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Writer's pictureDennis McCaslin
Oct 104 min read

Our Arklahoma Heritage You know him, you love him...you just can't remember his name




In the realm of television and movies, there is aways that "one guy"...a character actor who spent most of his career playing minor parts or working as a uncredited onscreen contributor to a project,


You know his face, You remember him from one memorable scene..


You just can't remember his name. But if you are a fan oif classic movies and televison, you will remember his face. He has been called the most successful "uncredited" actor in the history of cinema.



Tom Greenway was born on June 5, 1909, in Booneville, Arkansas. Tom Greenway’s parents were Lena Mai Radford and Charles Sanford Greenway.


Charles had moved from Tennessee, where he was born in 1848, to Arkansas sometime before 1902 and it appears all four of the couples' sons - William, Charles, Tom and Clarence were born in state. Lena Mai Radford was a native-born Arkansan and the couple married in 1902 in Logan County.


The family moved out of state just prior to World War II and Tom Greenwooa was drafted into the US Army after the outbreak of the war. Greenway served as a flight engineer on a B-17 bomber in the U.S. Army Air Forces and his plane was shot down over Italy,


That lead to his capture and imprisonment in Italian and German POW camps for over a year. Released from military service, he performed on Broadway in New York City, where he procured his Social Security number, before he moved into films, where he had many uncredited roles in the early years of his career.


Greenway appeared in over 100 films and television programs, often in westerns. Sometime early in his television career me met and married his wife Helen and the couple remained married for over thirty years before Greenway's death.


He had a notable career as a character actor in both film and television. Some of his most recognized works include roles in “Rawhide” (1959), “Big Timber” (1950), and “Have Gun - Will Travel” (1957). His work on "Gunsmoke" is best remembered for when he had encounters with Dennis Weaver's character ("Chester Goode") and almost killing Matt Dillon's sidekick twice in 1957.


Hod television career also included appearances on "Have Gun Will Travel", "Rawhide", "Bonanza", "The Virginian", "The Rifleman", and countless other dramas through the early1960's.


Greenway had a prolific, albeit mostly uncreduted, career in film and television. Here are some highlights from his filmography:


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