Tom Drake

American actor Tom Drake (1918–1982) was a popular Hollywood co-star of Wallace Beery, Lassie and Deanna Durbin in the 1940s. He is fondly remembered as the wholesome 'boy next door ' that Judy Garland sings about in the classic musical, Meet Me in St. Louis (1944). Until the late 1970s, he appeared in around 130 films and TV productions.


Dutch postcard by Van Leer's Fotodrukindustrie N.V., Amsterdam. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W. 249. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W 689. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.

Judy Garland's boy next door

Tom Drake was born Alfred Sinclair Alderdice in Brooklyn, New York, in 1918. He was known as 'Buddy' to family and friends. He attended Iona Preparatory School and graduated from Mercersburg Academy. Billed as Alfred Alderdice, Drake gained his first acting experiences on Broadway in 'Run Sheep Run' (1938) and 'Clean Beds' (1939). It was the success of the latter in particular that brought him to Hollywood’s attention. From 1940 onwards, he was cast in mostly minor supporting roles in MGM films.

He made his debut in The Howards of Virginia (Frank Lloyd, 1940) billed as Richard Alden. In 1942, he had his break starring in the Broadway smash 'Janie'. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer offered him a full contract. The 24-year-old was excused from serving in World War II when his medical exams diagnosed a heart disease. Despite this limitation, he did act in British training films. MGM gave Drake first a supporting role in Two Girls and a Sailor (Richard Thorpe, 1944).

He was third billed in a 'B', Maisie Goes to Reno (Harry Beaumont, 1944), starring Ann Sothern. Then he had small roles in some 'A' pictures: Marriage Is a Private Affair (Robert Z. Leonard, 1944) starring Lana Turner, and Mrs. Parkington (Tay Garnett, 1944) with Greer Garson. Drake was more prominently featured as Judy Garland's leading man in Meet Me in St. Louis (Vincente Minnelli, 1944). He played John Truitt, the 'boy next door'. The film was a box-office hit and introduced Drake to a wider audience.

MGM promoted him to leading roles with This Man's Navy (William A. Wellman, 1944), co-starring Wallace Beery. MGM gave Drake the star role in the drama The Green Years (Victor Saville, 1946), which was a huge hit. Hal Erickson at AllMovie: "Drake managed to keep his head above water despite such formidable supporting acting talent as Hume Cronyn, Charles Coburn, Jessica Tandy and Gladys Cooper." It was followed by Courage of Lassie (Fred M. Wilcox, 1946), another big hit, and Faithful in My Fashion (Sidney Salkow, 1946), which lost money.

Universal borrowed him to play Deanna Durbin's leading man in I'll Be Yours (William A. Seiter, 1947). Back at MGM, Drake was a supporting player in The Beginning or the End (Norman Taurog, 1947) and Cass Timberlane (George Sidney, 1947) starring Spencer Tracy. Drake was teamed with Beery again in Alias a Gentleman (1948). He did another Lassie film, Hills of Home (Fred M. Wilcox, 1948). He played composer Richard Rodgers in the loosely based biography Words and Music (Norman Taurog, 1948) alongside Mickey Rooney as Lorenz Hart. Cass Timberlane was popular, but the other films all lost money. Fox borrowed Drake to play the romantic lead in Mr. Belvedere Goes to College (Elliott Nugent, 1949), opposite Clifton Webb and Shirley Temple. Then MGM borrowed him for the Film Noir Scene of The Crime (Roy Rowland, 1949) with Van Johnson. He made the comedy The Great Rupert (Irving Pichel, 1950) for George Pal.


Dutch postcard by J.S.A. Photo: Universal M.P.E. Deanna Durbin and Tom Drake in I'll Be Yours (William A. Seiter, 1947).


Dutch postcard by J.S.A. Photo: Universal M.P.E. Deanna Durbin, William Bendix, Tom Drake and Adolphe Menjou in I'll Be Yours (William A. Seiter, 1947).


Belgian collector card by Kwatta, Bois d'Haine, no. C. 165. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Dorothy Patrick and Tom Drake in Alias a Gentleman (Harry Beaumont, 1948).

A deeply closeted gay guy

In the 1950s, film offers for Tom Drake noticeably dried up. He went to Columbia for the Film Noir Never Trust a Gambler (Ralph Murphy, 1951) and to Allied Artists for the musical Disc Jockey (Will Jason, 1951). He also appeared with Audrey Totter in the Film Noir F.B.I. Girl (William Berke, 1951), and with Fernando Lamas and Arlene Dahl in the 3D-drama Sangaree (Edward Ludwig, 1953).

Drake turned his attention primarily to guest appearances in television series. He appeared in episodes of TV shows such as The Ford Theatre Hour, Suspense, Lights Out, Tales of Tomorrow, and The Unexpected. After television jobs for actors transitioned from live telecasts from New York to shows that were filmed in California, Drake had roles in the series Lassie, Cimarron City, Sunset Strip, The Rebel, Perry Mason, Combat!, Land of the Giants, Adam-12, The Streets of San Francisco and Wagon Train.

In the cinema, he continued to appear in smaller roles in the Horror film The Cyclops (Bert I. Gordon, 1957) and in the drama Raintree County (Edward Dmytryk, 1957). Drake had a rare lead as the honest owner of a second-hand car business in the English film Date with Disaster (Charles Saunders, 1957). Back in Hollywood, he played against type the leader of a gang of criminals in the Western Warlock (Edward Dmytryk, 1959). During the 1960s, he had minor roles in the films The Sandpiper (Vincente Minnelli, 1965) and The Singing Nun (Henry Koster, 1966), playing Ed Sullivan's producer Mr. Fitzpatrick.

Hal Erickson: "Never able to fulfil his potential, Drake continued into the '70s playing subordinate roles in 'A' pictures, the occasional lead in low-budget films, and secondary TV parts in such productions as Marcus Welby MD and The Return of Joe Forrester. A classic example of how talented people could fall between the tracks of the studio contract system." For financial reasons, he took on a second job as a second-hand car dealer. His final film role was the character Dr. Adam Forrest in The Spectre of Edgar Allan Poe (Mohy Quandour, 1974) with Cesar Romero. His last acting credit was in the TV series Project U.F.O. (1978), but as his health slipped, he had to give up working altogether.

Tom Drake’s only marriage, to Isabelle Eilenberger, ended in divorce in 1946 after just one year. The actor was homosexual. Elisa Rolle at Queer Places: "Tom Drake was a deeply closeted gay guy, and he was easily given to despair. He was never known to have had a serious romance, although he bedded both Rock Hudson and James Dean. As an adult, he lived with a profound drinking problem, and he lived a life of fear of having his gayness found out." In 1982, Tom Drake was taken by pneumonia, alone and mostly forgotten in a tiny apartment in Torrance, California. Later that year, he died of lung cancer at Torrance Memorial Hospital. He was 64. His body is interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.


British postcard in "The People" Show Parade Picture Service, London, no. P 1144. Photo: Universal-International.


Belgian collector card by Kwatta, Bois d'Haine, no. C. 165. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.


Belgian collector card by Kwatta. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.


Spanish postcard. Sent by mail in 1950.

Sources: Elisa Rolle (Queer Places), Hal Erickson (AllMovie at Wayback Machine), Dimos I (IMDb), Wikipedia (German and English) and IMDb.