Is Tom Shaw, assistant director of In Cold Blood, alive today? When
was he born? If deceased, when did he die? And what city did he
(does he) live in most recently?
Thank you. |
Clarification of Question by
ann100-ga
on
17 Nov 2002 08:24 PST
I understand several Tom Shaws exist, both in and out of film
productions. I ran an extensive web search and learned of a Tom Shaw
Jr. who does prop work and may be the son of the Tom Shaw of In Cold
Blood.
There was also a Tom Shaw of Tom Shaw Productions, Portland, Oregon.
He was involved in B films, one of which is (I believe) The Courier of
Death. The Courier of Death is easily located on the Web.
Unfortunately, lists of many filmographies mix Tom Shaw Jr's work (The
One) with Tom Shaw (II) (is II accurate?) filmography (Paint Your
Wagon? Filmed in Oregon--could this be by the "Portland" Tom Shaw?).
If a separate entity from the Tom Shaw I am inquiring about, the
Portland Tom Shaw's work gets mixed into Web filmographies as well,
lending credibility to the Portland Tom Shaw's alleged claim to
involvement in In Cold Blood.
You see, a relative of mine who worked for the Portland Tom Shaw
insists he was the assistant director of In Cold Blood (this is what
she heard him say), implying that after an illustrious career Mr. Shaw
left Hollywood to take hermitage in the Pacific Northwest as an
independent maker of B-movies and virtual unknown (a tragedy?).
According to her, this Tom Shaw whom she believes was involved in In
Cold Blood, was Born around 1927, is from Rhode Island, worked on
ships and drove truck, 'did time' in Oklahoma, was an inventor and an
artist and died 8 Mar 1998 in Portland Oregon. She heard him say he
had a son who continued to work in the film industry and with whom he
did not get along.
I told her of the 2000 event, which Tom Shaw of In Cold Blood
confirmed to participate. She believes the invitee was Tom Shaw Jr.,
in honor of his father. I sent an e-mail inquiry to the organizer
listed on the announcement you referenced, but received no answer. I
called the Academy library, who told me there was no birthdate listed,
but neither is there an obituary.
So I continue to look for solid evidence to either confirm or
discredit her story. I suspect the Portland Tom Shaw hoodwinked
someone I care about. She continues to list Tom Shaw as someone she
worked for, along with his alleged 'accomplishments'; if she is
deceived, using him as a reference discredits her.
I hope you can help me distinguish the two, or support her account.
Thank you.
|
Request for Question Clarification by
luciaphile-ga
on
17 Nov 2002 12:27 PST
Thanks for the clarification. That should help some. Unfortunately due
to the very common name and the fact that reference sources for
production staff tend to be more limited, this may take awhile.
According to the Social Security Death Index, there is a Thomas Shaw
with birth and death dates that match with what your relative told
you.
Social Security Death Index
http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi
As you obviously know, however, that's not conclusive. I'll continue
to work on this. Thanks for letting us know what you've already looked
at. That should help a great deal.
Regards,
luciaphile-ga
|
Request for Question Clarification by
luciaphile-ga
on
17 Nov 2002 14:49 PST
Did the Portland Tom Shaw mention any other directors he worked with?
From what I'm finding, it looks like, the Tom Shaw who was assistant
director on "In Cold Blood" worked extensively with John Huston and
was extremely close to him. I've got quite a bit of data on him so
far. I'm trying to track down more, but as it's all in print sources,
the more I have to go on, the better. This Tom Shaw also appeared in a
documentary with Huston about the making of "the Dead." Hopefully,
I'll have an answer for you soon.
Regards,
luciaphile-ga
|
Request for Question Clarification by
aceresearcher-ga
on
06 Dec 2002 00:31 PST
ann100,
Did you ever meet, or have you seen pictures of, the Tom Shaw for whom
your relative worked? Since he appears in the following film, renting
or buying the film might quickly put your question to rest.
"John Huston And The Dubliners
A look at the filming of 'The Dead', John Huston's last work,
completed 30 years after he first proposed it. Lilyan Sievernich's
camera follows a director at the height of his creative powers, though
gravely ill, and highlights his working relationship with daughter
Anjelica."
