Today I profile the third of our trio of amazing leading men – Broadway and Television star Tom Wopat.
Born in Lodi, Wisconson, Tom Wopat started singing and dancing in high school musicals and later studied music at the University of Wisconsin. Several years after college he landed one of the two male 
leads on The Dukes of Hazzard - the hit CBS television show that aired seven seasons and became one of that eras highest rated shows ranking second only to Dallas.
Most people assume that Tom got his start from The Dukes of Hazzard. In fact, before he became good ol’boy Luke Duke, Tom had already made his Broadway debut in the long running Cy Coleman musical I Love My Wife. I had the pleasure of seeing Tom in that show and remember thinking “this guy is going to go places” – the next thing I knew he was a big TV star.
Soon after The Dukes drove into the sunset of their final season Tom went back to his roots and returned to the theatre.
During all of this Tom has maintained an active career in television starring in such shows as Cybil, Smallville, One Life To Live, All My Children and most recently Taking Chance with Kevin Bacon on HBO.
Tom has also recorded eight albums ranging from rock to country to jazz standards. His latest album Consider It Swung, includes one of his terrific numbers from Catch Me If You Can – the swingin’ tune “50 Checks”.
Here is a video of Tom performing that song at our recent Catch Me If You Can Spotlight Night. For more videos and information on Catch Me If You Can please visit our website.
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3 comments:
I for one can't wait for the show to come to NYC! Thanks for the preview!
I saw Tom Wopat in Annie Get Your Gun with Marilu Henner in Los Angeles. But I will never forget him "A Catered Affair". I saw a TW that I have never seen anywhere before. The characters in this musical lingers on you for a long time.
I was a flight attendant for Pan American an the time that Frank was an impostor pilot. That was the reason for me to attend the show. Both my husband and I and our 4 guests were impressed with the show. We were impressed that the two principals of the musical were generational...one a young a 20 ish male and seldom see generational movie and TV hero(rines) which is a sad commentary on our US culture.
Charlotte Larson
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