Tom Steele (born Thomas Skeoch,[1] 12 June 1909 – 30 October 1990) was a stunt man and actor, best remembered for appearing in serials, especially those produced by Republic Pictures, in both capacities.
He doubled for such serial leading men as Rod Cameron (who started as a stuntman himself), Richard Bailey (who rather resembled Steele), Clayton Moore, and football star Sammy Baugh.
His most notable role at Republic was as the title hero in the 1943 serial The Masked Marvel, for which he ironically received no billing whatsoever (the character was supposed to be one of four leading men—none of whom were Steele).
As the Masked Marvel Steele's voice, which was a rather light, high tenor not unlike Henry Fonda's, was dubbed by the more heroic-sounding radio actor Gayne Whitman.
Steele also worked extensively outside of Republic, appearing in feature films as Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), Santa Fe Trail ('40), in which he doubled Raymond Massey, The Big Sleep doubling for John Ridgeley, and The Thing (From Another World) standing in for James Arness as the title creature in the scenes involving fire and a dog attack, and Citizen Kane, with Steele playing an aggressive reporter jumping on the running board of Kane's car.