om Reese (Aug 8. 1928  - Dec 12. 2017)
Length: 6' 3" (1.91 m) Mother: survived her husband Austin (1959) Brother: Louis Sr. Sister: Dorothy Marriages: (1) none known
Born as Tom Allen in East Chattanooga, Tennessee on August 8. 1928. His father Austin and uncle Lee were country-western singers "The Allen Brothers". Austin mainly did the singing and played the banjo while Lee concentrated on the guitar and kazoo. They were nicknamed "The Chattanooga Boys" since many of their songs mentioned Chattanooga. Traveling around in a trailer performing their bluegrass music with the family, including Tom, in tow. They played up and down the Mississippi river regions, Chattanooga, Knoxville and Nashville, on radio stations, medicine shows and on Vaudeville stages.
Above: Family picture of the Allen brothers, Lee (far left) and Austin (far right) were known as "The Chattanooga Boys".
At 15, Tom was first heard on radio on the Major Bowes Amateur Hour, then the Arthur Godfrey Show and Ted Mack. 1934 saw the Chattanooga Boys break-up and Lee went back to Tennessee while Austin stayed in New York City,  where Tom's dad supported the family working as a steelworker in the daytime and a singing waiter at night. Tom later held the expected assortment of odd jobs (Automat busboy, usher, etc.) in New York, and (starting at 17) served two tours of duty in the Marine Corps (five years in total).  Later, Tom did impressions of singers on the road in various clubs and studied theatre on his GI Bill in New York after he got out of the Marines in ‘51. This was in the American Theater Wing and John Cassavetes’ Actors Workshop. He spent 15 years on the road working nightclubs (emceeing, doing stand-up, etc.). He studied with Lee Strasberg, did some work off-Broadway and in local TV shows and made his film bow in John Cassavetes' New York-made Shadows (1959). Cassavetes also had Reese fly out to Hollywood to play a part in an episode of his detective series Johnny Staccato (1959), Reese's Hollywood debut. He was ready to return to New York after doing the show but an agent signed him and he has been in California ever since. His first major film was Flaming Star (1960), an Elvis Presley western and the start of Reese's long career in big- and small-screen oaters.
Above left: Tom Reese in Shadows (1959) (Source). Above right:  Tom Reese with some Japanese girls in Marines Let's Go (1961).
He broke into films in the early 1960's, getting parts like security guards, cops on the beat, and body guard-types. His Tom Reese as Sgt. Velie's large frame and serious face made him a natural for such roles but kept his options narrow and his celebrity low key. In 1967, he won a number of roles that earned him praise including the original Lonesome Gun (aka Stranger on the Run) and the television adaptation of Dick Tracy. However, his roles as small-time guest star on TV shows - mostly westerns - dominated his resume. He played seven different characters on 8 different episodes of TV's Gunsmoke (1955) as well as multiple appearances on Bonanza (1959),  Rawhide (1959),  The Untouchables (1960-63), The Virginian (1962),  Branded (1965),  Laredo (1965-66), and The High Chaparral (1968).
Above left:  The Twilight Zone (1961) Above right: 40 Pounds of Trouble (1962) with "Private Eye" Tom Reese.
Above left:; Tom Reese as "Ironhead" in 1966's Murderer's Row; Above right: The High Chaparral "Ebenezer" (TV Episode 1968) with Tom Reese.

One would have thought that Reese would have had a somewhat easier time during a tussle with Woody Allen in Sleeper (1973). However, as Gene Freese  (3) noted in his 2017 book, Reese was injured during a scene with Allen and received 12 weeks of workers’ comp. It was a knee injury, Leinenweber said, and it plagued Reese for the rest of his life. Freese wrote that when the actor “arrived in Hollywood, Reese felt obliged to do his own fights until he realized he was keeping stuntmen from their checks.” Tom Reese was a masterful villain, but he'll always be best remembered for his good guy role, Sgt. Velie, a cigar-chomping, bull-in-a-china shop cop on the TV show Ellery Queen. While the character of Sergeant Velie as the good Inspector's "right-hand man" is a necessary device, he makes it much more than that. He rarely smiles and gives us very few glimpses into the home life of Velie, yet still manages to make us feel he's part of our family (sort of the stern big brother type.) The main trait he conveys is that you know you can count on Velie. If the Inspector gives him a task, he'll be there to do it.

Above: Tom Reese as Sergeant Velie in Ellery Queen.

His relationship with Ellery is a different matter. He never says so directly, but it's quite obvious he's fond of him and even looks up to him. He refers to Ellery as "Maestro", showing he sees him as a leader in his milieu. (Pictures above left and right) And you get the feeling that while Velie plays the obedient son to Richard Queen, it's Ellery he'd prefer to be off sleuthing with. No episode showed his willingness to "play the game" better than in "The Mad Tea Party". There is indeed one time when we get a small look into the Velie off-duty persona. That's in the episode, "The Adventure of Auld Lang Syne" (the New Year 1947 party where the initial murder takes place). Attending the party is non other than Mrs. Velie, played by veteran actress, Peggy Rea (more recently "Jean Kelley" in Grace Under Fire). There are those that have said that this was our insight into why Velie spends so much dedicated time to work, but the bond between the Velies can clearly be seen.

Above left: In a 1987 episode from Moonlighting, called "Cool Hand Dave: Part 2", Tom Reese played Grogan (guard). Above right: Above right: The hitman in "Murder Through the Looking Glass" (1988) from Murder She Wrote is played by Tom.

While Tom Reese's career ended in the late early 90s he had one role in 2009 as Inspector Riley in the film Dark and Stormy Night. Until 2010 Tom was known to still attend conventions and film festivals.  His longtime friend Charles Leinenweber announced in March 2018 that Reese had died Dec. 12 2017 at a hospice facility in Studio City after a brief illness.

Above left: This 2006 convention saw Tom Reese and Lois Nettleton reunited. Both had starred in The Twilight Zone episode "The Midnight Sun" (1961). Above right: Tom Reese at the 2010 Williamsburg Film Festival.

Notes: All dates for movies are for the official US release. All dates for TV programs are original first airdates. All dates for (radio) plays are for the time span the actor was involved. Facts in red still need confirmation.

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Other references (1) IMDb (2) "Tom Reese as Sergeant Velie" from Ellery Queen TV Series      Companion (3) Classic Movie Fight Scenes: 75 Years of Bare Knuckle Brawls -      Gene Freeze 2017 Additional video & audio sources (1) Marines Let's Go clip 1961 movie (2) A Stroll down memory lane with Tom Reese YouTube

This actor profile is a part of Ellery Queen a website on deduction. The actor above played Velie in the 1975-76 TV-series of Ellery Queen. Click Uncle Sam if you think you can help out...! Many of the profiles on this site have been compiled after very careful research of various sources. Please quote and cite ethically!

Page first published on November 23. 2016  Latest update July 24. 2020

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