Daniel Malloy Tobin (October 19, 1910 – November 26, 1982) was an American character actor in films, television and on the stage. He generally portrayed gentle, urbane, rather fussy, sometimes obsequious and shifty characters, sometimes with a concealed edge of malice.

Early years

Tobin was a native of Cincinnati, and he attended the University of Cincinnati.

Career

Tobin made his Broadway debut in American Holiday in 1936. He then joined a touring troupe in England and was seen by an impresario in a production of Ah, Wilderness! As a result, he won roles in Behind Your Back at London's Strand Theatre (1937) and Mary Goes to See at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket (1938). Tobin then played Alexander 'Sandy' Lord in the original 1939 Broadway production of Philip Barry's The Philadelphia Story. Tobin's most memorable roles were as the overbearing secretary, Gerald, in the 1942 film Woman of the Year and the top-billed scientist in Orson Welles's innovative, Peabody Award-winning, unsold television pilot The Fountain of Youth, filmed in 1956 and televised once two years later as an instalment of NBC's Colgate Theatre. Tobin's final film role was opposite John Huston in Welles's The Other Side of the Wind, shot in the early 1970s and released in 2018. On television, Tobin was a regular on I Married Joan, My Favorite Husband, Mr. Adams and Eve, and Where Were You? In 1966, he became a regular during the final season of Perry Mason as the proprietor of Clay's Grill. He'd made a prior Mason appearance in 1964, as Dickens the butler in "The Case of the Scandalous Sculptor". TV Guide credits him with 44 television appearances.

Personal life

Tobin was married to film and television screenwriter Jean Holloway (born Gratia Jean Casey) from 1951 to his death in 1982. They met on the set of The First Hundred Years.

Death

Tobin died in Saint John's Hospital in Santa Monica, California, in November 1982, at age 72.

Filmography