Thomas Neal (January 28, 1914 – August 7, 1972) was an American actor famous for appearing in the critically lauded film Detour, a tryst with Barbara Payton and later committing manslaughter.

Born in Evanston, Illinois, Tom Neal debuted on the Broadway stage in 1935. In 1938 he first appeared in film in Out West with the Hardys, part of the Mickey Rooney "Hardy family" movie series. That same year, he received a law degree from Harvard University. While in college at Northwestern and Harvard Universities, Neal was a stand-out on the schools' boxing teams. He compiled a 44-3 (41 knockouts) ring record.

Neal appeared in many low budget B-movies in the 40s and early 50s. In 1941 he starred with Frances Gifford in the Republic Pictures 15 episode serial, Jungle Girl. Perhaps his most memorable role was that of Al Roberts in the classic film noir Detour alongside Ann Savage. They went on to make five movies together.

In 1951, he fought aristocratic actor Franchot Tone over their mutual girlfriend, actress Barbara Payton. Neal inflicted upon Tone a smashed cheekbone, a broken nose and a brain concussion. After the incident, Tone and Payton married, and Neal had a difficult time finding work. He ended up supporting himself landscaping and gardening. Payton left Tone after only seven weeks and returned to the troubled Neal. Their relationship lasted four years.

Neal remarried almost immediately and in 1957 fathered a son. His wife died the following year from cancer. In 1961, Neal married for the third time, to Gale Bennett. Four years later, he shot her in the back of the head with a .45-caliber gun, ending her life instantly. He was arrested and, although prosecutors sought the death penalty, he was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to ten years in prison, of which he served exactly six. On December 7, 1971, he was released on parole.

In August of 1972, Tom Neal died of heart failure in North Hollywood, California at the age of 58. He was cremated, and his ashes stored in the vault at the Chapel of the Pines Crematory in Los Angeles.

Tom Neal is best remembered for his off-screen exploits, which involved scandal, mayhem and a charge of murder. Before his 1938 screen debut in MGM's Out West with the Hardys (1938), Tom Neal had been a member of the boxing team at Northwestern University, he had debuted on the Broadway stage in 1935 and had received a law degree from Harvard, also in 1938. Throughout the 1940's and into the 1950's, he appeared mostly as tough guys in Hollywood low-budgeters. In 1951, in a dispute over the on-again, off-again affections and the wavering allegiance of the actress Barbara Payton, he took to violence against his rival as Payton's paramour, the aristocratic actor Franchot Tone (I). The former college boxer Neal inflicted upon Tone a smashed cheekbone, a broken nose and a brain concussion. Hollywood film studios essentially blackballed Neal thereafter, but he would come to find a livelihood in gardening and landscaping. He was brought to trial in 1965 for the murder of his wife Gale, who it was determined had been shot to death with a .45-caliber bullet to the back of her head. Prosecutors sought the death penalty for Tom Neal in California's cyanide-gas chamber. The trial jury, however, convicted him only of "involuntary manslaughter", for which he was sentenced to 10 years in jail. On 7 December 1971, he was released on parole from imprisonment, having served exactly six years to the day. Eight months later, Tom Neal was dead of heart failure.