{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2023}} {{Short description|American actor and dancer (1929–2020)}} {{Infobox person | name = Tommy Rall | birth_date = {{Birth date|1929|12|27|mf=y}} | birth_place = Kansas City, Missouri, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2020|10|6|1929|12|27|mf=y}} | death_place = Santa Monica, California, U.S. | years_active = 1942–1988 | birth_name = Thomas Edward Rall | occupation = Actor, dancer, singer | spouse = Monte Amundsen (1959–19??; divorced)<br>Karel J. Shimoff (1967–2020) }} '''Thomas Edward Rall''' (December 27, 1929 – October 6, 2020) was an American actor, ballet dancer, tap dancer, and acrobatic dancer who was a prominent featured player in 1950s musical comedies. He later became a successful operatic tenor in the 1960s, making appearances with the Opera Company of Boston, the New York City Opera, and the American National Opera Company.
==Life and career== Rall was born in Kansas City, Missouri to Edward and Margaret Rall,<ref>{{cite web | title=Edward Rall in the 1940 Census | website=Ancestry.com | date=2019-12-12 | url=https://www.ancestry.com/1940-census/usa/Washington/Edward-Rall_27f7q4 | access-date=2022-01-01}}</ref> but raised in Seattle, Washington. An only child, he had a crossed eye which made it hard for him to read books, so his mother enrolled him in dancing classes. In his early years he performed a dance and acrobatic vaudeville act in Seattle theaters and attempted small acting roles.<ref name=master/>
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 dancing lessons and became a member of the jitterbugging Jivin' Jacks and Jills at Universal Studios.<ref name="Full Biography: Tommy Rall">{{cite web|title=Full Biography: Tommy Rall|url=http://movies.nytimes.com/person/58568/Tommy-Rall/biography|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104090818/http://movies.nytimes.com/person/58568/Tommy-Rall/biography|url-status=dead|archive-date=4 November 2012|department=Movies & TV Dept.|work=The New York Times|author=Bruce Eder|date=2012|accessdate=July 20, 2012}}</ref><ref name=master/>
Rall joined Donald O'Connor, Peggy Ryan, and Shirley Mills in several light wartime Andrews Sisters vehicles including ''Give Out, Sisters'' (1942),<ref>{{cite web | last=Toole | first=Michael T. | title=- Turner Classic Movies | website=Turner Classic Movies | date=2021-12-31 | url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/76457/give-out-sisters | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160407105307/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/76457/Give-Out-Sisters/ | url-status=dead | archive-date=April 7, 2016 | access-date=2022-01-01}}</ref> ''Get Hep to Love'' (1942),<ref>{{cite web | last=Toole | first=Michael T. | title=- Turner Classic Movies | website=Turner Classic Movies | date=2021-12-31 | url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/76156/get-hep-to-love | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161225000108/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/76156/Get-Hep-to-Love/ | url-status=dead | archive-date=December 25, 2016 | access-date=2022-01-01}}</ref> and ''Mister Big'' (1943), among others. He appeared in the films ''The North Star'' and ''Song of Russia'' (1944).<ref>{{cite web | last=Landazuri | first=Margarita | title=- Turner Classic Movies | website=Turner Classic Movies | date=2021-12-31 | url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/90849/song-of-russia | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130402072514/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/90849/Song-of-Russia | url-status=dead | archive-date=April 2, 2013 | access-date=2022-01-01}}</ref>
Rall took ballet lessons and danced in classical and Broadway 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 producer] put his name on the marquee under the three stars. It was very, very earned by him. He was a terrific singer and dancer."<ref>{{cite web | last=Jones | first=Kenneth | title='Like a Young Man': Jerry Herman Talks About Milk and Honey | website=Playbill | date=2011-10-17 | url=http://www.playbill.com/article/like-a-young-man-jerry-herman-talks-about-milk-and-honey-com-183629 | access-date=2022-01-01}}</ref>
