Product Code Database
Thomas Edward Rall (December 27, 1929 – October 6, 2020) was an American actor, ballet dancer, , and Acro dance who was a prominent featured player in 1950s musical comedies. He later became a successful tenor in the 1960s, making appearances with the Opera Company of Boston, the New York City Opera, and the American National Opera Company.
His family moved to Los Angeles in the 1940s, and Rall began to appear in small movie roles. His first film appearance was a short MGM film called Vendetta. He began taking Tap dance lessons and became a member of the jitterbugging Jivin' Jacks and Jills at Universal Studios.
Rall joined Donald O'Connor, Peggy Ryan, and Shirley Mills in several light wartime Andrews Sisters vehicles including Give Out, Sisters (1942), Get Hep to Love (1942), and Mister Big (1943), among others. He appeared in the films The North Star and Song of Russia (1944).
Rall took ballet lessons and danced in classical and Broadway theatre shows, including Milk and Honey, Call Me Madam, and Cry for Us All. Jerry Herman said of Rall in Milk and Honey: "Donald Saddler did extraordinary choreography for Tommy Rall, who was suddenly so admired by the audience that the put his name on the marquee under the three stars. It was very, very earned by him. He was a terrific singer and dancer."
He is best known for his Acro dance in several classic musical films of the 1950s, including Kiss Me, Kate as "Bill" (1953), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers as "Frank" (1954), Invitation to the Dance (1956), Invitation to the Dance tcm.com, accessed December 24, 2016 Merry Andrew as "Giacomo Gallini" (1958), and My Sister Eileen as "Chick" (1955).
Rall's film career waned as movie musicals went into decline. He had a role in the movie Funny Girl, as "The Prince" in a parody of the ballet Swan Lake. Funny Girl American Film Institute, accedded December 25, 2016 On Broadway he danced to acclaim as "Johnny" in Marc Blitzstein and Joseph Stein's 1959 musical Juno (based on Seán O'Casey's play Juno and the Paycock). Ken Mandelbaum wrote: "DeMille provided two fine ballets: her second act 'Johnny' in which Tommy Rall danced out Johnny's emotions...was the evening's highlight."Mandelbaum, Ken. Juno Not Since Carrie: Forty Years of Broadway Musical Flops, Macmillan, 1992, , p. 312
He took the title role in a production of Massenet's Le jongleur de Notre-Dame by the New England Opera Theatre in Boston in 1961 in a role which required both singing and juggling and dancing.William Allin Storrer. Report from Boston. Opera July 1961, Vol.12, No.7, p450.
Rall was highly respected by his contemporaries—including dance greats Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor—with the latter describing Rall as one of the “greatest dancers living...above Astaire and Kelly.”
In 2007, a Texas dance instructor by the name of Fredric Brame was found to have been posing as Tommy Rall since the late 1960s. When Rall found out about the masquerade decades later, through a friend of the family, Rall contacted the Montgomery County, Texas Sheriff's office. No legal action was taken against Brame. Rall wanted Brame to stop taking credit for his work and warned that if he continued or did it again a lawsuit would be filed.
Features:
Personal life
Rall was briefly married to his Juno co-star Monte Amundsen. He later married former ballerina Karel Shimoff.
Death
In September 2020, Rall had heart surgery and recovered at the Fireside Health Center (Santa Monica, California). Subsequently, in October, he had additional heart surgery at Providence Saint John's Health Center (Santa Monica, California). He died of congestive heart failure on October 6, aged 90. He was survived by his wife, Karel, and their son, Aaron, a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army. Another son, David, predeceased his parents.
Filmography
Sources: TCM; MasterWorks Broadway
Short Subjects:
Stage work, Broadway
Source: MasterWorksBroadway; Internet Broadway Database "Tommy Rall Broadway" ibdb.com, accessed December 24, 2016
Sources
External links
Categories: 1929 Births, 2020 Deaths, 20th-century American Male Actors, 20th-century American Singers, American Male Ballet Dancers, American Male Film Actors, American Male Musical Theatre Actors, American Male Singers, American Tap Dancers, American Tenors, Deaths From Congestive Heart Failure In California, Male Actors From Kansas City, Missouri, Musicians From Kansas City, Missouri, Singers From Missouri
|
|
