Tom Ewell, who starred opposite Marilyn Monroe as the homely would-be philanderer in "The Seven Year Itch," has died. He was 85.
Ewell died early Monday at the Motion Picture and Television Country House and Hospital, after a long series of illnesses, said his wife, Marjorie.It was Ewell who stood beside Monroe when a blast of air from a subway blew her skirt in a classic scene from the 1955 film. Reprising a role that won him a Tony on Broadway, he played an urban husband who fantasizes about an affair with the sexpot upstairs while his wife is on vacation.
With his ordinary face and cracked voice, Ewell admitted he was not easy to cast in leading roles. Even after his success in the play, he was surprised when he was chosen over Gary Cooper, William Holden and others to appear opposite Miss Monroe, then the most popular sex symbol, in the film version of "The Seven Year Itch."
"I never expected to get the part," said Ewell. "Needless to say, I'm happy they did choose me."
About Monroe, Ewell told columnist Hedda Hopper: "I've never met a sweeter, nicer person than Marilyn or one easier to work with. She wanted me in the role."
In 1956, Ewell co-starred with another sexpot, Jayne Mansfield, in "The Girl Can't Help It."
His other films include the Tracy-Hepburn comedy "Adam's Rib," "Tender is the Night," "State Fair" (in the role created by Will Rogers), "Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came?" "They Only Kill Their Masters," "The Great Gatsby," "The Last Tycoon" and "Easy Money."
For one season, 1960-61, he starred on television in "The Tom Ewell Show," a CBS sitcom in which he played a man surrounded at home by his wife, mother-in-law and three daughters.
In the 1970s, he appeared in the ABC police drama "Baretta" as Billy Truman, a pal of the detective played by Robert Blake.
He was born Yewell Tompkins on April 29, 1909, in Owensboro, Ky.