Kenneth Tobey

American actor (1917–2002)

Jesse Kenneth Tobey (March 23, 1917 – December 22, 2002) was an American actor active from the early 1940s into the 1990s, with over 200 credits in film, theatre, and television. He is best known for his role as a captain who takes charge of an Arctic military base when it is attacked by a plant based alien in The Thing from Another World (1951), and a starring role in the 1957 1960 Desilu Productions TV series Whirlybirds.

Tobey was born in 1917 in Oakland, California. Following his graduation from high school in 1935, he entered the University of California, Berkeley, with intentions to pursue a career in law, until he began to dabble in acting at the school's theater. His stage experience there led to a drama scholarship, a year and a half of study at New York City's Neighborhood Playhouse, where his classmates included fellow actors Gregory Peck, Eli Wallach, and Tony Randall. During World War II, Tobey joined the United States Army Air Forces, serving in the Pacific as a rear gunner aboard a B 25 bomber. In 1951, Tobey was cast in Howard Hawks' production The Thing from Another World. In this classic sci fi film he portrays Captain Patrick Hendry, a United States Air Force pilot, who at the North Pole leads a scientific outpost's dogged defense against an alien portrayed by James Arness, later the star of the television series Gunsmoke. Tobey's performance in Hawks' film garnered the actor other parts in science fiction movies in the 1950s, usually reprising his role as a military officer, such as in The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) and It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955). In 1957, Tobey portrayed a sheriff in The Vampire (a film that some sources today often confuse with the 1935 production Mark of the Vampire). That year, he also appeared in a more prestigious film, serving as a featured supporting character with John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara, the co stars of John Ford's The Wings of Eagles. In that film, Tobey, with his naturally red hair on display in vibrant Metrocolor, portrays a highly competitive United States Army Air Service officer. In one memorable scene, he has the distinction of shoving a piece of gooey cake into John Wayne's face, whose character is a rival United States Navy aviation officer. Not surprisingly, a room wrecking brawl ensues. Tobey's work over the next several decades was increasingly involved in television productions. He did, though, continue to perform in a range of feature films, such as Stark Fear, Marlowe starring James Garner as Raymond Chandler's detective Philip Marlowe, Billy Jack starring Tom Laughlin, Walking Tall starring Joe Don Baker, The Howling, the war movie MacArthur (in which he portrays Admiral "Bull" Halsey), Airplane!, Gremlins, Big Top Pee wee starring Paul Reubens, and Gremlins 2: The New Batch.