He is best known for his acrobatic dancing in several classic musical films of the 1950s, including ''Kiss Me, Kate'' as "Bill" (1953),<ref>{{cite web | title=- Turner Classic Movies | website=Turner Classic Movies | date=2021-12-15 | url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/1246/kiss-me-kate | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728102434/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/1246/Kiss-Me-Kate/ | url-status=dead | archive-date=July 28, 2011 | access-date=2022-01-01}}</ref> ''Seven Brides for Seven Brothers'' as "Frank" (1954),<ref>{{cite web | title=- Turner Classic Movies | website=Turner Classic Movies | date=2021-12-15 | url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/16147/seven-brides-for-seven-brothers | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724181404/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/16147/Seven-Brides-For-Seven-Brothers/ | url-status=dead | archive-date=July 24, 2011 | access-date=2022-01-01}}</ref> ''Invitation to the Dance'' (1956),<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110722180155/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/79384/Invitation-to-the-Dance/ ''Invitation to the Dance''] tcm.com, accessed December 24, 2016</ref> ''Merry Andrew'' as "Giacomo Gallini" (1958),<ref>{{cite web | last=Passafiume | first=Andrea | title=- Turner Classic Movies | website=Turner Classic Movies | date=2021-12-31 | url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/312/merry-andrew | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928142035/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/312/Merry-Andrew/ | url-status=dead | archive-date=September 28, 2011 | access-date=2022-01-01}}</ref> and ''My Sister Eileen'' as "Chick" (1955).<ref>{{cite web | last=Looney | first=Deborah | title=- Turner Classic Movies | website=Turner Classic Movies | date=2021-12-22 | url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/3700/my-sister-eileen | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111123210815/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/3700/My-Sister-Eileen/ | url-status=dead | archive-date=November 23, 2011 | access-date=2022-01-01}}</ref>
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''.<ref>[http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/AbbrView.aspx?s=&Movie=23667 ''Funny Girl''] American Film Institute, accedded December 25, 2016</ref> 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'').<ref name="Full Biography: Tommy Rall"/> 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."<ref name=ken>Mandelbaum, Ken. [https://books.google.com/books?id=AQFDtlD_mIwC&dq=Juno+%22Tommy+Rall%22&pg=PA313 ''Juno''] ''Not Since Carrie: Forty Years of Broadway Musical Flops'', Macmillan, 1992, {{ISBN|0312082738}}, p. 312</ref>
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.<ref>William Allin Storrer. Report from Boston. ''Opera'' July 1961, Vol.12, No.7, p450.</ref>
Of Rall, contemporary dancer and choreographer Gene Kelly said: "The best all-around dancer we had over at MGM was Tommy Rall. He could do anything and do it better than any other dancer."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/tommy-rall-dancer-in-kiss-me-kate-and-seven-brides-for-seven-brothers-dies-at-90|title = Tommy Rall, Dancer in 'Kiss Me Kate' and 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,' Dies at 90|website = The Hollywood Reporter|date = October 8, 2020}}</ref>
===Personal life=== Rall was briefly married to his ''Juno'' co-star Monte Amundsen.<ref name=ken/> He later married former ballerina Karel Shimoff.<ref name=master>{{cite web | title=Tommy Rall | website=The Official Masterworks Broadway Site | date=2015-02-25 | url=https://www.masterworksbroadway.com/artist/tommy-rall/ | access-date=2022-01-01}}</ref>
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.<ref>{{cite web | last=Lee | first=Renée C. | title=Dance teacher: Decades of lies weren't my fault | website=Chron | date=2011-07-25 | url=https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Dance-teacher-Decades-of-lies-weren-t-my-fault-1586328.php | access-date=2022-01-01}}</ref>
