Tom Allen was born on Aug. 8, 1928, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA. His father and uncle had been country western singers in an act known as the Allen Brothers.
He made his movie and TV debuts in 1959 when he appeared in the Cassavetes projects Shadows and the NBC detective series Johnny Staccato (on which he, naturally, got into a fight).
Westerns were a specialty, and he appeared with Dan Duryea in Taggart (1964) and in Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969). On television, he also worked on Gunsmoke (as various characters in 15 episodes), Have Gun – Will Travel, Lawman, Bonanza, The Virginian, The Guns of Will Sonnett, Rawhide and Branded.
Reese died Dec. 12, 2017 at a hospice facility in Studio City after a brief illness, his longtime friend Charles Leinenweber told The Hollywood Reporter.
