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Tom Gries

Tom Gries

Highest Rated: 87% Will Penny (1968)

Lowest Rated: 20% The Greatest (1977)

Birthday: Dec 20, 1922

Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois, USA

Tom Gries got his start as a director during the golden age of television and moved on to such assignments as "The Westerner," "The Court of Last Resort," and "East Side/West Side," a story about a social worker in NYC, for which he won an Emmy. Other directorial jobs came his way on classic series including "I Spy," the thrilling spy drama "Mission: Impossible," and the kitschy superhero show "Batman." One of Gries greatest credits, however, was as a writer/director on the Western feature "Will Penny," starring Charlton Heston as an aging cowhand. Gries went on to make two other films with Heston, the much less successful "Number One" and "The Hawaiians," based on the novel by James Michener. Later, he worked on films with such box-office stars as Burt Reynolds and Charles Bronson; with Bronson, Gries made "Breakheart Pass," before returning to the small screen to direct the powerfully disturbing "Helter Skelter," about the Manson family murders. During post-production on his last film, a biopic about the boxer Muhammad Ali called "The Greatest," Gries collapsed and died of a heart attack while playing tennis. He was 54 years old.

Filmography

Movies

Credit
20% 46% The Greatest Director - 1977
68% 59% Breakheart Pass Director - 1975
57% 42% Breakout Director - 1975
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Migrants Director,
Producer
- 1974
No Score Yet 57% QB VII Director - 1974
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Healers Director - 1974
No Score Yet 17% Lady Ice Director - 1973
No Score Yet No Score Yet Call to Danger Director - 1973
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Connection Director - 1973
No Score Yet No Score Yet Journey Through Rosebud Director - 1972
No Score Yet 79% The Glass House Director - 1972
No Score Yet 33% Earth II Director - 1971
No Score Yet No Score Yet Fools Director - 1970
No Score Yet 52% The Hawaiians Director - 1970
No Score Yet 41% 100 Rifles Director - 1969
No Score Yet No Score Yet Number One Director - 1969
87% 75% Will Penny Director,
Screenwriter
- 1968
No Score Yet No Score Yet Mustang Director - 1959
No Score Yet No Score Yet Girl in the Woods Director - 1958
No Score Yet 4% King Dinosaur Screenwriter - 1955
No Score Yet No Score Yet Hell's Horizon Director - 1955
No Score Yet No Score Yet Hunters of the Deep Writer,
Producer
- 1954
50% 34% Donovan's Brain Producer - 1953
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Bushwhackers Screenwriter - 1951

TV

Credit
No Score Yet No Score Yet Rat Patrol Creator,
Director,
Executive Producer,
Writer
1966-1968
No Score Yet No Score Yet I Spy Director 1967
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Felony Squad Director 1966
72% 79% Batman Director 1966
No Score Yet No Score Yet A Man Called Shenandoah Director 1966
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Trials of O'Brien Director 1965
100% No Score Yet The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Director 1965
No Score Yet No Score Yet East Side/West Side Director 1963
No Score Yet No Score Yet Route 66 Director 1962-1963
No Score Yet No Score Yet Cain's Hundred Director 1961-1962
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Rifleman Writer 1961
No Score Yet No Score Yet Dante Writer 1961
No Score Yet No Score Yet Zane Grey Theatre Director 1960
No Score Yet No Score Yet Johnny Ringo Director,
Writer
1959