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Thomas Schlamme

 
Director: Thomas Schlamme
 
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Actors
  • Born: in Houston, Texas
  • Occupation: Director
  • Active: '90s
  • Major Genres: Comedy, Comedy Drama
  • Career Highlights: The West Wing, Sports Night, Miss Firecracker
  • First Major Screen Credit: Bette Midler: Art or Bust (1984)

Biography

Thomas Schlamme gained an abundance of experience in the film industry during the 1980s and 1990s in directorial and production positions. Even his familial status incorporated his entertainment career, as he married Golden Globe-winning actress Christine Lahti in 1983. Schlamme and Lahti had three children together. Born on May 22, 1950, Schlamme was raised in Houston, TX. Starting off in television, he founded his own commercial production company in 1980, creating advertisements for plays in New York. Soon after directing Emmy-nominated "after-school specials," he became affiliated with big acting names like Bette Midler and Whoopi Goldberg. In 1989, he directed his first full-length feature, which was adapted from a play by Beth Henley, entitled Miss Firecracker. A light-hearted comedy, the film featured Holly Hunter and Tim Robbins. Several years later, Schlamme directed another comedy, this time featuring '80s and '90s Saturday Night Live star Mike Myers, called So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993). While maintaining his status as director for episodes of numerous prime-time television series, Schlamme became strongly affiliated with network TV, and would eventually step up to the producer level within the industry. Beginning with an episode of The Wonder Years, a retrospective drama featuring a young Fred Savage, Schlamme earned directorial credits on highly successful programming throughout the 1980s and 1990s. His NBC spots included episodes of the romantic comedy series Mad About You, the sitcom Friends, and the drama ER. In 1996, he worked with Charlie Sheen and Heather Locklear on Spin City. Taking on the law drama genre, he also directed episodes of The Practice, Ally McBeal, and Fox's Boston Public. Doubling up his billing as producer and director, he worked on the series Tracey Takes On in 1996. He acted as executive producer of The West Wing and Sports Night in the 1990s, also directing some of the episodes in the two series. In addition to his behind-the-scenes involvement on television, he appeared as himself in the biographical film about his wife in Intimate Portrait: Christine Lahti, which appeared on TV in 1998. ~ Sarah Sloboda, All Movie Guide
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Wikipedia: Thomas Schlamme
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Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
Thomas Schlamme
Born Thomas David Schlamme
May 22, 1950 (1950-05-22) (age 59)
Houston, Texas, USA
Spouse(s) Christine Lahti (1983-present)

Thomas Schlamme (born May 22, 1950) is an American television director.

Schlamme moved from his native Houston to New York in 1973. After serving in several low level positions for production companies, he founded his own company, Schlamme Productions, in 1980. From there, he produced campaigns for a number of musicals, including Cats. Throughout the 1980s, he produced a number of specials on various entertainers including Whoopi Goldberg and Rowan Atkinson. He directed his first movie, Miss Firecracker, in 1989. He also directed the comedy movie, So I Married an Axe Murderer in 1993 with Mike Myers.

Beginning in the late 1990s, he served as producer for shows such as Tracey Takes On and has directed shows such as Ally McBeal, Boston Public, Friends, ER and Shaun Cassidy's Invasion. Schlamme also directed the pilot episode of Spin City.

He is married to actress Christine Lahti and has three children.

Schlamme first worked with Aaron Sorkin on his short-lived ABC comedy/drama Sports Night, for which he directed 16 of its 45 episodes. Their biggest break was in 1999, teaming up again on their hit political drama The West Wing. He directed the pilot episode and from then on served as the executive producer until 2003. He directed 14 episodes of The West Wing in addition to serving as executive producer. He directed the pilot episode of his latest collaboration with Sorkin, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, and was executive producing the show until it was cancelled on May 14, 2007.

References

External links


v • d • e
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series

David Greene (1976) · David Greene (1977) · Marvin J. Chomsky (1978) · Jackie Cooper (1979) · Roger Young (1980) · Robert Butler (1981) · Harry Harris (1982) · Jeff Bleckner (1983) · Corey Allen (1984) · Karen Arthur (1985) · Georg Stanford Brown (1986) · Gregory Hoblit (1987) · Mark Tinker (1988) · Robert Altman (1989) · Thomas Carter / Scott Winant (1990) · Thomas Carter (1991) · Eric Laneuville (1992) · Barry Levinson (1993) · Daniel Sackheim (1994) · Mimi Leder (1995) · Jeremy Kagan (1996) · Mark Tinker (1997) · Mark Tinker / Paris Barclay (1998) · Paris Barclay (1999) · Thomas Schlamme (2000)
Complete list: (1959–1975) · (1976–2000) · (2001–present)
v • d • e
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series

Thomas Schlamme (2001) · Alan Ball (2002) · Christopher Misiano (2003) · Walter Hill (2004) · J. J. Abrams (2005) · Jon Cassar (2006) · Alan Taylor (2007) · Greg Yaitanes (2008)
Complete list: (1959–1975) · (1976–2000) · (2001–present)
v • d • e
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series

Gene Reynolds / Dave Wilson (1976) · Alan Alda / David P. Powers (1977) · Paul Bogart / David P. Powers (1978) · Noam Pitlik (1979) · James Burrows (1980) · James Burrows (1981) · Alan Rafkin (1982) · James Burrows (1983) · Bill Persky (1984) · Jay Sandrich (1985) · Jay Sandrich (1986) · Terry Hughes (1987) · Gregory Hoblit (1988) · Peter Baldwin (1989) · Michael Dinner (1990) · James Burrows (1991) · Barnet Kellman (1992) · Betty Thomas (1993) · James Burrows (1994) · David Lee (1995) · Michael Lembeck (1996) · David Lee (1997) · Todd Holland (1998) · Thomas Schlamme (1999) · Todd Holland (2000)

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

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Director. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Thomas Schlamme".  Read more

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