Tom Thurman is an American filmmaker. Thurman has produced and directed numerous independent documentaries on film, music, and literary figures, including Nick Nolte, Warren Oates, Harry Crews, John Ford, and Sam Peckinpah.

Early career

Thurman received a bachelor's degree in 1984 from Centre College

Centre College

Centre College is a private liberal arts college in Danville, Kentucky, USA, a community of approximately 16,000 in Boyle County south of Lexington, KY. Centre is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution. Centre was founded by Presbyterian leaders, with whom it maintains a loose...

, in Danville

Danville, Kentucky

Danville is a city in and the county seat of Boyle County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 16,218 at the 2010 census.Danville is the principal city of the Danville Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Boyle and Lincoln counties....

, Kentucky. He then received his graduate degree from the University of Kentucky

University of Kentucky

The University of Kentucky, also known as UK, is a public co-educational university and is one of the state's two land-grant universities, located in Lexington, Kentucky...

 in 1988. Thurman subsequently taught in the English departments at Tulane University

Tulane University

Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...

 and Berea College

Berea College

Berea College is a liberal arts work college in Berea, Kentucky , founded in 1855. Current full-time enrollment is 1,514 students...

.

Film career

Thurman began his role as director with a documentary on the late character actor, Warren Oates

Warren Oates

Warren Mercer Oates was an American actor best known for his performances in several films directed by Sam Peckinpah including The Wild Bunch and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia...

, released in 1992. He returned to Centre College as an instructor for the Governor's Scholars Program in 1995. He has since produced and directed a string of feature-length documentaries that have aired on PBS and cable networks such as Starz, Encore and The Documentary Channel. His latest independent project, Nick Nolte: No Exit, was recently acquired by IFC Films

IFC Films

IFC Films is an American film distribution company based in New York, owned by AMC Networks. It distributes independent films and documentaries under the IFC Films, Sundance Selects and IFC Midnight. It operates the IFC Center....

. Since 1998, Thurman has worked as a producer and writer for the local PBS affiliate in Lexington, Kentucky.

Selected works

• Warren Oates: Across the Border (1992)
• Harry Crews: Guilty as Charged (1993)
• Ben Johnson: Third Cowboy on the Right (1996)
• Jerry Wexler: Immaculate Funk (2000)
• Movies of Color: Black Southern Cinema (2001)
• John Ford Goes to War (2002)
• Sam Peckinpah’s West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade (2003)
• Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride: Hunter S. Thompson on Film (2006)
• Nick Nolte: No Exit (2008)

External links