Tom Troupe, a veteran actor who appeared on stage and screens silver and small, has died at the age of 97 of natural causes in his Beverly Hills home, according to his publicist, Harlan Boll, and multiple media reports.
A prolific performer who appeared on Broadway and over 75 TV series, his career began in the mid-50s and ended in the late 2010s. Among his most well-known roles were parts in the original TV run of Star Trek and My Own Private Idaho with River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves.
Born on July 15, 1928, in Kansas City, Mo., Troupe began performing in local theater productions before moving to New York City in the late ’40s. At Herbert Berghof Studio, he studied under and received a scholarship from preeminently influential actress and teacher Uta Hagen.
After serving in the Korean War, for which he was awarded a Bronze Star, Troupe made his Broadway debut in 1957 as Peter van Daan in The Diary of Anne Frank.
The following year, he moved to Los Angeles, which jumpstarted his Hollywood career; he would go on to appear in episodes of Lawman, Dr. Kildare, The Fugitive, Mission: Impossible, The Wild Wild West, The F.B.I., The Streets of San Francisco, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, CHiPs, Cagney & Lacey, Cheers, Murder, She Wrote, Knots Landing, Frasier and ER, among many others.
On the film side, he also appeared in the Mark Harmon-starring 1987 comedy Summer School, 1970’s Clint Eastwood vehicle Kelly’s Heroes and the 1968 war drama The Devil’s Brigade with William Holden.
For the stage, he appeared in productions of The Lion in Winter, Fathers Day and The Gin Game — all of which co-starred his wife of nearly 60 years Carole Cook, a fellow Broadway performer and protégé of Lucille Ball’s who died in 2023. The couple received the 2002 Theatre Ovation Award for Career Achievement, the first husband and wife so honored.
Troupe also starred in a national tour of Same Time, Next Year opposite Barbara Rush in the late 1970s, as well as his co-written single-character play The Diary of a Madman.
He is survived by his son Christopher Troupe, daughter-in-law Becky Coulter, granddaughter Ashley Troupe and several nieces and nephews.
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