===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. <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/tommy-rall-dancer-in-kiss-me-kate-and-seven-brides-for-seven-brothers-dies-at-90|title = Tommy Rall, Dancer in 'Kiss Me Kate' and 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,' Dies at 90|website = The Hollywood Reporter|date = October 8, 2020}}</ref>
==Filmography== Sources: TCM;<ref>{{cite web | title=- Turner Classic Movies | website=Turner Classic Movies | date=2021-12-28 | url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/157350%7C148202/Tommy-Rall/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120705050130/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/157350%7C148202/Tommy-Rall/ | url-status=dead | archive-date=July 5, 2012 | access-date=2022-01-01}}</ref> MasterWorks Broadway<ref name=master/>
Features: *''What's Cookin'?'' (1942) as Member, The Jivin' Jacks and Jills (uncredited) *''Private Buckaroo'' (1942) as Member of the Jivin' Jacks and Jills (uncredited) *''Give Out, Sisters'' (1942) as Member of the Jivin' Jacks and Jills *''Get Hep to Love'' (1942) as Member - Jivin' Jacks (uncredited) *''It Comes Up Love'' (1943) as Stag (uncredited) *''Mister Big'' (1943) as 'Jivin' Jacks and Jills' Member (uncredited) *''Always a Bridesmaid'' (1943) as Member of The Jivin' Jacks and Jills (uncredited) *''The North Star'' (1943) as Dancing Peasant (uncredited) *''Song of Russia'' (1944) as Dancing Peasant (uncredited) *''Ziegfeld Follies'' (1945) as Chorus Boy (uncredited) *''Kiss Me Kate'' (1953) as Bill Calhoun 'Lucentio' *''Seven Brides for Seven Brothers'' (1954) as Frank (Frankincense) Pontipee *''My Sister Eileen'' (1955) as Chick *''The Second Greatest Sex'' (1955) as Alf Connors *''World in My Corner'' (1956) as Ray Kacsmerek *''Invitation to the Dance'' (1956) as The Sharpie in 'Ring Around the Rosy' *''Walk the Proud Land'' (1956) as Taglito *''Merry Andrew'' (1958) as Giacomo Gallini *''Funny Girl'' (1968) as Prince in 'Swan Lake' Parody (uncredited) *''Pennies from Heaven'' (1981) as Ed *''Dancers'' (1987) as Patrick *''Saturday the 14th Strikes Back'' (1988) as The Werewolf (final film role) *''Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age'' (2018, Documentary) as Himself Short Subjects: *''Vendetta'' (1942) Bit Part (uncredited) *''Trumpet Serenade'' (1942) as Himself - Member, 'The Jivin' Jacks and Jills'
==Stage work, Broadway== Source: MasterWorksBroadway;<ref name=master/> Internet Broadway Database<ref>[https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/tommy-rall-57002 "Tommy Rall Broadway"] ibdb.com, accessed December 24, 2016</ref>
*''American Concertette'' (1945) *''Ballet Theatre'' (1946) *''Look Ma, I'm Dancin'!'' (as Tommy) (1948) *''Small Wonder'' (1948) *''Miss Liberty'' (as The Boy, The Dandy, Another Lamplighter) (1949) *''Call Me Madam'' (Principal Dancer) (1950) (also understudy for Russell Nype) *''Juno'' (as Johnny Boyle) (1959) *''Milk and Honey'' (as David) (1961) *''Cafe Crown'' (as David Cole) (1964) *''Cry for Us All'' (as Petey Boyle) (1970)
==References== {{reflist}}
==Sources== *Koegler, Horst (1998). [https://books.google.com/books?id=bNqxaCn5-E4C&dq=%22Rall%2C+Tommy%22&pg=PA392 "Rall, Tommy"], ''Dizionario della danza e del balletto'', p. 392. Gremese Editore. {{ISBN|88-7742-262-9}}. {{in lang|it}} *Mordden, Ethan (2002). [https://books.google.com/books?id=T9p851Cbs7UC&dq=Tommy+Rall&pg=PA102 ''Open a new window: the Broadway musical in the 1960s'']. Palgrave Macmillan, p. 102. {{ISBN|1-4039-6013-5}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name|0707720}} <!-- internet movie data base --> * {{IBDB name}} <!-- internet broadway data base --> * {{Discogs artist|Tommy Rall}} * (vidéo Danse Routine - Tommy Rall & Ann Miller -Kiss me Kate film sur youtube.com: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-P84-_7kCiQ Why Can't You Behave]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rall, Tommy}} Category:1929 births Category:2020 deaths Category:20th-century American male actors Category:20th-century American singers Category:American male ballet dancers Category:American male film actors Category:American male musical theatre actors Category:American male singers Category:American tap dancers Category:American tenors Category:Deaths from congestive heart failure in California Category:Male actors from Kansas City, Missouri Category:Musicians from Kansas City, Missouri Category:Singers from Missouri