Leonard Thomas Clapham (1889-1963) is one of those actors cited as having made more film appearances than anyone else. The AFI lists 407 features, and he was in at least 250 shorts and serials. It’s a lot, though not the 2000-plus claimed by some websites.
London’s first dozen or so performances, in shorts and serials such as 1916’s Liberty, and Buster Keaton’s feature Our Hospitality (1923), were under his real name. He presumably adopted London as looking and sounding more sophisticated than the city’s residential district of Clapham. The first use of Tom London was for The Loser’s End (1924).
The films London appeared in were predominantly, though by no means exclusively, low-budget westerns, where he was more likely to be credited. He can be seen uncredited in All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), The Whole Town’s Talking (1935), Fritz Lang’s Western Union (1941), The Ox-Bow Incident (1943) and Friendly Persuasion (1956).
London did extensive television work in the 50s and early sixties, making his last appearance in an episode of The Dakotas in 1963.
In 1934, London played Paul Revere in MGM’s Hollywood Party.
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