Tom Drake was married to Isabelle Dunn during the 1940s.
Drake was born in Brooklyn, New York and was excused from serving in World War II due to heart problems. Despite this limitation, he did act in British training films. He got his break after starring in the 1942 Broadway smash Janie, after which he was signed to a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He began his film career using the name Richard Alden.
After a number of films, Drake co-starred with Judy Garland in Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) as John Truett, the boy next door. He appeared in more than forty films in all, including Mrs. Parkington (1944), The Green Years (1946), Cass Timberlane (1947), as Composer Richard Rodgers in the loosely-based biography Words and Music (1948) and, in a role at the opposite end of the character spectrum from John Truett, as the leader of a gang of Criminals in Warlock (1959). He also had a minor role in the movie The Singing Nun (1966), playing Ed Sullivan's Producer Mr. Fitzpatrick.
From 1950 thereafter, Drake had roles in numerous television series, such as NBC's Cimarron City and Banacek, ABC's 77 Sunset Strip, Land of the Giants and The Streets of San Francisco, CBS's Perry Mason and Lassie.
Drake died of lung cancer on August 11, 1982. He is interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.
