Comic performer with stage experience who had his first featured role as a philanderer in "Adam's Rib" (1949) and went on to specialize in portraying inept women-chasers and harried ordinary men. Ewell had the good fortune to co-star with two of Hollywood's biggest sex symbols of the mid-1950s: Marilyn Monroe in "The Seven Year Itch" (1955) and Jayne Mansfield in "The Girl Can't Help It" (1956).
- Also Credited As:
S. Yewell Tompkins, Yewell Tompkins
- Born:
April 29, 1909 in Owensboro, Kentucky
- Died:
September 12, 1994.
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Job Titles:
Actor, Salesman
Education
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University of Wisconsin, pre-law, 1927-31
Milestones
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1928 Stage acting debut in "The Spider" with the Al Jackson Players stock company while at college
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1934 Broadway debut in "They Shall Not Die"
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1935 Radio acting debut, 'The March of Time"
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1940 Film acting debut in "They Knew What They Wanted"
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1942 Served as a lieutenant in US Navy
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1947 Starred in first Broadway hits "John Loves Mary" and "Small Wonder"
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1949 First major featured film role, "Adam's Rib"
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Featured on "Baretta" TV series
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Played Doc Jerome Kullens on TV series "Best of the West"
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Starred on TV series, "The Tom Ewell Show"
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Worked as salesman at Macy's before Broadway debut in 1934