Ralph L. Thomas (born September 8, 1939) is a

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian-born

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, ...

and

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

. He was born in São Luís,

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to Canadian Baptist missionary parents and grew up there and in Canada. He attended the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institu ...

for two years and began to write for the entertainment pages of the ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and pa ...

'' in 1963. He is married to Vivienne Leebosh, film producer. He was earlier married to Dorothy Thomas, a

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lor."Dorothy Thomas stormed city hall". ''

'', June 13, 2005. He directed his first film in 1977 for

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French- ...

, a made-for-TV movie called ''

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''. He continued to make movies for television for a few years before he got his big break directing the feature film '' Ticket to Heaven''. The film won Best Motion Picture at the

Genie Awards The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978; also known as the "Etrog Awards," for scu ...

and Thomas was nominated for Best Director. His follow-up film, '' The Terry Fox Story'', also won the Genie Award for Best Motion Picture. Thomas continued to direct feature and television films until 1996, although he opted to have his name removed from his 1989 film '' The First Season'' following producer interference in the editing."Director takes name off movie". ''

'', August 30, 1989.

Selected filmography

*''

'' (TV movie, 1977) *'' Every Person Is Guilty'' (TV movie, 1979) *'' Cementhead'' (TV movie, 1979) *''Ambush at Iriquois Point'' (TV movie, 1979) *''A Paid Vacation'' (TV movie, 1980) *'' Ticket to Heaven'' (1981) *'' The Terry Fox Story'' (1983) *''The Crowd'' (TV movie, 1984) *'' Apprentice to Murder'' (1988) *'' The First Season'' (1989) *''Vendetta II: The New Mafia'' (TV movie, 1993) *'' Young Ivanhoe'' (TV movie, 1995) *''A Young Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court'' (1996)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Ralph L. 1939 births Living people Film directors from Toronto Canadian film producers Canadian male screenwriters Canadian television directors People from São Luís, Maranhão University of Toronto alumni Writers from Toronto