macbeth", and as the Secretary of State in Larry Gelbart's 1989 staging of "Mastergate", and he was Captain Vere in the first staging of "Billy Budd".
