After graduating from Yale in 1935, Tufts auditioned with the
Metropolitan Opera in New York City, but eventually worked on the
Broadway stage. He appeared in ''Who's Who
, and Sing for Your Supper'' in 1939. Tufts then began singing in hotels and nightclubs.
Paramount A Yale classmate of Tufts' later convinced him to move to
Hollywood to begin a career as an actor. Upon arriving there, Tufts' friend, hotel manager Jack Donnelly, accompanied him to
Paramount Pictures and introduced him to
casting director Joe Egli. Egli shot a screen test with Tufts, who was then signed to Paramount. His first role was as Kansas, an affable
Marine and love interest of
Paulette Goddard in the 1943 World War II romantic drama
So Proudly We Hail!. Tufts' performance was praised by critics and the role served as a launching pad for his career. After the release of the film, Tufts received 1700 fan letters a week and was named "The Find of 1943." Due to an old
college football injury, Tufts was unable to join the military and serve overseas in the war. With Hollywood's ranks of leading men heavily depleted by the war effort, Tufts was borrowed by
RKO to play opposite leading lady
Olivia de Havilland in the comedy
Government Girl (1944); Paramount got a loan of
Maureen O'Hara in exchange.
Government Girl was a huge hit and Tufts was voted the number one "Star of Tomorrow" by Australian exhibitors for 1944. Before filming of
So Proudly We Hail! was complete, director
Mark Sandrich commissioned
So Proudlys screenwriter
Allan Scott to write a vehicle for Tufts and his co-star Paulette Goddard. That film, entitled
I Love a Soldier (1944) was a mild hit. Sandrich directed Tufts' next film,
Here Come the Waves (1944), which was a huge success, due in part to stars
Bing Crosby and
Betty Hutton. Sandrich died in 1945. Tufts made another musical comedy
Bring On the Girls (1945) with
Eddie Bracken and Veronica Lake, replacing
Dick Powell. Tufts sang several songs, but the film was a box-office disappointment. He made a cameo along with most Paramount stars in ''
Duffy's Tavern'' (1945), singing "
Swinging on a Star". He was reunited with Lake in ''
Miss Susie Slagle's'' (1946) alongside
Joan Caulfield. Paramount tried him in a Western
The Virginian (1946), though it was in a supporting role. He was reunited with De Havilland in
The Well-Groomed Bride (1946), replacing
Dennis O'Keefe but she wound up with
Ray Milland at the end of the film. However, Paramount did give Tufts the star part in
Swell Guy (1946) opposite
Ann Blyth. He also co-starred opposite Betty Hutton in
Cross My Heart (1946). Tufts was the romantic male lead in
Easy Come, Easy Go (1947), a
Barry Fitzgerald vehicle. It was directed by
John Farrow, who also used Tufts in
Blaze of Noon (1947) playing one of four brothers who fly air mail. After a cameo in
Variety Girl (1947), Tufts left Paramount.
Freelance actor He starred in a Western,
The Untamed Breed (1948). He was in a
film noir with
John Payne,
The Crooked Way (1949) where he played a ruthless villain. He received praise for his performance, with critics noting that he "work[ed] against type quite effectively". Tufts was
Victor Mature's friend in
Easy Living (1949) at RKO. He was arrested for public drunkenness in 1950 and 1951. By the early 1950s, Tufts' popularity began to wane and his career began to decline. He separated from his wife in 1951 and she divorced him in 1952, saying his drinking had become "intolerable". He was unemployed for a year until he received an offer from Britain to make
The Gift Horse (1952) with
Richard Attenborough. In 1953, Tufts was cast opposite
Barbara Payton in the low-budget comedy film
Run for the Hills. Later that year, he was in
No Escape and starred in another low-budget film,
Cat-Women of the Moon, which became a cult classic. He had the lead in the low-budget 1954 film
Serpent Island.
Assaults Tufts' career decline was compounded by his alcoholism and his off-screen antics. Atkins later dropped the lawsuit against Tufts. In April 1954, a 19-year-old dancer named Margarie Von accused Tufts of biting her on the right thigh while she was relaxing aboard a yacht docked off the coast of
Balboa Peninsula, Newport Beach. Von sued Tufts for $26,000, claiming the bite left a three-inch scar. Von later settled for $600. In August 1955, a third complaint was lodged against Tufts when Adrienne Fromann claimed the actor beat and bruised her at a restaurant. She demanded $20,000 in damages. "He drinks too much and lives too lavishly", said his ex-wife Barbara. Tufts retreated to a ranch in
Texas.
Later career In 1962, he returned to Hollywood to produce and star in a film
All the Way about paratroopers. It was not made. Tufts returned to acting in 1963 with a guest appearance on
The Virginian playing the father of Trampas (
Doug McClure) and in a
Bob Hope TV special
Have Girls Will Travel (1964). He was in
Town Tamer (1965) and "The Ordeal of Bud Windom" on
The Loner (1965) with
Lloyd Bridges and his son
Jeff. His final onscreen roles were ''
Cottonpickin' Chickenpickers (1967) and the 1968 television movie Land's End
. He appeared several times as himself in Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' in 1968. ==Personal life==