Thomas "Tom” Jasper Cat Sr. is an American cartoon character and one of the two titular main protagonists (the other being Jerry Mouse) in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's series of Tom and Jerry theatrical animated short films. Created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, he is a grey-blue and white anthropomorphic (but usually silent) domestic short haired tuxedo British cat who first appeared in the 1940 MGM animated short Puss Gets the Boot. The cat was initially known as "Jasper" during his debut in the short, but beginning with The Midnight Snack he was known as "Tom" or "Thomas".
Contents
History
Tom and Jerry cartoons
"Tom Cat", based on "tomcat", speaks only rarely, though he frequently scream in pain when his plans to catch Jerry Mouse backfire. His trademark scream was provided by creator William Hanna. Hanna's recordings of Tom screaming were later used as a stock sound effect for other MGM cartoon characters such as Tex Avery's Butch Bulldog and multiple one shot characters.
Tom has changed over the years, especially after the first episodes. He first walked on four legs but after the episode Dog Trouble he started walking on two. In 1945 shorts he had twisted whiskers and his appearance kept changing. In the 1940s and early 1950s, he had white fur between his eyes. In newer cartoons, the white fur is gone. As a slapstick cartoon character, Tom has a superhuman level of elasticity.
Tom is usually defeated in the end (or very rarely, killed, like in Mouse Trouble, where he explodes), although there are some stories where he outwits and defeats Jerry. Besides Jerry, he also has trouble with other mouse or cat characters. One of them that appears frequently is Spike Bulldog. Spike regularly appears and usually assists Jerry and beats up Tom (though on some occasions, Tom beats Spike or Spike turns on Jerry, like his debut appearance in Dog Trouble).
Tom has variously been portrayed as a house cat doing his job, and a victim of Jerry's blackmail attempts, sometimes within the same short. He is almost always called by his full name "Thomas" by Mammy Two Shoes.
Anchors Aweigh and Dangerous When Wet
Tom and Jerry showed up together in the 1945 Technicolor Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical Anchors Aweigh where Tom briefly appears as a butler for King Jerry, the latter who has a dance sequence with Gene Kelly, and also in another musical with the same studio Dangerous When Wet (1953), where, in a dream sequence, main character Katie Higgins (Esther Williams) does an underwater ballet with Tom and Jerry, as well as animated depictions of the different people in her life.
Tom & Jerry (2021)
The 2021 movie was the first time when live-action human actors interact with Tom and Jerry who, along with various other iconic characters of the show and all other animals, are 2D animated cartoons. Both characters are called by their actual first names by the end of the film and their full names are given during the end credits, "Tom" being Thomas D. Cat.
Voice actors
Here are several of his voiceover actors:
Harry E. Lang (1940–1953): vocal effects in the Hanna-Barbera era (1940–1943) shorts, and speaking in the shorts: The Lonesome Mouse, The Million Dollar Cat, Mouse Trouble, The Mouse Comes to Dinner, Quiet Please!, Solid Serenade, Trap Happy, The Missing Mouse (1943–1953), laughing in The Tom and Jerry Show (archival recording from Mouse Trouble)
William Hanna (1942–present): Vocal effects in the Hanna-Barbera era (1942–1958) shorts
Kent Rogers (1942–1943): Vocal effects in the 1942 shorts: Fraidy Cat and Puss n' Toots
Jerry Mann (1944, 1946, 1950): Vocal effects and speaking in the 1944 shorts: The Zoot Cat and The Million Dollar Cat, speaking in the 1946 short: Solid Serenade (archival recordings from The Zoot Cat), speaking in the 1950 short: The Framed Cat
Billy Bletcher (1944, 1946): speaking in the 1944 short: The Bodyguard, laughing in the 1946 short: Solid Serenade)
Mel Blanc (1946, 1953–1954, 1963–1967): Screaming in the 1946 short, The Milky Waif (reused from the 1942 MGM cartoon, The Hungry Wolf), sneezing in the shorts: Just Ducky and Puppy Tale (reused from The Hungry Wolf), vocal effects in the Chuck Jones era (1963–1967), and The Tom and Jerry Show (archival recording from The Hungry Wolf)
Cal Howard (1946): speaking in the 1946 short: Trap Happy
Ira "Buck" Woods (1946): singing in the 1946 short: Solid Serenade
Red Coffey (1950, 1952–1953, 1955): quacking in the shorts: Little Quacker, The Duck Doctor and That's My Mommy, drowning vocal effects in the 1953 short: Just Ducky
In popular culture
Tom's screams have been used as stock sound effects in various media, such as the 1981 James Bond film For Your Eyes Only, Critters 2 and Critters 3 (used for the Critters when they scream and shriek) and the Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi episode, "Small Stuff" (used for Jang Keng, a black cat). It was also used for the caveman in the 1995 game Prehistorik Man.
Tom and Jerry were planned to make cameo appearances in the deleted scene "Acme's Funeral" from the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
The Itchy & Scratchy Show from The Simpsons parodies Tom and Jerry, with its cat character Scratchy, unlike Tom, usually being portrayed as a harmless character who is subject to wanton unprovoked graphic violence by the psychopathic Itchy.
Xilam's Oggy and the Cockroaches is inspired by Tom and Jerry, with its cat character Oggy being portrayed as the hapless victim of three sadistic cockroaches. Tom and Jerry made a cameo appearance in the 1992 animated TV special The Rosey and Buddy Show.
The supreme leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei likened the rivalry between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran to Tom and Jerry, with the United States in the role of Tom.
Time Magazine noted that late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat admired Tom and Jerry because, in his view, the mouse always outwits the cat—mirroring how Palestinians, seen as the underdog, persist despite adversity.
In 2025, Tom, alongside Jerry, was featured as a playable pilot in Bullet Hell game ACECRAFT.