1974 CHS grad lives a fascinating life

By STU CLAMPITT
news@readthereporter.com

On April 20, Tom Ohmer was inducted into the Carmel High School (CHS) Alumni Hall of Fame. Ohmer, a 1974 CHS graduate, has lived a fascinating life in which he served his country in the U.S. Army, attended Indiana University, caught the acting bug at college as an extra in the 1979 movie Breaking Away, and experienced the 1992 Los Angeles riots as a member of the LAPD.

The Reporter spoke with Ohmer about his life and the CHS Hall of Fame induction while he was enjoying the rural beauty of northern Hamilton County outside his brother’s home in Cicero.

Ohmer called the induction ceremony a wonderful event, which was combined with accolades for graduating seniors.

“They had them come up on stage and it showed what college they were going to and what their major was and it was unbelievable,” Ohmer said. “It was so inspiring to see the youth of today. It’s refreshing to see how well these kids are doing. They are just so articulate and lovely people. It was really well done.”

Ohmer was also impressed with how the school, and Carmel itself, has grown since he graduated. CHS, at just over one million square feet, is the second-largest high school in the country. It also boasts, according to recent statistics, the third-largest student population.

There were fewer than 2,000 residents in Carmel when his family moved there in the 1960s. Ohmer and his four siblings all graduated from CHS. Some of their kids graduated from CHS. His brother and sister-in-law were both teachers in Carmel for over 30 years.

“I made the comment that [back then] there was only one stoplight at Range Line and Main Street,” Ohmer said. “Ironically, there’s now one stoplight at Main and Range Line. They got rid of all the stoplights with the roundabouts.”

After graduating in May 1974, Ohmer joined the Army in July. He served for three years before enrolling in college at Indiana University in Bloomington, where he stumbled upon a love of acting.

“While I was down there, they shot a movie called Breaking Away,” Ohmer told The Reporter. “A bunch of us in our fraternity got roles as extras. I worked on the set for several days and I thought, ‘This is fascinating.’ I left and came to LA, and I’ve been there ever since.”

While trying to break into the film industry, Ohmer worked as a waiter, bartender, limousine driver, and other jobs that kept his days free for auditioning. After LAPD hired him, his acting career took off because there were so many roles for cops.

But it’s that limo driver job that gave Ohmer an interesting story to tell our readers.

“In fact, that was my first speaking role,” Ohmer said. “It was on a show called Dynasty with Joan Collins, and I played her limo driver at the same time when I was working for a limo company. About three weeks later, I got a ticket to go pick her up as a real limo driver. It’s funny because in the show I had to apologize to her for being late because there’s an accident with fire trucks and all that. So when I picked her up, I said, ‘Sorry I’m late. There’s a bunch of fire trucks and ambulances.’ She kind of looked at me like, what are you talking about? I go, ‘I was on your show.’ She goes, ‘Oh yeah!’ So it was kind of funny.”

During the 1992 Los Angeles riots, Ohmer was an LAPD officer.

“After doing that, it was so frustrating because we basically had our hands tied behind our backs,” Ohmer said. “We weren’t allowed to make arrests. It was a very tumultuous time. I just had enough of the big city and dealing with the gangs and all the death and all that. I transferred to Simi Valley PD, which is a community about the size of Carmel. It was a totally different job. With LA, everything was reactive. In Simi, everything was proactive. In fact, when the citizens in Simi wave to you, they use all five fingers.”

Ohmer retired from the Simi Police Department in 2010.

“The community is very supportive of the police,” Ohmer said. “In the community itself, everybody flies the American flag. It’s just a real patriotic, nice, family-friendly community.”

Ohmer is still an actor. He told The Reporter one of his favorite roles is also one of his most recent. Sarah’s Oil was released last fall and is available for streaming on Amazon Prime.

“I played a judge, and I think part of what I like so much about that is the movie itself,” Ohmer said. “I’m really proud of that movie and the way they did everything. It’s based on a true story of a little girl named Sarah Rector. She lived in Oklahoma [in the early 1900s]. She was a little black girl and she was given 160 acres of what they thought was worthless dust, and it ended up being the richest oil strike in Oklahoma history.”

Another one of Ohmer’s favorite roles was in Nefarious, also available on Prime.

“It’s a faith-based movie, but it’s really a suspense thriller,” Ohmer said. “We shot that at a real working prison in Oklahoma, and it was really kind of an eerie thing. It’s a really good story. There was actually a Catholic cardinal in the United States that said it was the most theologically sound movie he’s ever seen.”

Another movie this CHS Hall of Famer is proud of, you can queue up The Man with the Silver Case.

“The unique thing about that was it was shot in Switzerland in 4K, but in black and white,” Ohmer said. “It’s almost a film noir suspense thriller, kind of like a Jason Bourne. That was a really fun shoot.”

While Ohmer has just driven 35 hours back to his California home, you can keep the spirit of this homegrown actor in Hamilton County a little longer while enjoying some quality entertainment. You don’t even need to feel guilty about the extra screentime since your hometown newspaper told you it was a good idea!