"Back to the Future's" Tom Wilson
collects lunch boxes and 3-D ViewMasters

By Ken Hall

Tom Wilson has enjoyed a successful career as an actor, writer and comedian for over 20 years. But he made the leap to pop icon with his unforgettable role as "Biff" Tannen, the incorrigible bully who antagonized Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) in the smash 1985 film, "Back to the Future." It remains one of the biggest box office hits of all time. Wilson reprised the role in a pair of sequels.

In real life, Tom Wilson is a soft-spoken gentleman. Much of his spare time is dedicated to painting dreamy, whimsical images from his youth, like the Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots, "Wooly Willy", a simple balsa wood plane and the 3-D ViewMaster. The last of these ­ the 3-D ViewMaster ­ is something Wilson collects. He also collects metal lunch boxes from the 1950s and '60s.

"Both of these things have an automatic nostalgic appeal for me, since they were so much a part of my growing up," Wilson said from his home in Los Angeles, which he shares with his wife, Caroline, and their four children: Anna May, Emily, Gracie and Tommy. "The lunch boxes are fun and arcane. They affect people in a certain way. And you can't see a ViewMaster without picking it up."

The lunch boxes came first. A friend of Wilson's, a "prop comic," kept some of the things he brought onstage in an old metal lunch pail, with a "Six Million Dollar Man" graphic. "He gave it to me around 1979 and said, 'Keep this. It will be a collectible some day,'" Wilson said. "So I did. Then I began buying more at antique shops and novelty stores. I guess I have about 75 lunch boxes in all."

The first one he paid money for was a 1952 Hopalong Cassidy model, in mint condition, for less than $50. "That was around 1984 or '85, about the time I was doing 'Back to the Future,' Wilson said. "I found it in a small antique store in Pasadena that's no longer there. I'm sure that same lunch box would be worth much more today. It's common to see pieces from that era fetching $300-$400."

He's right. Lunch boxes have become enormously popular, especially among the baby boomers who once toted them to school. He recalls a time when he had a friend over who spotted his Neil Armstrong and the astronauts lunch box. "He saw it and misted over," Wilson said. "It turned out he had that very same lunch box as a kid. I tried to give it to him, but he wouldn't take it."

Another time, Wilson gave away one of his favorites ­ a Beatles lunch box, with Thermos ­ as a gift. "This guy was a real Beatles fan, and by the way he reacted you'd have thought I gave him a Ferrari," Wilson said with a laugh. "These boxes really strike a nerve. People come to the house and are just transfixed (most are displayed in his office). They can all relate. They all had one."

Other lunch boxes in the collection include a Tom Corbett Space Cadet model from the early '50s (he thinks he paid about $40 for it), and ones depicting the Partridge Family, the Brady Bunch, the Beverly Hillbillies (with the all-important Thermos, often a gauge as to the value of a piece), various Disney boxes, the Dukes of Hazzard and several with an astronaut or space program theme.

The more arcane boxes occupy a special place in Wilson's heart. "Fireball XL-5, for anyone who still remembers it, was a celebration of bad puppeteering," he said. "The Adam-12 lunch box is priceless, with that graphic of the cops throwing a hoodlum up against the car. The Evel Knievel one, too, is amazing. I loved the guy, but let's face it, he was a poster boy for reckless behavior."

Almost every box in the collection is made of metal ­ a practice that was discontinued for safety reasons, and because the advent of vinyl made the boxes cheaper to produce. "Most of the early vinyl lunch boxes were for girls and don't hold as much appeal for me," Wilson said. "Barbie, the Banana Splits, even Soupy Sales ­ I would have passed on those even if they were metal."

One of the lunch boxes is signed ­ by David Hasselhoff. "An early acting job was a part on 'Knight Rider,' the show he starred in, and I knew him from before that anyway," Wilson recalled. "When I got to the studio, I was carrying my little 'Knight Rider' lunch box, with a picture of David on it, chasing the bad guys. Everybody got a big kick out of it. Then he signed it, which was great."

Wilson said there are several examples he'd like to have in his collection ­ like the rectangular Superman lunch box from the '50s, or the Jetsons and Lost in Space models with domed tops ­ all coveted by collectors ­ but the prices are just too high. "I haven't bought any new pieces in a while," he said, "but I'm glad for what I have. I see what people are getting on eBay, though. It's wild."

3-D ViewMasters are another collectible that's a bit more affordable, as the reels were produced in abundance and are commonplace at flea markets and antique shops today. Even the ViewMasters themselves, which were made from heavy Bakelite when first introduced after World War II, can be found easily and at reasonable prices. The newer models, still made, are plastic.

"I got into the ViewMasters and reels when I started painting seriously," Wilson said. "It was part of an exploration of my life in a visual sense. Painting the ViewMaster (something he's done three times) represents the thrill someone feels when they look through that viewer for the first time and see 3-D. It evokes so much of your life, with the Kodachrome and that eye-popping color."

