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With a surname like Tombes, one might assume character actor Andrew Tombes was destined to portray gravediggers in horror films or coroners in crime dramas. However, this was rarely the case, and when he did, the roles were often comedic. Born on June 29, 1885, in Ohio, Tombes was an athletic individual who played college baseball at Phillips-Exeter Academy. Yet, his passion for entertaining soon took precedence. He began his career in minstrels and musical revues and gained recognition as a vaudeville comedian. His performances in productions such as "Flo-Flo" (1908), "The College Girls" (1909), "Miss 1917" (1917), and "Poor Little Ritz Girl" (1920) led to his big break as a headliner in the Ziegfeld Follies during the 1920s. Tombes showcased his versatility in roles ranging from Shakespearean parts to screwball farces.
It was his old friend Will Rogers from the Follies who invited him, at age 50, to move to Hollywood and feature prominently in Rogers' film Doubting Thomas (1935). Afterward, at Fox, he often portrayed bald, wide-eyed executives, professors, police captains, movie moguls, or school administrators, though his roles gradually diminished in size. He then freelanced in numerous light "B" movies, frequently uncredited, mainly in musicals and comedies. On the darker side, he appeared as a somber undertaker’s assistant in the Hope/Crosby film Road to Morocco (1942) and as a mortician in The Mad Ghoul (1943). Staying true to his comedic roots, his final film role was in the forgettable comedy The Go-Getter (1956). Andrew Tombes passed away about twenty years later at age 90 in New York City.
