Director
Birthday: (54) 1922-12-20 - Deathday: 1977-01-03
Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois, USAAlso known as:
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Thomas S. "Tom" Gries (20 December 1922; Chicago, Illinois – 3 January 1977; Pacific Palisades, California) was an American TV and film director, writer and producer. Educated at the Loyola Academy and Georgetown University, Gries began working in TV in the 1950s as a writer and director, on such programmes as Bronco,"Rat Patrol", Wanted: Dead or Alive, The Westerner, The Rifleman, East Side/West Side, Mission: Impossible, Route 66, Batman and I Spy. He won Emmy Awards for his direction on East Side/West Side in 1964 and The Glass House in 1972. In the cinema, Gries directed some low-budget movies in the 1950s before concentrating his efforts more on TV. In the late 1960s, he wrote and directed what is generally acknowledged to be his greatest work in either medium, the western Will Penny, which starred Charlton Heston and was released in 1968. It was based on an episode of the TV series The Westerner that Gries wrote and directed in 1960, entitled "Line Camp". Gries subsequently made two other films with Heston, the much less successful Number One, and The Hawaiians, and directed several other films with other high profile actors such as Burt Reynolds and Charles Bronson into the 1970s, though they failed to reach the critical approval that Will Penny received. The most successful of his later works was Helter Skelter, made in 1976, which was a TV film based on the notorious Charles Manson Family. During post-production on his final film, The Greatest (1977), a biography on boxer Muhammed Ali (in which Ali also played himself), Tom Gries collapsed and died of a heart attack while playing tennis. He was 54 years old. He is the father of actor/director Jon Gries (who appeared under the name Jon Francis in Will Penny as a child actor). Description above from the Wikipedia article Tom Gries, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
East Side/West...
7.8
Director
Voyage to the ...
7.7
Director
QB VII
7.7
Director
Combat!
7.6
Director
Mission: Impos...
7.6
Director
Batman
7.3
Director
The Man from U...
7.2
Director
The Rat Patrol
7.2
Writer
The Rat Patrol
7.2
Director
The Rat Patrol
7.2
Creator
The Rifleman
7
Writer
Honey West
7
Director
Helter Skelter
7
Director
Wanted: Dead o...
6.9
Writer
Helter Skelter
6.8
Director
The Westerner
6.8
Writer
The Westerner
6.8
Director
Will Penny
6.6
Director
Breakheart Pass
6.6
Director
Will Penny
6.6
Writer
The Lusty Men
6.6
Associate Prod...
The Glass House
6.5
Director
Felony Squad
6.4
Director
Breakout
6.3
Director
Route 66
6.3
Director
I Spy
6.3
Director
Alcoa Theatre
6.2
Director
The Defenders
6.2
Director
Richard Diamon...
6.2
Director
Science Fictio...
6.2
Writer
Science Fictio...
6.2
Director
Lock-Up
6.2
Writer
The Barbara St...
6.2
Story
Donovan's Brain
6.1
Producer
Michael O'Hara...
6
Producer
Michael O'Hara...
6
Writer
Tombstone Terr...
6
Director
100 Rifles
5.9
Director
100 Rifles
5.9
Screenplay
The Migrants
5.7
Director
The Migrants
5.7
Producer
The Monroes
5.7
Director
Adventures in ...
5.7
Director
Johnny Ringo
5.7
Director
Stoney Burke
5.7
Director
Johnny Ringo
5.7
Writer
The Greatest
5.6
Director
The Detectives
5.6
Director
Dick Powell's ...
5.5
Director
The Hawaiians
5.4
Director
Earth II
5.3
Director
Kraft Suspense...
5.3
Director
Bronco
5.2
Writer
Number One
5.1
Director
The Bushwhacke...
5.1
Screenplay
Hell's Horizon
5
Writer
Hell's Horizon
5
Director
State Trooper
5
Director
Lady Ice
4.8
Director
Cain's Hundred
4.7
Director
Checkmate
4.1
Director
The Rounders
4
Director
Serpent Island
3.5
Director
Serpent Island
3.5
Writer
King Dinosaur
2
Screenplay
Fools
1
Director
The Connection
0
Director
Mustang!
0
Screenplay
Girl in the Wo...
0
Director
Call to Danger
0
Director
The Healers
0
Director
The Man and th...
0
Director