Able to boast a 64-year-career on stage, screen, and television, actor Tom McDermott was most proud of the work he did toward improving opportunities and working conditions for minorities in the theater. His love of acting began in high school and though he received no formal training in the craft, was talented enough to break into the Chicago theater scene in a production of George Bernard Shaw's Candida. From there he went on to become a regular performer on and off-Broadway. He started appearing on television in the 1950s and went on to perform on a wide assortment of programs ranging from Captain Video to One Life to Live. McDermott did not make his feature film debut until Over the Brooklyn Bridge (1983). From there he went on to sporadically play character roles in such films as Ghostbusters (1984) and Liebstraum (1991). He made his final screen appearance in Nicholas Hytner's version of Arthur Miller's play The Crucible (1996).