Tom Schiller

The son of legendary sitcom writer Bob Schiller, writer-director Tom Schiller created some of the most eccentric and intriguing short subjects seen during the classic early seasons of "Saturday Night Live" (NBC, 1975- ). Intrigued by vintage movies and an avid amateur filmmaker as a teenager, Schiller learned about the business by apprenticing for a documentary specialist before his first solo credit, "Henry Miller Asleep & Awake" (1975). Longtime friend Lorne Michaels invited him to create shorts that could run between the live material on "SNL" and Schiller responded with such memorable efforts as "Don't Look Back in Anger" (1978) and "La Dolce Gilda" (1978). His love of black and white photography, Golden Age Hollywood, and offbeat satire all came together beautifully in Schiller's feature debut "Nothing Lasts Forever" (1982), which proved too unusual for its distributor to handle and was never widely released. Schiller returned to "SNL" to produce more wonderfully odd interstitials for the program before exploring new careers as an instructor at the New York Film Academy and a producer of commercials that frequently made use of his unique sensibilities. One of the most original contributors to "SNL" in both writing and directing capacities, Schiller's offerings possessed the sort of daring and exuberant creativity that allowed them to stand the test of time better than much of the program's more topical material.