Category: Documentary
Cast: John Huston
$29.99 VHS #537305
http://www.moviesunlimited.com/musite/product.asp?sku=537305
http://www.kino.com/video/vhs_titles/john_huston.html
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000007NN3
Regards,
aceresearcher
|
Clarification of Question by
ann100-ga
on
06 Dec 2002 19:06 PST
As far as I know, the Portland Tom Shaw did not mention Huston, and my
relative has not seen any of the films in which Tom Shaw of In Cold
Blood appears.
Is there any way to ascertain the birthdate of the Tom Shaw of In Cold
Blood? Are there any sites that can answer the question? What about
a Who's Who of directors or something similar?
Thank you for your help.
|
Request for Question Clarification by
luciaphile-ga
on
07 Dec 2002 05:46 PST
The problem is that there are not a lot of reference sources for
production workers who did not hold--for want of a better
word--showier types of positions. Plenty of sources for directors, for
instance, but not for assistant directors. The material I found came
from biographies and autobiographies of directors who Shaw worked with
on various films.
It seems odd that your relative's Tom Shaw would not have mentioned
John Huston because everything I've found indicates that Huston and
Shaw were very close.
Having your relative view the video that Shaw appeared in that
aceresearcher-ga mentions above might be the way to go.
Regards,
luciaphile-ga
|
Clarification of Question by
ann100-ga
on
08 Dec 2002 08:26 PST
In 1969, Tom Shaw was nominated for a Golden Globe for Paint Your
Wagon. At Goldenglobe.com he is listed as Producer. In other
filmographies he is listed as Director of Paint Your Wagon. I am not
certain if this qualifies him for a Who's Who of some sort.
If I am not mistaken, he is also referred to as Tom Shaw II or Thomas
P. Shaw in some filmographies. As previously mentioned, there is a
Tom Shaw Jr. who may be Tom Shaw's son and who was involved in such
recent films as White Men Can't Jump.
Other prominent Tom Shaws on the Web are associated with: Golf, Walt
Disney's Computer Technology, Arch Diocese, theater in Great Britain.
|
Request for Question Clarification by
luciaphile-ga
on
08 Dec 2002 10:27 PST
Hi ann100-ga,
When I saw your question initially, one of the first things I did was
to check out the various directories and biographical reference
sources for film and directors. I'm sure other researchers have done
the same. He's not listed in any of the traditional sources. At least
not that I can find. Maybe a researcher with more access to film
resources has access to something else.
Web searches found pretty much the same materials that
aceresearcher-ga and czh-ga mention. I found a couple of articles in
news sources (mostly about the filming of "the Dead", but couldn't
find anything remotely close to having biographical material on Shaw
in them (other than that this was the 9th film he made with Shaw).
I have not been able to find an obit for the Portland Tom Shaw. I
didn't find anything in Variety, but I've heard anecdotally than
unless the family of the deceased sent in an obit, Variety won't do an
obit (obviously for major industry figures, it would be different, but
assistant directors generally don't qualify).
Joshua Logan was the director of "Paint Your Wagon"--print sources,
and Logan's biographies uniformly confirm that. Shaw worked on it in
his traditional capacity, and indeed Logan does mention Shaw in his
autobiography (not too kindly): Richard Brooks recommended Shaw
(described by Logan as a unit manager) to Logan calling him "great and
loyal," p. 203 for "Paint Your Wagon." Logan disliked Shaw calling him
"far from loyal to me. He left the picture before it was finished to
go back to Richard Brooks," p. 204.
"Movie Stars, Real People, and Me," by Joshua Logan. New York:
Delacorte Press, 1978.
John Huston had nothing but kind things to say about Shaw. According
to Lawrence Grobel's "The Hustons," Shaw was called to John Huston's
house right after Huston died. Shaw is quoted in the book a number of
times--no biographical details from Shaw. All I can tell you is that
Shaw used salty language extensively. There's also a reference to
Huston going to Shaw's house and Shaw having young children (would
have been 1963 or 1964), p. 542.
"The Hustons," by Lawrence Grobel. New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1989.
Shaw became injured during the filming of "Night of the Iguana" when
he fell through a balcony and literally broke his back. He recovered
and Houston helped him out monetarily. Huston referred to shaw as "the
best American first assistant I'd ever worked with," pp. 369-70.
"John Houston: an Open Book," by John Huston. New York: Alfred A.
Knopf, 1980.
I also searched through the Capote biographies and came up with
nothing.
This is not to say material doesn't exist, just that I've exhausted
the resources I have. Other researchers with access to other materials
may have better luck.
The best suggestion I have at the moment is to get your hands on the
video aceresearcher mentions. Shaw is unquestionably in the film as
himself. It's a reputable documentary and it was filmed relatively
recently. Presumably your relative would recognize Shaw if it's the
same person.
In the meantime, I'm sure the question is being looked at by other
researchers and hopefully, they can give you a more definitive answer.
Regards,
luciaphile-ga
|
Clarification of Question by
ann100-ga
on
09 Dec 2002 08:01 PST
Before I begin, I want to express my gratitude to all the researchers
who have participated on this project. Thank you for your
consciencious and thorough investigations.
I have a question that might shed light on this. Tom Shaw in Portland
was the director of Courier of Death, a 'B Movie' produced by his
independent film company. Is there any information to distinguish
this director Tom Shaw from the Tom Shaw of Huston fame?
Again, thank you for your input.
|
Request for Question Clarification by
politicalguru-ga
on
09 Dec 2002 11:28 PST
Joining the hunt, your hint led me to few contacts who might be able
to tell us more:
Vince Backeberg, who was responsible for the props -
http://home.teleport.com/~v3d/ of the film mentioned.
Daniel Snodgrass - who done the music
http://humwww.ucsc.edu/computing/dsresume.html
Ronald Sschmidt - editor - http://www.greenfilms.com/schmidt.html
|
Request for Question Clarification by
luciaphile-ga
on
09 Dec 2002 11:40 PST
Hi ann100-ga,
I don't know how much closer this brings us to an answer, but I sent
an email to and received a response from Vince Backeberg.
His reply:
From: v3d@teleport.com
Subject: Re: Your website and Courier of Death
"I don't think it's the same Tom Shaw. The Portland Tom Shaw was
somewhat famous (locally) as an independent exploitation film maker.
Frankly, I don't know if Tom is even still alive. At the time I
worked
on the "Courier",( which was almost twenty years ago) Tom was a
serious
chain smoker."
--Vince
As far as the three Tom Shaw's listed on IMDB go . . . it's not
immediately apparent from their website, but their sources for
information vary. Some of it comes from users who submit credits; some
from reference books; etc. Because of this, it's really entirely
possible that credits get mixed up or are erroneous. It's a great
source, but it's not comprehensive and it's not always accurate.
I'll also throw in the fact that in Logan's autobiography when he
speaks about Tom Shaw, he's not referring to a producer, but to the
unit manager/assistant director he worked with.
Regards,
luciaphile-ga
|
Clarification of Question by
ann100-ga
on
10 Dec 2002 05:45 PST
I think we're getting warmer.
Luciaphile, what was the query you sent that Vince responded to? We
know the Portland Tom Shaw is no longer alive, but have no indication
for the status of the Tom Shaw of In Cold Blood fame at this time.
The wording of your query might illuminate Vince's response.
I think the Dubliners and other references all of you have provided me
are promising. I would like to narrow things down a bit further
before my deadline if possible.
|
Request for Question Clarification by
luciaphile-ga
on
10 Dec 2002 08:26 PST
Hi ann100-ga,
This is what I asked Mr. Backeberg:
To: v3d@teleport.com
Subject: Re: Your website and Courier of Death
"I came across your site http://home.teleport.com/~v3d/index.html and
am hoping you can help me.
I'm doing some research for a client on Tom Shaw. Among other things,
she is attempting to determine if the Tom Shaw who directed "Courier
of Death" is the same Tom Shaw who was assistant director on such
films as "In Cold Blood," "Night of the Iguana," and "The Dead." So
far, my research would seem to indicate that isn't the case, but I'd
like to be positive.
Anything you can tell me would be greatly appreciated. Thank you."
Regards,
luciaphile-ga
|
