Born into a prominent Boston family of bankers whose patriarch was said to have arrived in America from England in 1683, Sonny Tufts would end his career as a Hollywood "bad boy," immersed in drink and scandal. Tufts was graduated from Yale in 1935 and began pursuing a career in opera, eventually auditioning with the Metropolitan Opera in New York. ...
Had a whole chapter of the Medved Brothers' "Golden Turkey Awards" to himself: Worst Performance by Sonny Tufts. The winning film was Government Girl (1943), probably because of the prominence of his female lead, Olivia de Havilland.
2
Ex-wife Barbara Dare was a Spanish dancer.
3
In 1959, after a year of staying sober in order to stay in contention for a prime role in John Wayne's epic The Alamo (1960), he lost the role of Jim Bowie.
4
First studied at Phillips-Exeter then broke from the banking tradition of his family by going to Yale instead of Harvard and studying opera.
5
The son of a prominent banker, his great-uncle, Charles Tufts, was founder of Tufts College in Boston.
6
In 1950 he was sued by two women who claimed he bit them both on the thigh.
Actor
Title
Year
Status
Character
Land's End
1968
TV Movie
Hal
Cottonpickin' Chickenpickers
1967
Cousin Urie
The Loner
1965
TV Series
Barney Windom
Town Tamer
1965
Carmichael
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
1964
TV Series
Monk
The Virginian
1963
TV Series
Frank Trampas
The Parson and the Outlaw
1957
Jack Slade
Damon Runyon Theater
1956
TV Series
Sam
Come Next Spring
1956
Leroy Hightower
The Seven Year Itch
1955
Tom MacKenzie
Serpent Island
1954
Pete Mason
Cat-Women of the Moon
1953
Laird Grainger
No Escape
1953
Detective Simon Shayne
Run for the Hills
1953
Charlie Johnson
Glory at Sea
1952
Ordinary Seaman 'Yank' Flanagan
Easy Living
1949
Tim McCarr
The Crooked Way
1949
Vince Alexander
The Untamed Breed
1948
Tom Kilpatrick
Variety Girl
1947
Sonny Tufts
Blaze of Noon
1947
Roland McDonald
Easy Come, Easy Go
1947
Kevin O'Connor
Cross My Heart
1946
Oliver Clarke
Swell Guy
1946
Jim Duncan
The Well-Groomed Bride
1946
Lt. Torchy McNeil
The Virginian
1946
Steve Andrews
Miss Susie Slagle's
1946
Pug Prentiss
Duffy's Tavern
1945
Sonny Tufts
Bring on the Girls
1945
Phil North
Here Come the Waves
1944
Windy 'Pinetop' Windhurst
I Love a Soldier
1944
Dan Kilgore
Government Girl
1943
E.H. 'Ed' Browne
So Proudly We Hail!
1943
Kansas
Soundtrack
Title
Year
Status
Character
Duffy's Tavern
1945
performer: "Swinging on a Star"
Bring on the Girls
1945
performer: "Uncle Sammy Hit Miami", "I'm Gonna Hate Myself in the Morning", "Egyptian Ella"
Here Come the Waves
1944
performer: "Ac-Cen-Tchu-Ate the Positive" - uncredited
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
Laugh-In
1968
TV Series
Himself
Romp!!!
1968
TV Special
Himself
My Mother the Car
1965
TV Series
Himself
That Regis Philbin Show
1965
TV Series
Himself
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1963
TV Series
Himself
Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Goes to Bat
1950
Documentary short
Himself
Stump the Stars
1950
TV Series
Himself
The Ed Sullivan Show
1949
TV Series
Himself, Actor
Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Holiday
1948
Documentary short
Himself
Archive Footage
Title
Year
Status
Character
Hollywood My Home Town
1965
Documentary
Himself
Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Goes a Fishin'
1956
Short
Sonny Tufts
2nd Place Awards
Year
Award
Ceremony
Nomination
Movie
1943
NYFCC Award
New York Film Critics Circle Awards
Best Actor
So Proudly We Hail! (1943)
Known for movies
The Seven Year Itch (1955) as Tom MacKenzie
Cat-Women of the Moon (1953) as Laird Grainger
Here Come the Waves (1944) as Windy 'Pinetop' Windhurst
$11 Million
