Tom Neal: Killer Actor

From Hollywood Star to Prison Inmate

A publicity photo of Tom Neal early in his career (photo source)

“Fate or some mysterious force can put the finger on you or me for no reason at all.” — Tom Neal as Al Roberts in “Detour” (1945).

From the moment of his birth in January of 1914, Tom Neal seemed destined for the fame he craved most of his life; his great uncle was the noted actor and theater manager John Drew. Neal was brought up in a spacious Chicago home and eventually attended Northwestern University, where he majored in mathematics. Blessed with an athletic physique and good looks, he traded on them to compete in amateur boxing matches and participate in the school’s drama club. He moved to New York City in 1933, following some summer stock performances, and debuted on Broadway in 1935. In 1938, he not only made his first film appearance (Out West With the Hardys, part of Mickey Rooney’s successful Hardy Family film series) but earned a law degree at Harvard. Over the next handful of years, he appeared in many B movies, including Republic Pictures’ serial Jungle Girl and the classic film noir Detour, with Ann Savage, with whom he would make six films total.

While Neal was clearly intelligent and talented, his downfall appeared to be his temperament, his ego, and women, none of which were helped by his friendships with notorious Hollywood hellraisers Errol Flynn and Mickey Rooney. While he was in New York City, he took up with Inez Norton, an ex-Follies dancer twice his age who was once the girlfriend of Arnold Rothstein, the mobster who rigged the 1919 World Series. Following his murder in 1928, Inez was left $150,000 by Rothstein and Tom Neal was more than happy to help her spend it. The two were briefly engaged before Inez Norton was followed by relationships with such Hollywood stars as Lana Turner, Joan Crawford, Ava Gardner, and Lorraine Cugat, the wife of Spanish bandleader Xavier Cugat. He married actress Vicky Lane in 1944. The marriage lasted five years before Lane filed for divorce, citing mental and physical cruelty. And then he met Barbara Payton.

Barbara Payton and Tom Neal (photo source)

Barbara

Unlike Tom Neal, Barbara Payton was not born into a wealthy, connected family but…