Tom Nolan (actor)

Nolan was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.^[1] At an early age, he emigrated to the United States with his family, when his mother was suffering from health problems.^[4] He attended a stage school and used the stage name Butch Bernard.^[1]

Nolan began his career in 1952, with an uncredited role in the film Son of Paleface. He appeared in films such as The Grasshopper, The Toy Tiger, The Seven Year Itch, Man Afraid, The Young Warriors, All Mine to Give, The Moonshine War, Kiss Me, Stupid, and Voyage of the Rock Aliens.^[5] In 1958, he starred as Jody O'Connell in the NBC western television series Buckskin,^[6][7] starring along with Sally Brophy and Mike Road. After the series ended, he guest-starred in television programs including Gunsmoke, Bachelor Father, Rawhide, My Friend Flicka, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Rifleman, Lassie, The High Chaparral and Wagon Train.^[8] He retired in 1970, which he then persuaded in becoming a music journalist.^[5]

In 1971, Nolan authored "The Beach Boys: A California Saga", a Rolling Stone magazine article about the Beach Boys. It was unusual in that the story devoted minimal attention to the group's music, and instead focused on the band's internal dynamics and history, particularly around the period when they fell out of step with the 1960s counterculture.^[9] According to journalist David Hepworth, the style was unprecedented in the field of music writing, and the "story within was destined to become a classic piece from that brief interlude when pop writing collided with New Journalism ... It combined admiration for the group's achievements with distaste for their strange, inner world in a way that hadn't been done before".^[9] A quote from the article, "Don't fuck with the formula", is often attributed to member Mike Love, although Love denied ever saying it.^[10]