Tom Poston

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Tom Poston appeared in hundreds of television shows - in fact so many shows that people sometimes forget he was an actor.

As to what the heck that means, it's just that the general public best knew Tom for his appearances on various game shows, both as a panelist or as a celebrity contestant. These shows included Password and later incarnations (Password All-Stars, Password Plus), and Super Password), The Match Game, Missing Links, I've Got a Secret, What's My Line, Hollywood Squares, Trivia Trap, The New Battle Stars, Body Language, All Star Blitz, The $10,000 Pyramid, Blackout, and of course the original To Tell the Truth where Tom appeared on a whopping 316 episodes.

But true televison buffs will know that Tom also appeared in television series, often in guest spots, but also as a regular or semi-regular cast member. He first appeared on television in 1953 and his last show was in 2005. His best remembered series are Mork and Mindy and Newhart (in the later show he appeared in all 184 episodes). But probably his most significant role was as one of the cast in the original Tonight Show with Steve Allen. Tom appeared in a comedy skit where he played a "man on the street" who couldn't answer the simplest questions. His performances won him an Emmy.

Like many screen stars, Tom was also active on the stage. In addition to playing in regional theaters, he appeared in Broadway productions of Stockade (1954), The Grand Prize (1955), Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1955), Goodbye Again (1956), Shinbone Alley (1957), The General (1958), Romanoff and Juliet (1957), Golden Fleecing (1959), The Conquering Hero (1961), Come Blow Your Horn (1961), Mary, Mary (1964), Forty Carats (1968), But, Seriously... (1969), and in a revival of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1972).

Tom wasn't in all that many films, but the one the Baby Boomers remember is Zotz! Tom plays a college professor of ancient languages who comes into the possession of a magical coin. At the same time he is competing for the post of Dean with a rival faculty member (played by Jim Backus, best known as the voice of Mr. MaGoo and for playing William Thurston Howell, III, on Gilligan's Island).

The coin imparts special powers to whoever has it. The first power is the ability to cause instant pain simply by pointing a finger at the victim. The second power is invoked by looking at the victim and saying "Zotz!" This makes the victim move and speak slowly. The third power is instant death to the victim - caused by pointing the finger and saying "Zotz!"

The film was made at the height of the Cold War, and so almost by default the Soviet Union tries to steal the coin. Of course, Tom bests the Russians when the coin gets lost in the sewer. Although the (United States) government makes dutiful efforts to recover the coin, you know that they won't. So all ends happily ever after, the coin is lost, Tom gets the deanship, and, of course, the girl, who happens to be a fellow professor.

Tom is also known for the role he didn't play. In 1965, Mel Brooks and Buck Henry created a new television show which capitalized on the spy-craze that began with the first James Bond film, Dr. No in 1962. Of course with Mel and Buck the show had to be a comedy and the hero was a bumbling קלאָזעט, who nevertheless ends up as the winner in each week's battle with the evil international organization, KAOS.

Tom was offered the starring role in the pilot. But when he read through the script he thought it was, well, perhaps not in the best of taste. The criminal mastermind, "Mr. Big", was played by Michael Dunn. Michael, an excellent actor and singer, nevertheless suffered dwarfism likely due to spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia. So Tom turned the part down, and missed getting the role of Maxwell Smart - by that much.

However, Tom did appear as a mad scientist in the episode Shock It Too Me. Here Max and 99 are captured by Dr. Zharko (Tom) who with his assistant, Bruce (played by Sid Haig), is bringing KAOS agents back to life. It's one of the better of the later episodes with some good sight gags, such as when Bruce is "cured" of his malady - only to have it restored due to Tom.

Sid's vitae, by the way, is also pretty impressive. He studied at the famous Pasadena Playhouse, and although appearing in live theater, worked mostly in television and films, the latter ranging from Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill: Volume Two to the The Big Bird Cage.

Alas, both Sid and Tom are no longer with us.

References

"Tom Poston", Internet Movie Data Base.

"Tom Poston", Internet Broadway Data Base.

"Tom Poston - Performer", Playbill.

"Inventing Late Night: Steve Allen and the Original Tonight Show", Ben Alba, Prometheus Books, 2005.

"Zotz!", Tom Poston, Julia Meade, Jim Backus, William Castle (Director, Producer), Ray Russell (Screenwriter), Walter karig (Writer, Novel), William Castle Productions, 1962.

"Sorry About That, Chief: Revisiting the Secret World of 'Get Smart'", Ed Gross, Closer, April 30, 2018.

"The View from 4 Feet", Lisa Kennedy, The Denver Post, October 20, 2005.

"Sid Haig", Internet Broadway Data Base.

"Music: The Huge Talent of Michael Dunn", Post Independent, March 25, 2014.