Thomas Carter (director)

Thomas Carter
Born	Thomas Colbert Carter (1953-07-17) July 17, 1953 Austin, Texas, U.S.^[1]
Occupation	Actor, director, producer
Years active	1975–present

Thomas Colbert Carter (born July 17,^[1] 1953)^[2] is an American film and television director known for Swing Kids, Save the Last Dance with Julia Stiles, and Coach Carter with Samuel L. Jackson.

As an actor, Carter is probably best known for his work on the television series The White Shadow, playing J

Personal life

Thomas Carter was born July 17, 1953 in Austin, Texas. After high school graduation Carter would enroll and attend Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre in 1974. Following his educational career, in 1992 Carter was presented with the “Distinguished Alumnus Award” from Texas State University.

Career

Television Career (as actor)

Carter first began his film career as an actor. His first roles included working in television shows/movies such as: M*A*S*H, Lou Grant, What's Happening!!, The Secret of Isis, Whose Life Is It Anyway?, The Blue Knight, Good Times, and Hill Street Blues. He was a regular on the short-lived sitcom Szysznyk (1977), starring Ned Beatty. However, Carter is most known for his appearance on the series The White Shadow between the years 1978 through 1980.

The White Shadow, which ran three seasons from 1978 to 1981, starred actor Ken Howard, who played a Caucasian professional Chicago Bulls National Basketball Association (NBA) player who retires after a number of knee surgeries and takes a coaching position at a predominately African American and Hispanic urban high school located in South Central Los Angeles, Carver High. Carter played James Hayward, a troubled teenager with an extremely negative attitude who has to take care of his mom, Roberta, along with his younger brother, Jackie. Hayward has one of the highest IQs among his fellow players. After having an outstanding freshman year in basketball at Carver, Hayward had an opportunity to attend college, and later a chance for a summer job at a law firm. This drama series was one of the first to have a cast that was mainly African-American.

Producer/Director Career

Carter directed four episodes of The White Shadow, which led him to pursue directing as a career. He went on to produce and/or direct the television series pilots for Miami Vice (1984), St. Elsewhere (1982), Heart of the City (1986), and Equal Justice (1990), which he co-created and executive-produced. The series had a multi-ethnic cast; Carter later noted to Mark Gunther that, “I look in television and I don’t see myself,”^[3] in reference to the lack of diverse roles for African-American actors.

Carter went on to produce the series about an American family, Under One Roof (1995), starring James Earl Jones, Joe Morton, and Vanessa Bell Calloway. The drama dealt with the real life complications, stress, and dilemmas of a multi-generational African American family residing in Seattle, Washington. As a mid-season replacement, the series did not last long – only six episodes – but Carter received a lot of attention for it. He stated, “No African American family with this kind of breadth and complexity has even been shown on a weekly drama. Never has there been one with the amount of talent and experience that has gone into this show."^[4]

In addition, Carter directed episodes of Fame, Remington Steele, The New Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and 9 episodes of the police drama Hill Street Blues, among others. He also produced a number of series, including serving as executive producer for the 2002-04 crime series Hack, about a former police officer who operates a taxi.

Film career

Over time, Carter has come to be part of eleven movies, including Swing Kids starring Christian Bale; the 1997 Eddie Murphy vehicle Metro; the well known Paramount/MTV production of Save the Last Dance, about an interracial couple; the famous true story of Ken Carter in Coach Carter, starring Samuel L. Jackson; and the TV-movies Divas (1995) and Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story (2009). Coincidentally, there is a four-year gap between each of his films.

Awards

Carter has won a number of awards in the realm of television, film production, and directing. Carter has been the recipient of the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Shows for directing Hill Street Blues in 1981, winning three Emmy Awards (while being nominated six times) – two for Outstanding Directing for the series Equal Justice in 1990 and 1991, and the other was for Producing, Outstanding Made for Television Movie- Don King: Only in America in 1998. Carter would also win a Peabody Award and a Broadcast Film Critics Award for his work on Don King: Only in America.

Filmography

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
As director

Swing Kids (1993)
Metro (1997)
Save the Last Dance (2001)
Coach Carter (2005)
Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story (2009)
When the Game Stands Tall (2014)

Television

Movies

Whose Life Is It Anyway? (1981)

References

1 2 "Thomas Carter Biography ((?)-)". Filmreference.com. Retrieved 2011-12-21.
↑
↑ Mark Gunther (March 5, 1995). "The Color Barrier: Why Can’t Black Oriented Dramas Find a Place on Television!". Chicago Tribune.
↑ Greg Braxton (March 12, 1995). "Drama of a Different Color". Los Angeles Times.

External links

Thomas Carter at the Internet Movie Database
Thomas Carter interview video at the Archive of American Television

Films directed by Thomas Carter

Swing Kids (1993) Metro (1997) Save the Last Dance (2001) Coach Carter (2005) Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story (2009) When the Game Stands Tall (2014)

