TOMMY COOK: Radio’s ‘Golden Boy’

Young Tommy Cook, (here with elderly William Farnum) made a big impression on radio and film as Little Beaver opposite Don “Red” Barry (taking over for radio’s Reed Hadley) as the title hero in the serial THE ADVENTURES OF RED RYDER (1940)
Tommy is featured as Kimba, a lost, seemingly innocent native boy who has ulterior motives that threaten the life of Jane (Brenda Joyce) in TARZAN AND THE LEOPARD WOMAN (1946)

Films of the Golden Age,
Issue Number 90,
Fall, 2017

“Radio was my training ground. The best times I ever spent and the most brilliant actors I ever knew were in radio.”

Radio was this young prodigy’s training ground and the deep love he had for the medium never left him. While TOMMY COOK (1930- ) went on to have a laudable career on both film and TV, it is abundantly clear that this man’s heart would forever belong to the “golden days of radio.” Fondly remembered for his radio and film appearances as “Little Beaver” in the ADVENTURES OF RED RYDER series, Tommy proved to be a real natural in front of a mike, emerging as one of the most gifted child and juvenile stars of late 1930’s and 1940’s radio. Tommy also had a natural athleticism and this led to a vitally important creative outlet outside the acting realm—as a junior amateur tennis player/champion and promoter.

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