Matinee Classics - Marshall Thompson Biography & Filmography

Marshall Thompson ACTOR

PHOTOS

MARSHALL THOMPSON BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Marshall Thompson was born on November 27th, 1925 in Peoria, Illinois with the birth name James Marshall Thompson as an only child. At the age of five his family relocated to Los Angeles, California and his father was employed as a successful dentist and at one point in time, his mother took up stage acting.

During high school, Thompson first developed an interest in acting appearing in a variety of school productions. After graduating from high school, Thompson went on to study at Occidental College and majored in drama. At the same time as pursuing his education, he also performed with the Occidental Players where he caught the attention of Universal Studio's and they signed him to a contract.

Some of his earlier film roles were in, "Reckless Age" (1944), "Blonde Fever" (1944), "The Clock" (1945), "They Were Expendable" (1945) starring John Wayne, Donna Reed and Robert Montgomery, "Bad Bascomb" (1946) and "Gallant Bess" (1946).

During 1946, Universal Studio's chose to get rid of most of their contract players and therefore, Thompson transferred over to MGM which was a great career move for him. He continued taking on more prominent film roles such as, "Homecoming" (1948), "Command Decision" (1948) and "Battleground" (1949).

Now with quite a bit of experience on his resume, he went on his own freelancing an continued appearing on the big screen in such films as, "Dial 1119" (1950), "The Tall Target" (1951), "Cult of the Cobra" (1955), "To Hell and Back" (1955) starring World War II Medal of Honor Recipient Audie Murphy, "East of Kilimanjaro" (1957) and "First Man Into Space" (1959).

He was making himself quite known in the industry as an actor that worked well with animals of all kinds. He was seen on the television series, "Daktari" (1966), "Jambo" (1969), "Flipper" (1964), "Sea Hunt" (1958), "World of Giants" (1959) and the film, "Clarence, the Cross-Eyed Lion" (1965).

Thompson also added to his credits appearances on the series, "Angel", "Wagon Train", "Ironside" and "Murder, She Wrote". His most recent film appearances were in, "The Turning Point" (1977) and "The Formula" (1980).

Marshall Thompson was married only once to Barbara Long whom he wed in 1949 and they had one daughter Janet and remained together until he passed away on May 18th, 1992 in Royal Oak Michigan after suffering from congestive heart failure.