Wilson has about 10 ViewMasters and 100 reels. He keeps them in a drawer by his desk and looks at them often. The reels are universal ­ they'll fit a viewer whether it was made in the '40s or last week. Most of his are older, from the '40s and '50s, depicting scenes from Hawaii, Lion Country Safari, the Las Vegas strip, Cape Kennedy, several national parks and numerous Disney attractions.

"They're like little 3-D travelogues, but also slices of Americana," Wilson said. "Like the reel of the Las Vegas strip. You see men with their black-rimmed glasses and slicked down hair, women with beehive hairdos and cars with wild fins ­ all in that glorious color from another time. Or women water-skiing off wooden speedboats near Hoover Dam with their '50s bikinis on. "It's awesome stuff."

Recently, a friend gave Wilson something he proudly displays: a 65th anniversary ViewMaster gift set. It contains a glittering red ViewMaster and an array of compilation reels, spanning the generations that ViewMaster has chronicled. The first ViewMaster was actually introduced at the New York World's Fair in 1939, as an alternative to the postcard, with seven 3D Kodachrome images per reel.

ViewMasters were originally marketed through photo shops, stationery stores and scenic attraction gift shops. The system was the brainchild of William Gruber, a photographer in Oregon. He came up with the idea of combining the old stereoscope with Kodachrome film. Gruber partnered with Sawyers, Inc., the picture post card people, who marketed it to a fascinated post-war public.

Tom Wilson is himself a product of the post-war era, having been born April 15, 1959, in Philadelphia, the oldest of five children. He took an interest in dramatic arts at Radnor High School and served as president of the debate team. He also played tuba in the high school band (to this day, he uses that very tuba in his comedy routine). He envisioned a career in international politics.

But after briefly attending Arizona State University, Wilson transferred to UCLA to pursue his passions, fine art and photography. He followed a progressive path from photography ­ which he still loves and practices ­ to mixed media works, until he finally found a home in color and canvas. He studied drawing and painting at the Art Academy of Los Angeles and the California Art Institute.

Wilson's professional stage career was launched at age 19, when he appeared in Shakespeare Festival productions of "Richard III" and "Henry IV, Part I." It was during one of these plays that he began dabbling in improvisational humor and stand-up comedy with other cast members. He returned to Philadelphia and, on a whim, began performing stand-up comedy in area clubs.

After polishing his act locally, Wilson went on the road, performing at some of the hottest venues of the day, like Catch a Rising Star, The Improv and The Comedy Store. He shared apartments with fellow up-and-comers Andrew "Dice" Clay, Jim Carrey and Yakov Smirnoff. His first TV commercial was for Kentucky Fried Chicken, in which he played a hungry construction worker.

In the early '80s, Wilson moved to Los Angeles and appeared in TV shows like "Knight Rider" and "The Facts of Life." His big break came when he was cast as "Biff" Tannen (and later "Griff" and "Mad Dog" Tannen in the sequels) in "Back to the Future." The original was one of the biggest box office movies of all time and is today being re-discovered, by a whole new generation of kids.

Since the "BTTF" trilogy, Wilson has been in numerous movies and TV shows. On television, he's had recurring roles on "Freaks and Geeks," "Ed," "Do Over," "Maggie" and "Fired Up." He's also been a guest star on "Boston Public," "Reba" and "The George Lopez Show." Movie credits include "Andersonville," Bound By Honor," "April Fool's Day," "Let's Get Harry" and "Action Jackson."

Wilson recently completed filming the upcoming movie "Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector," in which he plays Bart Tatlock, Larry the Cable Guy's boss. He also does much voice-over work and provides many of the voices heard on "SpongeBob SquarePants," including "Flats" the flounder, "Reg the Tattletale Strangler," "Victor" and both of Patrick's fathers ("real and fake").

Fans of Tom Wilson may visit the star online at www.BigPopFun.com .

Tom pursued fine art and commercial photography before choosing acting as a career.
Here he's at home in his studio.

Tom, pictured here holding his painting of a firetruck. He paints whimsical pictures of things from his youth.

Almost all the lunch boxes in Wilson's collection are made of metal, a practice that has been discontinued for safety reasons and because vinyl is cheaper.

"You can't see a 3-D ViewMaster sitting on a shelf or table without going over, picking it up and looking through it," Wilson said, and he's right.

Tom doesn't only collect 3-D ViewMasters ­ he paints them, too! This is from a solo exhibition of his artwork at Nickelodeon Studios.

Wilson as "Mad Dog" Tannen in the third installment of the
"BTTF" trilogy.

Wilson paints dreamy, whimsical images from his youth, like this depiction of the Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots. Prints of his work are available through his website, www.BigPopArt.com.