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Tom Gries

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Tom Gries
BornDecember 20, 1922
Chicago, Illinois
Died (aged 54)
Pacific Palisades, California
Occupation(s)Director, writer, producer
SpouseMary Eleanor Munday
ChildrenJon Gries (son)
Muggsy Spanier (stepfather)

Tom Gries (December 20, 1922 – January 3, 1977)[1][citation needed] was an American TV and film director, writer, and film producer.

Life and career

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Gries was born in Chicago, Illinois. His mother, Ruth, later remarried to jazz musician Muggsy Spanier, who became stepfather to Ruth's sons.[2][full citation needed] Tom Gries was educated at the Loyola Academy and Georgetown University.

Gries began working in TV in the 1950s as a writer and director. His work can be seen on such popular programs as Bronco, Wanted: Dead or Alive, The Westerner, The Rifleman, Checkmate, Cain's Hundred, East Side/West Side, Route 66, Stoney Burke, Combat!, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Honey West, I Spy, Mission: Impossible, and Batman among many others. Gries won Emmy Awards for his direction on East Side/West Side in 1964 and The Glass House in 1972.

In the cinema, Gries both wrote and directed the adventure film Serpent Island (1954) starring Sonny Tufts, and the Korean War film Hell's Horizon (1955) starring John Ireland. Between television directing gigs, Gries helmed Girl in the Woods, a 1958 drama starring Forrest Tucker and Barton MacLane.

Gries both wrote the screenplay and directed the 1959 Jack Buetel western Mustang! before concentrating his efforts exclusively on television for almost a decade. In a triumphant return to cinema, Gries wrote and directed what is generally acknowledged to be his masterpiece in either medium, the 1968 western Will Penny, which starred Charlton Heston in the title role. It was based on an episode of the TV series The Westerner that Gries wrote and directed in 1960, entitled "Line Camp".

In 1966, Gries created the popular action-adventure series The Rat Patrol. Gries wrote and directed the pilot episode, "The Chase of Fire Raid." The 1966–68 series boasts 56 thirty-minute, color episodes produced over the span of its two-season run on ABC. The series focused on the oft-overlooked North African Campaign and episodes invariably pit the ragtag Rat Patrol — a four-man Allied force led by Christopher George as Sgt. Sam Troy — against the German Afrika Korps led by Captain Hans Dietrich, played by Eric Braeden (then still using his original name Hans Gudegast).

Gries subsequently made two other films with Heston: the 1969 gridiron drama Number One and the 1970 drama The Hawaiians, which was based on James Michener's sprawling 1959 novel, Hawaii (not to be confused with the 1966 film based on a section of the same book). In 1969, Gries co-wrote and directed Jim Brown, Burt Reynolds, and Raquel Welch in the controversial western 100 Rifles.

In the early 1970s Gries directed a variety of films, from the 1970 Jason Robards and Katharine Ross May–December romance drama Fools to the 1971 science-fiction telefilm Earth II starring Gary Lockwood and Anthony Franciosa. In 1973, Gries directed the crime-thriller Lady Ice, which starred Donald Sutherland, Jennifer O'Neill, Robert Duvall and Eric Braeden. Gries, who had directed Charles Bronson in a 1961 episode of Cain's Hundred ("Dead Weight: Dave Braddock"), helmed two back-to-back Bronson films in 1975: Breakout and Breakheart Pass.

Gries' 1970s work failed, however, to earn the critical acclaim that welcomed Will Penny. The most successful of his later projects was Helter Skelter, a 1976 TV movie based on Vincent Bugliosi's 1974 true-crime book detailing the crimes and trials of the notorious Charles Manson Family.

During post-production on his final film The Greatest (1977), a biography of boxer Muhammad Ali (in which Ali also played himself), Gries collapsed and died of a heart attack while playing tennis. He was 54 years old.

