- Born
- Birth nameThomas Docherty
- Two-time Rondo Award winning film-maker Thomas Hamilton is the writer and director of "Leslie Howard: The Man Who Gave a Damn" (2015), "Boris Karloff: The Man Behind the Monster" (2021) (w Ron MacCloskey) & it's companion piece "Boris Karloff: The Rest of the Story" (2022).
"Boris Karloff: The Man Behind the Monster" was nominated for and won the Rondo Hatton Award for Best Documentary 2021. Released on Blu-ray & DVD in October 2022, the DvD was nominated for and won the Rondo Hatton Award for Best DvD Bonus Features , 2022.
April 2022: New projects include a series of documentaries under the umbrella title "Horror Icons", three of which are already in production "The Chaneys: A Horror Dynasty" which began filming April 20th 2022, as well as "Vincent Price: Of Art and Terror" & the as yet untitled Peter Lorre documentary, began filming May 11th 2022.
Prior to directing, Hamilton was an alternative musician and video producer. As Thomas Frenzi, he created soundtracks for the independently produced feature, "Virtues of Knature" (Kaprice Kea) (1987), shorts "Tell Me No Lies" (Neil Hunter) (1992), "Honeymoon Beyond" (Kaprice Kea) (1993) and "Demon Soul" (Elisar Cabrera) (1995) as well as his own projects "The Moon Gives Life" (1992) and "Ill Met" (1993) & co-wrote the music for "Fate" (2004), screened at Cannes Short Film Corner.
In addition to his two completed films Hamilton has several projects in various stages of production, "The Mystery of Flight 777" (about the plane on which Leslie Howard was shot down on June 1st 1943) & Flip-side (a musical).- IMDb Mini Biography By: Tom Hamilton - Dec 27th 2006 - Begins filming Leslie Howard The. Man Who Gave a Damn (with 2 day interview with Doodie Dale Harris (Leslie Howard's daughter at her home outside Toronto)
Oct 2007 - while filming for Leslie Howard: The Man Who Gave a Damn is sporadic due to lack of funding, Hamilton first makes contact with Derek Partridge (the boy who gave up his seat for Leslie Howard. Partridge offers to narrate and Hamilton gladly accepts)
Mar 2008 - Derek Partridge comes to London to film location sequences for Leslie Howard: The Man who Gave a Damn. Most of the original interviews seen in the film are shot during this 10 day visit, including a few for a 2nd projected film The Mystery of Flight 777.
June 2009 - Hamilton & cameraman Harry Clegg film considerable material in Lisbon Portugal, including a plaque dedication in memory of those killed in the shoot down of Flight 777 on June 1st 1943. Although intended for The Man who Gave a Damn, and including an interview with one of the last people to have seen Leslie Howard during his tour of Portugal) virtually all the material is held over for The Mystery of Flight 777.
Sept 2009 - As "Leslie Howard: A Quite Remarkable Life" the film has a private screening at the NFB in Toronto in the presence of Doodie of several of the films backers.
Sept 2011 - Leslie Howard: The Man who Gave a Damn has a further invite only screening in Leslie Howard's own cinema at Stowe Maries in Guildford. This is an earlier version than will subsequently be seen publicly. The event is covered in a BBC South report.
Sept 2011 - Hamilton, Derek Partridge, Tracy & David Graham Scott spend a week filming extensively for The Mystery of Flight 777 documentary.
2012-2013 - Funding remains an issue for Leslie Howard: The Man Who Gave a Damn, particularly in relation to clips licensing.
July 2013 - Frustrated by the lack of progress on Leslie Howard, Hamilton begins filming a new project "Flip-side", a musical, satire about a desperate low budget film maker. The four filmed scenes are intended to provide the material for a crowdfunding campaign - but the campaign never happens, since, by the time these are edited, there is a renewed drive to complete Leslie Howard: The Man Who Gave a Damn.
