Tom Cat

**Thomas "Tom" Cat** is a fictional character and one of the two titular main protagonists (the other being Jerry Mouse) in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's series of *Tom and Jerry* theatrical animated short films. Created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, he is a grey and white anthropomorphic domestic short haired mute Tuxedo cat who first appeared in the 1940 MGM animated short *Puss Gets the Boot*. The cat was known as "Jasper" during his debut in the short; however, beginning with his next appearance in *The Midnight Snack* he was known as "Tom" or "Thomas".

## Appearances

### Portrayed by

EnglishHarry E. Lang (1940–1953)William Hanna (1941–1958, 2014-present)Nicolas Cage (2001-present)Ewan McGregor (2004-2020)Daws Butler (1950, 1957)Allen Swift (1961–1962)Gene Deitch (1961–1962)Mel Blanc (1963–1967, 2021)Terence Monk (1964, 1967)Chuck Jones (1965–1967)Abe Levitow (1966–1967)John Stephenson (1975)Lou Scheimer (1980)Frank Welker (1990–1993, 2014, 2021)Richard Kind (1992)Alan Marriott (2000)Jeff Bennett (2002)Marc Silk (2002)Bill Kopp (2005)Spike Brandt (2005–2017)Don Brown (2006–2008)Billy West (2010, 2011)Rich Danhakl (2014–2021)Kaiji Tang (2021)apaneseShun Yashiro (1964–1970)Kazue Takahashi (1970–1999)Kaneta Kimotsuki (2000–2016)Subaru Kimura (2005–present)Tomokazu Seki (2005–present)Setsuji Satō (2014–present)

## History

### Tom and Jerry cartoons

His name, "Tom Cat", is based on "tomcat", a word which refers to male cats. He is usually mute and rarely heard speaking with the exception of a few cartoons (such as 1943's *The Lonesome Mouse*, 1944's *The Zoot Cat*, 1947's *Part Time Pal* and 1992's *Tom and Jerry: The Movie*). His only notable vocal sounds outside of this are his various screams whenever he is subjected to panic or, more frequently, pain. He is continuously after Jerry Mouse, for whom he sets traps, many of which backfire and cause damage to him rather than Jerry. His trademark scream was provided by creator William Hanna.

Tom has changed over the years upon his evolution, especially after the first episodes. For example, in his debut, he was quadrupedal. However, over the years (since the episode *Dog Trouble*), he has become almost completely bipedal and has human intelligence and he is similar to his previous appearance, in 1945 shorts he had twisted whiskers and his appearance kept changing. In the 1940s and early 1950s, he had white fur between his eyes. In newer cartoons, the white fur is gone. As a slapstick cartoon character, Tom has a superhuman level of elasticity. Tom is usually defeated (or very rarely, killed, like in *Mouse Trouble*, where he explodes) in the end, although there are some stories where he outwits and defeats Jerry. Though besides Jerry he also has trouble with many other mouse characters or cat characters. One of them that appears frequently is Spike Bulldog. Spike regularly appears and usually assists Jerry and beats up Tom. Though in some occasions Tom beats him or he turns on Jerry (like his debut appearance in Dog Trouble) . Usually when Tom is chasing Jerry after a bit Jerry turns the tables on Tom and beats him or uses an outside character such as Spike to beat Tom.

Tom has variously been portrayed as a house cat doing his job, and a victim of Jerry's blackmail attempts, sometimes within the same short. He is almost always called by his full name "Thomas" by Mammy Two Shoes.

### *Anchors Aweigh* and *Dangerous When Wet*

Tom and Jerry appeared together in the 1945 Technicolor Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical *Anchors Aweigh* where Tom briefly appears as a butler for King Jerry, the latter who has a dance sequence with Gene Kelly, and also in another musical with the same studio *Dangerous When Wet* (1953), where, in a dream sequence, main character Katie Higgins (Esther Williams) does an underwater ballet with Tom and Jerry, as well as animated depictions of the different people in her life.

## Voice actors

Despite almost every short depicting Tom as silent (besides his vocal sounds such as screaming and gasping), there are some cartoons which feature him speaking, with his first film appearance (along with co-star Jerry) in 1992, *Tom and Jerry: The Movie,* being an example as Tom and Jerry talk throughout the film.

Here are several of his voiceover actors:

