Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Regis Toomey was one of four children of Francis X. and Mary Ellen Toomey, and attended Peabody High School. He initially pondered a law career, but acting won out and he established himself as a musical stage performer. Educated in dramatics at the University of Pittsburgh, where he became a brother of Sigma Chi, Toomey began as a stock actor and eventually made it to Broadway. Toomey was a singer on stage until throat problems (acute laryngitis) while touring in Europe stopped that aspect of his career. In 1929, he appeared in his first films, initially starting out as a leading man, but finding more success as a character actor, sans his toupee. Regis Toomey appeared in over 180 films, including classics such as The Big Sleep with Humphrey Bogart. In the 1954-1955 television season, Toomey appeared as Joe Mulligan, a police officer in Los Angeles and the father of the Mickey Rooney character Mickey Mulligan, in NBC’s short-lived sitcom, The Mickey Rooney Show: Hey, Mulligan. In 1941, Toomey appeared in You’re in the Army Now, in which he and Jane Wyman had the longest screen kiss in cinema history: 3 minutes and 5 seconds.

In 1956, Regis Toomey was cast as the Reverend Arnold Grumm in the episode “Lifeline” of the religion anthology series, Crossroads. That same year, he appeared as a judge, with Chuck Connors as “Andy”, in the third episode, “The Nevada Nightingale”, of another anthology series, The Joseph Cotten Show: On Trial, which aired on NBC. Toomey thereafter appeared as the character “Harry” in the 1960 episode “The Doctor and the Redhead”, with Dick Powell and Felicia Farr, of CBS’s The DuPont Show with June Allyson. Toomey appeared in a number of episodes of Richard Diamond, Private Detective as Lt. McGough. In the 1961–1962 television season, he appeared in a supporting role with George Nader in the syndicated crime drama Shannon about insurance investigators. About this time he appeared on the NBC western series, The Tall Man, starring Barry Sullivan and Clu Gulager. He also made two guest appearances on Perry Mason, including the role of murderer Sam Crane in the 1960 episode, “The Case of the Loquacious Liar.” From 1963–1966, Toomey was one of the stars of the ABC crime drama, Burke’s Law, starring Gene Barry. He played Sergeant Les Hart, one of the detectives assisting the murder investigations of the millionaire police captain Amos Burke. Toomey also appeared in the CBS western series, Rawhide episode “Incident of the Tinkers Dam” as TJ Wishbone. He guest-starred on dozens of television programs, including the popular “Shady Deal at Sunny Acres” episode of ABC’s Maverick. In 1968, after the death of Bea Benaderet who played Kate Bradley, Toomey played a transitional role in the CBS series, Petticoat Junction. Appearing as Dr. Stuart, who cared for the citizens of Hooterville, the character decided to take on a partner in his medical practice. Dr. Janet Craig, played by June Lockhart, was introduced as the new female lead for the show in the episode “The Lady Doctor”. Regis Toomey died at age 93 on October 12, 1991.