Tommy Norden

Career

Tommy Norden is best known for his years playing Bud Ricks, the red-haired, younger brother of Sandy Ricks (Luke Halpin) on the television series Flipper. Other performances include a minor role in the film Five Miles to Midnight (1962), with Anthony Perkins and Sophia Loren, as well as TV roles on the series Naked City (1961-62), including one episode with Luke Halpin, Episode 93 of Route 66 (1963), Episode 19 of East Side/West Side (1964) with George C. Scott and Barbara Feldon, Search for Tomorrow (1971–1973), where he played Dr. Gary Walton, and Episode 8 of The Secrets of Isis (1975). He also appeared on Sing Along With Mitch (1963) as one of the Sing Along Kids. Prior to his film and television roles, he appeared on Broadway with Anthony Perkins in the musical comedy Greenwillow (March 8, 1960 - May 28, 1960), as well as in the The Music Man (1960-61). Norden left acting in order to pursue the family business.

A widely repeated, but erroneous internet myth asserts that Tommy Norden appeared as "the young man working under a car" in a Stove Top Stuffing commercial sometime in the 1970s or 1980s. This commercial bears a copyright date of 1980, well after he had retired from acting, and the actor in question looks nothing like Tommy Norden. He did make an appearance in the widely recognized 1962 Oreo advertisement titled "Oreos – Little Girls Have Pretty Curls." This commercial was awarded the Best Baked Goods & Confections Award at the 1962 American TV Commercial Awards and was showcased at the 12th MoMA International Festival of Film Preservation in 2014. He also appeared in a 1962 promotional film for New York Airways, entitled "The Skyline Route".

Norden attended Power Memorial Academy in New York City (Class of 1971), presently owns an executive recruiting company in New York City, and appeared at Miami Seaquarium's 40th and 50th anniversary celebrations of Flipper.