* **Harry E. Lang** (1940–1953): Vocal effects in the Hanna-Barbera era (1940–1943) shorts and *Mouse in Manhattan* (1945) as one of the alley cats, and speaking in the shorts: *Mouse Trouble*, *Part-Time Pal* and *The Missing Mouse* (1944–1953)
* **William Hanna** (1941–1958): Vocal effects in the Hanna-Barbera era (1940–1958) shorts, *Tom and Jerry: Shiver Me Whiskers* (archival recordings from classic shorts), *The Tom and Jerry Show* (archival recordings from classic shorts), *Tom & Jerry* (archival recordings from classic shorts), *Tom and Jerry Special Shorts* (archival recordings from classic shorts) and *Tom and Jerry in New York* (archival recordings from classic shorts), speaking in the shorts: *The Lonesome Mouse*, *The Million Dollar Cat*, *The Mouse Comes To Dinner*, *Quiet, Please!*, *Trap Happy*, *Mouse Cleaning*, *Cruise Cat*
* **Jerry Mann** (1944; 1946): speaking in the 1944 short: *The Zoot Cat*, speaking in the 1946 short: *Solid Serenade*
* **Billy Bletcher** (1944; 1946, 1950): speaking in the 1944 short: *The Bodyguard*, laughing in the 1946 short: *Solid Serenade*, laughing in the 1950 short: *Jerry and the Lion*, laughing in *The Tom and Jerry Show (2014 TV series)* episode "Ballad of the Catnip Kid" (archive recording from *Jerry and the Lion*), laughing in the 2021 special short "On a Roll" (archive recording from *Jerry and the Lion*)
* **Ira "Buck" Woods** (1946): singing in the 1946 short: *Solid Serenade*
* **Frank Graham** (1946): speaking in the 1946 short: *Solid Serenade*
* **Ken Darby** (1950): "singing" in the 1950 short: *Texas Tom*
* **Daws Butler** (1950, 1957): speaking in the 1950 short: *The Framed Cat*, speaking in the 1957 short: *Mucho Mouse*
* **Allen Swift** (1961–1962): vocal effects in the Gene Deitch era (1961–1962) shorts
* **Gene Deitch** (1961–1962): vocal effects in the Gene Deitch era (1961–1962) shorts
* **Mel Blanc** (1963–1967): vocal effects in the Chuck Jones era (1963–1967) shorts and *Tom & Jerry (2021 film)*
* **Terence Monk** (1964, 1967): singing in *The Cat Above and the Mouse Below*, singing in *Cat and Dupli-cat*
* **Chuck Jones** (1965–1967): vocal effects in the Chuck Jones era (1963–1967) shorts
* **Arte Johnson**: Mattel Tom and Jerry Talking Hand Puppet
* **Abe Levitow** (1966–1967): vocal effects in the Chuck Jones era (1963–1967) shorts
* **John Stephenson**: *The Tom and Jerry Show*
* **Don Messick**: imitating the ghost's laugh and snickering in *The Tom and Jerry Show (1975 TV series)* episode "Castle Wiz"
* **Lou Scheimer**: *The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show*
* **Frank Welker**: vocal effects in *Tom & Jerry Kids*, *The Tom and Jerry Show (2014 TV series)* episode "Just Plane Nuts", *Tom & Jerry (2021 film)* and international TV commercials
* **Richard Kind** (1992): speaking, non-speaking and singing in *Tom and Jerry: The Movie*
* **Jeff Bergman**: Cartoon Network Latin America bumper, Boomerang UK bumper
* **Nicolas Cage:** speaking and non-speaking in Tom and Jerry in Wacky Races, Tom and Jerry: Time Machine Excellent Adventure, Tom and Jerry and The Green Lantern and 20thCenturyJunior Show and 20thCenturyJunior Show: Secret Begins
* **Ewan McGregor:** speaking and non-speaking in Tom and Jerry: Halloween Scary, Tom And Jerry: Soul Skater and Tom and Jerry Meets DC Super Hero Girls.
* **Alan Marriott**: *Tom and Jerry in Fists of Furry*
* **Jeff Bennett**: *Tom and Jerry: The Magic Ring*
* **Marc Silk**: *Tom and Jerry in War of the Whiskers*
* **Bill Kopp**: *Tom and Jerry: Blast Off to Mars* and *Tom and Jerry: The Fast and the Furry*
* **Spike Brandt**: *The Karate Guard*, *Tom and Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale*, *Tom and Jerry and the Wizard of Oz*, *Tom and Jerry: Robin Hood and His Merry Mouse*, *Tom and Jerry's Giant Adventure*, *Tom and Jerry: The Lost Dragon*, *Tom and Jerry: Spy Quest*, *Tom and Jerry: Back to Oz*, and *Tom and Jerry: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory*
* **Billy West**: *Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes*
* **Don Brown**: *Tom and Jerry Tales*
* **Rich Danhakl**: *The Tom and Jerry Show (2014 TV series)*, *Tom and Jerry in New York* (2021 TV series)
* **Tom Kenny**: Four of his 9 lives in *The Tom and Jerry Show (2014 TV series)*
* **Dave B. Mitchell**: Three of his 9 lives in *The Tom and Jerry Show (2014 TV series)*
* **Rene Mujica**: One of his 9 lives in *The Tom and Jerry Show (2014 TV series)*
* **Kaiji Tang**: *Tom & Jerry (2021 film)*
* **T-Pain**: singing in *Tom & Jerry (2021 film)*

Voiced by in unofficial material:

* **Stephen Stanton** (2012): *Mad*
* **Seth MacFarlane** (2013): *Family Guy*
* **Nicolas Cage** (2019-present): 20thCenturyJunior Show (franchise)

## In popular culture

Tom and Jerry were planned to appear as a cameo in the deleted scene "Acme's Funeral" from the 1988 film *Who Framed Roger Rabbit*.