He is the father of actor and director Jon Gries (who appeared under the name Jon Francis in the film Will Penny as a child actor) and the brother of Buddy Charles a/k/a Charles Joseph Gries, who was a pop and jazz vocalist and pianist in Chicago.[3][full citation needed]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Director Writer Producer
1952 The Bushwhackers No Yes No
1953 Donovan's Brain No No Yes
1954 Hunters of the Deep (Documentary) No Yes Yes
Serpent Island Yes Yes No
1955 King Dinosaur No Yes No
Hell's Horizon Yes Yes No
1958 Girl in the Woods Yes No No
1959 Mustang! Yes Yes No
1968 Will Penny Yes Yes No
1969 100 Rifles Yes Yes No
Number One Yes No No
1970 The Hawaiians Yes No No
Fools Yes No No
1971 Earth II Yes No No
1972 Michael O'Hara the Fourth No Yes Yes
The Glass House Yes No No
Journey Through Rosebud Yes No No
1973 The Connection Yes No No
Call to Danger Yes No No
Lady Ice Yes No Yes
1974 The Migrants Yes No Yes
The Healers Yes No No
1975 Breakout Yes No No
Breakheart Pass Yes No No
1976 Helter Skelter Yes No Yes
1977 The Greatest Yes No No

Television

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Year Title Director Writer Creator Producer
1952 The Unexpected No Yes No No
1953 Boston Blackie No Yes No No
1955–1956 TV Reader's Digest Yes Yes No No
Science Fiction Theatre Yes No No No
1956 Chevron Hall of Stars Yes No No No
Sky King No Yes No No
Science Fiction Theatre No Yes No No
Cavalcade of America Yes No No No
1956-1957 Wire Service Yes No No No
1957 The Adventures of McGraw Yes No No No
Alcoa Theatre Yes No No No
1957–1958 Richard Diamond, Private Detective Yes Yes No No
The Court of Last Resort Yes No No No
1958 State Trooper Yes No No No
Tombstone Territory Yes Yes No No
Target Yes No No No
1959 Bronco No Yes No No
1959–1960 Johnny Ringo Yes Yes No No
Wanted: Dead or Alive No Yes No No
1960 The Man and the Challenge Yes Yes No No
The Westerner Yes Yes No No
Lock Up No Yes No No
The DuPont Show with June Allyson No Yes No No
Zane Grey Theatre Yes No No No
Bourbon Street Beat No Yes No No
1961 Dante No Yes No No
The Rifleman No Yes No No
The Barbara Stanwyck Show No Yes No No
The Law and Mr Jones Yes No No No
Adventures in Paradise Yes No No No
1961–1962 Checkmate Yes No No No
Cain's Hundred Yes No No No
The Detectives Yes No No No
1962 Death Valley Days No Yes No No
The Third Man No Yes No No
1962–1963 Route 66 Yes No No No
Stoney Burke Yes No No No
1963 The Travels of Jamie McPheeters Yes No No No
1963-1964 East Side/West Side Yes No No No
1963-1965 Combat! Yes No No No
1964 The Reporter Yes Yes No Yes
The Defenders Yes No No No
The Doctors and the Nurses Yes No No No
1965 Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre Yes No No No
For the People Yes No No No
Kraft Suspense Theatre Yes No No No
The Man from UNCLE Yes No No No
The Trials of O'Brien Yes No No No
Honey West Yes No No No
1966 Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea Yes No No No
A Man Called Shenandoah Yes No No No
Batman Yes No No No
The Monroes Yes No No No
Mission: Impossible Yes No No No
The Felony Squad Yes No No No
The Rounders Yes No No No
1966-1968 The Rat Patrol Yes Yes Yes Yes
1967 I Spy Yes No No No
Garrison's Gorillas Yes No No No
1974 QB VII Yes No No No
1976 Hunter Yes No No Yes

Production supervisor

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References

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  1. ^ Fraser, C. Gerald (5 January 1977). "Tom Gries, Writer and Film Maker Who Won 2 Emmy Awards, Dies". New York Times. Retrieved 18 October 2024.
  2. ^ Time Magazine, Milestones, February 27, 1950.
  3. ^ Chicago Tribune, February 15, 1967 and December 21, 2008
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