In 1947 he decided to pursue a career as an actor after attending a performance of the original Broadway production of A Streetcar Named Desire.

[2] Aldredge carved out a respected career on the Broadway stage that spanned five decades, garnering five Tony Award nominations.

In 1972 he won a Drama Desk Award for his portrayal of Ozzie, the father of a blinded Vietnam veteran, in David Rabe's Sticks and Bones.

In 1960 Theodore Flicker founded a professional Off-Broadway coffee house theater, The Premise at 154 Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village.

He recruited Tom Aldredge along with Joan Darling, George Segal and Dolores Welber as the initial improvisational cast fielding and reacting to suggestions from their audience.