Tom D'Andrea

Runyonesque American character actor Tom D'Andrea came to films when the Broadway production This is the Army was transferred to the screen in 1943. This led to a Warner Bros. contract for D'Andrea; he went on to play supporting roles in a number of the studio's films, the best of which was the sympathetic cabbie in Dark Passage (1948). An amusing supporting role as a myopic ballplayer in the William Bendix comedy Kill the Umpire (1950) led to D'Andrea being cast as Bendix's buddy Gillis on the TV sitcom The Life of Riley in 1953. He left Riley briefly to co-star with Hal March in the 1956 series The Soldiers, but returned to the role of Gillis when his own series was cancelled after a single season. Tom D'Andrea's last regular TV role was Biff the bartender in Dante (1960); his final screen appearance was in the Polly Adler biopic A House is Not a Home (1964).

~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide