fiction.wikisort.org - Actor

Betty Thomas (born Betty Lucille Nienhauser; July 21, 1948)[1][3] is an American actress, director, and producer. She is known for her Emmy Award-winning role as Sergeant Lucy Bates on the television series Hill Street Blues.[4] As of March 2018, Thomas is one of just two directors (and the only solo director) to have multiple films on the list of seventeen highest-US-grossing female-directed films.[5] Additionally, two of her films are in the top twenty-five highest-US-grossing female-directed films.[6]

Betty Thomas
Thomas at the Emmy Awards Governors Ball in 1994
Born	Betty Lucille Nienhauser[1] (1948-07-21) July 21, 1948 (age 74) St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Occupation	Actress, film and television director
Years active	1975–present
Height	6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Spouse	Douglas Thomas[2]

Early life

Thomas was born Betty Lucille Nienhauser in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1947 to Nancy (née Brown) and William H. Nienhauser, Sr.[7][8] She graduated from Willoughby South High School, Willoughby, Ohio, in 1965. After high school Thomas attended Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Upon graduating Thomas worked as an artist and taught high school before becoming a part of The Second City, the premiere venue for improvisational theater in Chicago.[9]

Second City

Thomas came to her entertainment career by a circuitous route. While working as an artist and school teacher, she became a waitress at The Second City to earn extra cash for a trip abroad. While waiting on tables, Thomas was encouraged to try out for the troupe, and subsequently joined the company.[10]

She was praised for her brassy and outspoken performances, and became the first woman to direct one of their MainStage theatre productions.[11] Thomas also worked with several up and coming Second City alumni, most notably Bill Murray.[12] When The Second City opened a Los Angeles branch, Thomas moved west. She later reunited with some of the Second City cast members when she appeared as special guest star in a 1983 episode of SCTV.[13][14]

Career

Acting career

Upon her arrival in Los Angeles, Thomas received many bit parts in low-budget films like Chesty Anderson, USN (1976), the Robert Zemeckis film Used Cars (1980) as well as sketch comedy films like Tunnel Vision (1975), and Loose Shoes (1980), the latter of which featured Second City classmate Bill Murray.[10] She also appeared in the 1989 film Troop Beverly Hills, starring Shelley Long.[15]

While Thomas had been building her career in comedy, her breakthrough role as an actress came when she was cast in the role of police officer (later Sergeant) Lucy Bates on the TV series Hill Street Blues (1981–87). Over the course of the series her character goes from inexperienced rookie to confident sergeant. She received seven Emmy nominations for best supporting actress, and took home the award for the 1984–85 season.[16]

Directing career

After having lied to a Variety reporter about planning on directing a Hooperman episode, she was given a real opportunity by the show's executive producer, and from there her directing career began.[17] After making several other acting appearances, Thomas began directing episodes of Hooperman in addition to the premiere episodes of Doogie Howser, M.D. in 1989. She went on to direct episodes of Arresting Behavior and several episodes of the HBO series Dream On, the latter of which earned her an Emmy for best director.[16] Thomas is nicknamed "The Midnight Queen" because of her preference for nighttime shoots.[18]

In 1992 Thomas took the next step in her directing career with her feature debut Only You. A slight, playful romantic comedy, Only You was a departure from Thomas's experience on Hill Street Blues or her subsequent television directing. Wayne Rice, the film's producer and screenwriter, said that Thomas was chosen to direct due in part to the film's plot in which a man is on a hapless quest to find the perfect woman. He felt it would be considered inherently sexist without a female director.[19]

Three years following the release of Only You, Thomas directed The Brady Bunch Movie (1995), a satirical vision of the 1970s television series The Brady Bunch. The Brady Bunch Movie was a box office hit with domestic ticket sales of $46,576,136, nearly quadrupling its $12 million budget and making it at the time one of the highest-grossing films directed by a woman.[4]

She followed The Brady Bunch Movie with other successes, including Private Parts (1997), Dr. Dolittle (1998), 28 Days (2000), and John Tucker Must Die (2006). The 2009 film Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel became the first female-directed picture to gross more than $200 million and made her the most successful woman director up to that time at the box office.[20] In 2012, Thomas directed a low-budget online series called Audrey for the WIGS YouTube channel.[21] In 1998, her Tall Trees productions company was signed to a first look deal with Columbia Pictures.[22]

In 2001, Thomas won the Dorothy Arzner Directors Award of the Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Awards, presented by the Los Angeles chapter of the Women in Film Organization.[15]

Filmography

Film

Director Only You (1992) The Brady Bunch Movie (1995) Private Parts (1997) Dr. Dolittle (1998) 28 Days (2000) I Spy (2002) John Tucker Must Die (2006) Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (2009)

Executive producer Charlie's Angels (2000) Silicon Follies (2001) (TV movie) Guess Who (2005) John Tucker Must Die: Featurettes (2006) (Video Documentary Short) Producer Can't Hardly Wait (1998) I Spy (2002) Surviving Christmas (2004)

Television

TV series

Year	Title	Notes
1989	Hooperman	Episodes: "Goodnight, Sweet Hooperman", "Dog Day Afternoon", "Morning and Night", "In the Still of My Pants"
1989	Doogie Howser, M.D.	Episodes: "Doogie The Red-Nosed Reindeer", "The Ice Queen Cometh"
1990	Mancuso, FBI	Episodes: "Night of the Living Shred", "Shiva Me Timbers", "Murder of Pearl"
1990	Parenthood	Episodes: "Thanksgiving with a T that Rhymes with B that Stands for Basketball", "I Never Invested for My Father"
1990–1996	Dream On	18 episodes Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series (1993)
1991	Sons and Daughters	Episode: "The Thing"
1991	Midnight Caller	Episode: "Her Dirty Little Secret"
1991	Shannon's Deal	Episode: "Matrimony"
1992	On the Air	Episode #1.6
2006	The Loop	Pilot episode
2015	Grace and Frankie	Episode: "The Fall"

TV movies

• My Breast (1994)
• Couples (1994)
• The Late Shift (1996) Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Specials
• Silicon Follies (2001)
• Senor White (2003)
• That Guy (2006)
• Dash 4 Cash (2007)

Acting roles

Year	Title	Role	Director / creator	Notes
1976	Tunnel Vision	Bridgit Bert Richards	Neal Israel, Bradley R. Swirnoff
1976	Jackson County Jail	Waitress	Michael Miller
1976	The Last Affair		Henri Charr
1976	Chesty Anderson U.S. Navy	Party Guest #1	Ed Forsyth
1977	Dog and Cat	Waitress	Bob Kelljan
1978	C.P.O. Sharkey	Seaman Daley	Aaron Ruben
1978	Outside Chance	Katherine	Michael Miller
1980	Used Cars	Bunny	Robert Zemeckis
1980	Loose Shoes	Biker Chic #1	Ira Miller
1981	The Nashville Grab	Maxine Pearce	James L. Conway
1982	Twilight Theater		Perry Rosemond
1982	Homework	Reddogs Secretary	James Beshears
1983	When Your Lover Leaves	Maude	Jeff Bleckner
1985	ABC Afterschool Specials	Dr. Mary Lewis	Guy Fraumeni
1987	Prison for Children	Angela Brannon	Larry Peerce
1981–1987	Hill Street Blues	Sgt. Lucy Bates	Steven Bochco, Michael Kozoll	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (1985)
1989	The Tracey Ullman Show	Miss Belts, Gym Teacher	Ted Bessell, Art Wolff	Segment titled "Francesca: A Physical Education"
1989	Troop Beverly Hills	Velda Plendor	Jeff Kanew
2018	Kidding	Herself	Michel Gondry	Episode: "Green Means Go"

References

External links

• Betty Thomas at IMDb
• Betty Thomas Biography on Tribute.ca
• Betty Thomas on The Second City
• Betty Thomas on Alliance of Women Directors

На других языках

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[de] Betty Thomas

Betty Thomas (* 27. Juli 1948 in St. Louis, Missouri; als Betty Thomas Nienhauser) ist eine US-amerikanische Schauspielerin, Filmproduzentin und Regisseurin.

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- [en] Betty Thomas

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[es] Betty Thomas

Betty Thomas (n. Saint Louis, Misuri, 27 de julio de 1947) es una actriz y directora estadounidense.

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[ru] Томас, Бетти

Бетти Томас (англ. Betty Thomas Nienhauser; род. 27 июля 1948) — американская актриса и режиссёр. Она стала первой женщиной, выигравшей премию «Эмми» за режиссуру.

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