Dec 2013 - Hamilton engages Craig McCall to help clear the film through Fair Use
Feb 2014 - Hamilton is contacted by producer Monty Montgomery who expresses interest in Leslie Howard: The Man Who Gave A Damn.
Mar 2014 - Montgomery formally offers to become Executive Producer on the project, and funds it through an extensive post-production and re-editing process over the next 11 months.
Feb 14th 2015 - Just 3 days after the completion of post-production, Leslie Howard: The Man who Gave a Damn has it's world premier at The San Francisco Mostly British Film Festival & receives the Audience Award for Best Documentary. Over the following 12 months a number of minor revisions are made to the film and a 52 minute & 48 minute "cut" are created.
Dec 17th 2015 - Leslie Howard: The Man who Gave a Damn has it's UK premier at the Regent Street Cinema to a packed house. Hamilton & co-producer Tracy Jenkins are interviewed on stage by MC Paul Ryan, who will one day narrate Hamilton's next completed project.
2016-2017 - While promoting The Man Behind the Monster and trying to find a distributor Hamilton returns to work on The Mystery of Flight 777, filming a number of new interviews.
May 5th 2017 - A special VIP screening of Leslie Howard: The Man who Gave a Damn at the Margaret Mitchell museum in Atlanta, Georgia brings the film to the attention of Turner Classic Movies.
Dec 27th 2017 - Exactly 11 years after it commenced filming Leslie Howard: The Man who Gave a Damn receives it's British (& World) TV Premier on Talking Pictures TV.
Feb 2018-June 2018 - Bruno Belloni: The Tale of Terrible Man is a planned collaboration with Larry Smith (of 60's cult band The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band) Despite extensive writing & 4 days of filming, the project is eventually abandoned, due to unresolved script issues.
June 2nd 2018 - Leslie Howard: The Man who Gave a Damn receives its US (& Can) TV premier on Turner Classic Movies as part of a month of Leslie Howard related screenings.
June 4th 2018 - Turner Classic Movies viewer Ron MacCloskey emails Hamilton in response to The Man who Gave a Damn and asks him if he'd be interested in making a documentary on Boris Karloff.
July 18th 2018 - Hamilton begins production of Boris Karloff: The Man Behind the Monster with Ron MacCloskey and Tracy Jenkins
Sept 2019 - Hamilton wraps main filming of Boris Karloff: The Man Behind the Monster (2021)
Sept 4th 2020- Boris Karloff: The Man Behind the Monster Trailer released
Sept 2020 - Hamilton begins post-production on Boris Karloff: The Man Behind the Monster
March 2021 - Hamilton produces a 22 minute cut of the opening for private viewing only
June 1st to Sept 10th 2021 - Full editing and post production of "Boris Karloff: The Man Behind the Monster"
Sept 17th 2021 - Boris KarloffL The Man Behind the Monster released to cinemas in the United States.
Jan 26th 2022 - Boris Karloff: The Man Behind the Monster begins streaming on Shudder.
Nov 2021 - Mar 2022 - Hamilton produces "Boris Karloff: The Rest of the Story" - utilizing materials cut from The Man Behind the Monster and many unseen interviews filmed from 2018-2019. The 2 hour feature is intended as a bonus feature for the planned BluRay/Dvd of The Man Behind the Monster.
April 20th 2022 - The Chaneys: A Horror Dynasty begins filming, with a new interview with Jack Hill.
May 11th 2022 - Vincent Price: Of Terror & Art + Untitled Peter Lorre Documentary begin filming, with an extensive interview with Roger Corman.
June 4th 2022 - Boris Karloff - The Man Behind the Monster receives the Rondo Award for Best Documentary 2021.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Thomas Hamilton
- Often works in collaboration with Tracy Jenkins.
- March 15th - April 14th 2023: Producer Thomas Hamilton is running a Kickstarter Campaign ("Horror Icons" 12 Part Documentary Series) to funds to film remaining interviews and to edit one or more episodes of his series by September 2023.
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