Tobey appeared in the 1952 episode "Counterfeit Plates" on the CBS series Biff Baker, U. S. A., an espionage drama starring Alan Hale, Jr. He portrayed a plainclothes policeman in a 1953 episode of the anthology series Schlitz Playhouse of the Stars starring Angela Lansbury and Morris Ankrum, including a lengthy fistfight between Tobey's and Ankrum's characters. He was cast in the 1954 1955 CBS legal drama The Public Defender starring Reed Hadley. He guest starred in three episodes of NBC's Western anthology series Frontier. His Frontier roles were as Wade Trippe in "In Nebraska" (1955) and then as Gabe Sharp in "Out from Texas" and "The Hostage" (1956). In 1955, he also portrayed legendary frontiersman Jim Bowie on ABC's Davy Crockett, a Walt Disney production, with Fess Parker in the title role. After Bowie's death in the series at the Battle of the Alamo, Tobey played a second character, Jocko, in the two final episodes of Davy Crockett. Tobey then, in 1957, appeared in the syndicated religion anthology series Crossroads in the role of Mr. Alston in the episode "Call for Help", and as Jim Callahan in "Bandit Chief" in the syndicated Western series The Sheriff of Cochise. Later that same year, Tobey starred in the television series Whirlybirds, a successful CBS and then syndicated adventure produced by Desilu Studios. In it, he played the co owner of a helicopter charter service, along with Craig Hill. Whirlybirds was a major hit in the United States and abroad, with 111 episodes filmed through 1960. It remained in syndication worldwide for many years. In 1958, Tobey also appeared as John Wallach in the episode "$50 for a Dead Man" in Jeff Richards's NBC Western series Jefferson Drum. In 1960, he guest starred in the episode "West of Boston" of another NBC Western series, Overland Trail, starring William Bendix and Doug McClure. Also in 1960, he appeared as Colonel Lake on Death Valley Days and on ABC's Western The Rebel, starring Nick Adams. Tobey made three guest appearances on Perry Mason, twice in 1960 and once in 1962 as Jack Alvin, a deputy district attorney. On the long running Western series Gunsmoke, he portrayed a cruel, knife wielding buffalo hunter in the 1960 episode titled "The Worm". Tobey in 1962 also guest starred on another Western series, Lawman, playing the character Duncan Clooney, an engineer who seeks to move a shipment of nitroglycerin through Laramie, Wyoming. When the town is evacuated to allow passage of the explosives, two of Clooney's employees decide they will take advantage of the situation to rob the bank. Tobey also guest starred in Jack Lord's 1962 1963 ABC adventure series about a rodeo circuit rider, Stoney Burke. In 1967, he performed on the series Lassie, in the episode "Lure of the Wild", playing a retired forest ranger who tames a local coyote. He also appeared as a slave owner named Taggart in "The Wolf Man", a 1967 episode of Daniel Boone, starring Fess Parker. A few of the many other series in which Tobey later performed include Adam 12 (1969), S. W. A. T. (1975) as a desk sergeant who disapporves of Officer Luca's disheveled looks, Gibbsville (1976), MV Klickitat (1978), Emergency! (1975), and Night Court (1985). He became a semiregular on the NBC drama series I Spy as the field boss of agents Robinson and Scott, played by Robert Culp and comedian Bill Cosby. Christian Nyby, director of The Thing From Another World, often directed those episodes. Tobey also portrayed a ship's captain on the Rockford Files starring James Garner in an episode titled "There's One in Every Port".

Although Tobey had a busy acting career in films and on television, he also periodically returned to the stage. In 1964, he began a long run on Broadway opposite Sammy Davis, Jr., in the musical version of Clifford Odets' play Golden Boy. Some of his other Broadway credits are As You Like It, Sunny River, Janie, Sons and Soldiers, A New Life, Suds in Your Eye, The Cherry Orchard, and Truckline Cafe.

As his long career drew to a close, Tobey still received acting jobs from people who had grown up watching his performances in sci fi films of the 1950s, particularly Joe Dante, who included the veteran actor in his stock company of reliable players. Two appearances on the sitcom Night Court came the same way, through fans of his work. Along with other character actors who had been in 1950s sci fi and horror films (John Agar, Robert O. Cornthwaite, Gloria Talbott, etc. ), Tobey starred in a spoof originally titled Attack of the B Movie Monster. In 2005, Anthem Pictures released the completed feature version of this spoof on DVD under the new title The Naked Monster. Tobey's scenes in that release were actually shot in 1985, so The Naked Monster is technically his final film credit, being released three years after his death. He had, however, continued to act throughout most of the 1990s. One of those notable roles is his performance in the 1994 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Shadowplay" as Rurigan, an alien who recreates his dead friends as holograms. Among other examples of Tobey's final decade of work are his two appearances as Judge Kent Watson on the series L. A. Law.

In 1968 Tobey married June Hutton. Tobey was an active member of the Republican party in southern California. He campaigned for Eisenhower in the 1952 presidential election and again in 1956. He said he voted for Richard Nixon in 1960, Barry Goldwater in 1964 and Richard Nixon again in 1968. Many of his close friends, including John Charles Moffitt, Lela Rogers, Robert Montgomery and Ronald Reagan, were "friendly witnesses" for HUAC during the days of the Hollywood blacklist. Tobey was an active member of the Republican party in southern California. He campaigned for Eisenhower in the 1952 presidential election and again in 1956. He said he voted for Richard Nixon in 1960, Barry Goldwater in 1964 and Richard Nixon again in 1968. Many of his close friends, including John Charles Moffitt, Lela Rogers, Robert Montgomery and Ronald Reagan, were "friendly witnesses" for HUAC during the days of the Hollywood blacklist. Tobey died at age 85 in 2002 after an unspecified but extended illness at the Eisenhower Memorial Hospital in Rancho Mirage, California. His remains were cremated by the Neptune Society, and his ashes taken by his daughter Tina.