Thomas Mead

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Thomas "Tom" Mead (born December 7, 1904 in Tecumseh , Michigan , † January 1983 in Nassau County , New York ) was an American film producer , director and filmmaker who in the years 1946-1952 for five of his short films for one Oscar was nominated.

biography

Mead attended Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana, and then worked as a reporter for the Chicago Daily News before joining the cinema during the early talkative years. At first he was in charge of the newsreels of Universal-International and Variety View.

The short documentary Monkey Shines for Paramount Pictures and various episodes of the short documentary series Stranger Than Fiction , produced for Universal Pictures , as well as episodes of the short documentary series Going Places with Graham McNamee were Mead's first works in the film sector. He worked almost exclusively in the field of short films or documentary short films and was active in his films both as a producer and as a director, sometimes also as a writer.

Several times he worked with Joseph O'Brien , one of them in their common short film Your National Gallery , for both 1946 in the category "Best Short Film" (one roll of film) for an Oscar nominated, but which at Herbert Moulton and Stairway to Light , a short biography on the French psychiatrist Philippe Pinel , went.

In 1948 Mead was nominated once in the category "Best Short Film" (1 film role) for his film Brooklyn, USA , but had the disadvantage of Herbert Moulton and his film Goodbye, Miss Turlock . He was also nominated in the category “Best Short Film” (2 film roles) with Fight of the Wild Stallions , which is about wild horses who prefer to live in freedom. The Oscar went to Irving Allen and his film Climbing the Matterhorn .

In 1949 Mead was again nominated for an Oscar with his film Snow Capers in the category "Best Short Film" (2 film roles) . This time he had to Walt Disney and his film The Robben Island (Seal Iceland) to defer them. This was repeated with Mead's last Oscar nomination in 1952 , where his film Danger Under the Sea was behind Disney and his film Earth, the great unknown (Nature's Half Acre) .

Mead's last listed film is the 1958 historic short Magic Rails to Yesterday , which features a train ride from San Francisco through the Feather River Canyon and the Sierra Nevada Mountains . He then retired to New York, where he died at the beginning of 1983 in Nassau County.

Filmography (selection)

as producer + director
  • 1934–1936: Stranger Than Fiction # 2, # 6, # 7–19 (short documentaries)
  • 1934: Monkey Shines (short documentation)
  • 1936: The Rookie Fireman (short film; also director)
  • 1937: Aviator Shorty (short film; also director)
  • 1939–1941: Going Places with Graham McNamee # 58–60, # 66,69,70, # 72,79, # 88 (short documentaries; also direction)
  • 1940: Stranger Than Fiction # 70, # 87, 88, 89 (short film)
  • 1941: Variety Views # 94.95 (short documentary, also direction)
  • 1941: Universal Variety Views, No. 93 (short documentary; also direction)
  • 1941: Stranger Than Fiction 6371: Shampoo Springs (short film)
  • 1941: Variety Views (1941–1942 Season) # 2: Northern Neighbors (short film; also director)
  • 1941: Stranger Than Fiction 6372: The Hermit of Oklahoma (short film; also director)
  • 1941: Stranger Than Fiction 6373: The Candy Kid (short film; also director)
  • 1941: Stranger Than Fiction 6374: Junior Battle Fleet (short film; also director)
  • 1942: Stranger Than Fiction, # 102 (short documentary)
  • 1942: Keys to Adventure (short documentary; also director)
  • 1942: Arsenal of Might (short documentary)
  • 1943: Variety Views, # 116 (short documentary; also director)
  • 1944: The Barefood Judge (short documentary)
  • 1945: Your National Gallery (short film; also director)
  • 1946: Wings of Courage (short documentary; also director)
  • 1947: Fight of the Wild Stallions (short documentary)
  • 1947: Brooklyn, USA (short film)
  • 1948: Snow Capers (short film)
  • 1949: Boundaries Unlimited (short film; also director)
  • 1951: Danger Under the Sea (short film)
  • 1952: Rhythm on the Reef (short documentary)
  • 1952: King Winter (short documentary)
  • 1958: Magic Rails to Yesterday (short film)
Supervision as editor-in-chief
  • 1945: Universal Newsreel (from January to December 23 short documentaries)
as an author
  • 1941: Stranger Than Fiction 6374: Junior Battle Fleet (short story)
  • 1942: Keys to Adventure (short documentary narrative)
  • 1949: Singing Is Fun (short story)
  • 1949: Boundaries Unlimited (short story)

Awards

literature

  • International Motion Picture Almanac 1965, Quigley Publishing Company, New York 1964, p. 195

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Date of birth according to the International Motion Picture Almanac 1965, p. 195
  2. ↑ death month and year , according deathfigures.com
  3. ↑ The 18th Academy Awards | 1946 at oscars.org (English)
  4. ↑ The 20th Academy Awards | 1948 at oscars.org (English)
  5. ↑ The 21st Academy Awards | 1949 at oscars.org (English)
  6. ↑ The 24th Academy Awards | 1952 at oscars.org (English)
personal data
SURNAME Mead, Thomas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mead, Tom
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American film producer, director and filmmaker
DATE OF BIRTH December 7, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Tecumseh (Michigan) , United States
DATE OF DEATH January 1983
Place of death Nassau County (New York) , United States