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series

Jack Smight for "Eddie" (1959)
Robert Mulligan for The Moon and Sixpence (1960)
George Schaefer for "Macbeth (II)" (1961)
Franklin J. Schaffner (1962)
Stuart Rosenberg for "The Madman" (1963)
Tom Gries for "Who Do You Kill?" (1964)
Paul Bogart for "The 700 Year Old Gang" (1965)
Sydney Pollack for "The Game" (1966)
Alex Segal for Death of a Salesman (1967)
Lee H. Katzin (1968)
David Greene for "The People Next Door" (1969)
Paul Bogart for "Shadow Game" (1970)
Daryl Duke for "The Day the Lion Died" / Fielder Cook for "The Price" (1971)
Alexander Singer for "The Invasion of Kevin Ireland" / Tom Gries (1972)
Jerry Thorpe for "An Eye for an Eye" / Joseph Sargent for "The Marcus-Nelson Murders" (1973)
John Korty for The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman / Robert Butler for "Part III" (1974)
Bill Bain for "A Sudden Storm" (1975)
David Greene for Episode 8 (Rich Man, Poor Man) (1976)
David Greene for Part 1 (Roots) (1977)
Marvin J. Chomsky for Holocaust (1978)
Jackie Cooper for "Pilot" (The White Shadow) (1979)
Roger Young for "Cop" (1980)
Robert Butler for "Hill Street Station"(1981)
Harry Harris for "To Soar and Never Falter" (1982)
Jeff Bleckner for "Life in the Minors" (1983)
Corey Allen for "Goodbye, Mr. Scripps" (1984)
Karen Arthur for "Heat" (1985)
Georg Stanford Brown for "Parting Shots" (1986)
Gregory Hoblit for "Pilot" (L.A. Law) (1987)
Mark Tinker for "Weigh In, Way Out" (1988)
Robert Altman for "The Boiler Room" (1989)
Thomas Carter for "Promises to Keep" / Scott Winant for "The Go-Between" (1990)
Thomas Carter for "In Confidence" (1991)
Eric Laneuville for "All God's Children" (1992)
Barry Levinson for "Gone for Goode" (1993)
Daniel Sackheim for "Tempest in a C-Cup" (1994)
Mimi Leder for "Love's Labor Lost" (1995)
Jeremy Kagan for "Leave of Absence" (1996)
Mark Tinker for "Where's Swaldo?" (1997)
Mark Tinker for "Pilot" (Brooklyn South) / Paris Barclay for "Brain Salad Surgery" (1998)
Paris Barclay for "Hearts and Souls" (1999)
Thomas Schlamme for "Pilot" (The West Wing) (2000)
Thomas Schlamme for "In the Shadow of Two Gunmen: Part I" & "Part II" (2001)
Alan Ball for "Pilot" (Six Feet Under) (2002)
Christopher Misiano for "Twenty Five" (2003)
Walter Hill for "Deadwood" (2004)
J. J. Abrams for "Pilot" (Lost) (2005)
Jon Cassar for "Day 5: 7:00 a.m. – 8:00 a.m." (2006)
Alan Taylor for "Kennedy and Heidi" (2007)
Greg Yaitanes for "House's Head" (2008)
Rod Holcomb for "And in the End..." (2009)
Steve Shill for "The Getaway" (2010)
Martin Scorsese for "Boardwalk Empire" (2011)
Tim Van Patten for "To the Lost" (2012)
David Fincher for "Chapter 1" (2013)
Cary Joji Fukunaga for "Who Goes There" (2014)
David Nutter for "Mother's Mercy" (2015)

Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Drama Series

1971-2000	Daniel Petrie for "Hands of Love" (1971) Robert Butler for "Dust Bowl Cousins" (1972) Charles S. Dubin for "Knockover" (1973) David Friedkin for "Cross Your Heart, Hope to Die" (1974) James Cellan Jones for Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill (Miniseries) (1975) Glenn Jordan for "Rites of Friendship" (1976) John Erman for "Second Hour" (1977) Gene Reynolds for "Prisoner" (1978) Roger Young for "Cop" (1979) Roger Young for "Lou" (1980) Robert Butler for "Hill Street Station" (1981) David Anspaugh for "Personal Foul" (1982) Jeff Bleckner for "Life in the Minors" (1983) Thomas Carter for "The Rise and Fall of Paul the Wall (1984) Will Mackenzie for "My Fair David" (1985) Will Mackenzie for "Atomic Shakespeare" (1986) Marshall Herskovitz for "Pilot" (Thirtysomething) (1987) Marshall Herskovitz for "Therapy" (1988) Eric Laneuville for "I'm in the Nude" (1989) Michael Zinberg for "Vietnam" (1990) Eric Laneuville for "All God's Children" (1991) Rob Thompson for "Cicely" (1992) Gregory Hoblit for "Pilot" (NYPD Blue) (1993) Charles Haid for "Into That Good Night" (1994) Christopher Chulack for "Hell and High Water" (1995) Christopher Chulack for "Fear of Flying" (1996) Barbara Kopple for "The Documentary" (1997) Paris Barclay for "Hearts and Souls" (1998) David Chase for "The Sopranos" (1999) Thomas Schlamme for "Noël" (2000)

2001-present	Alan Ball for "Pilot" (Six Feet Under) (2001) John Patterson for "Whitecaps" (2002) Chris Misiano for "Twenty Five" (2003) Walter Hill for "Deadwood" (2004) Michael Apted for "The Stolen Eagle" (2005) Jon Cassar for "Day 5: 7:00 a.m. – 8:00 a.m." (2006) Alan Taylor for "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" (2007) Daniel Attias for "Transitions" (2008) Lesli Linka Glatter for "Guy Walks into an Advertising Agency" (2009) Martin Scorsese for "Boardwalk Empire" (2010) Patty Jenkins for "Pilot" (The Killing) (2011) Rian Johnson for "Fifty-One" (2012) Vince Gilligan for "Felina" (2013) Lesli Linka Glatter for "From A to B and Back Again" (2014) David Nutter for "Mother's Mercy" (2015)

Authority control	WorldCat VIAF: 16560303 LCCN: no2007043018 ISNI: 0000 0001 1991 7888 GND: 141898127 BNF: cb140854538 (data)

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