Tom Ewell Dies At 85

LOS ANGELES - Tom Ewell, who starred opposite Marilyn Monroe as the homely would-be philanderer in "The Seven Year Itch," has died. He was 85.

Mr. Ewell died early yesterday at the Motion Picture and Television Country House and Hospital, after a long series of illnesses, said his wife, Marjorie.

It was Mr. Ewell who stood beside Monroe when a blast of air from a subway blew her skirt in a classic scene from the 1955 film. That role also won him a Tony on Broadway.

His other films include the Tracy-Hepburn comedy "Adam's Rib," "Tender is the Night," "State Fair," "They Only Kill Their Masters," "The Great Gatsby," "The Last Tycoon" and "Easy Money."

For one season, 1960-61, he starred in "The Tom Ewell Show," a CBS sitcom. In the 1970s, he appeared in the ABC police drama "Baretta" with Robert Blake.

He was born Yewell Tompkins on April 29, 1909, in Owensboro, Ky.

As a struggling actor in New York in the 1930s, he claimed a Broadway record in appearing in 28 flops. He served in the Navy during World War II. His luck in the theater improved after the war. He appeared in the hit "Apple of His Eye" in 1946 and then was cast in the lead of the Rodgers and Hammerstein comedy, "John Loves Mary."