Ernest Thompson (born Richard Ernest Thompson ; November 6, 1949) is an American writer, actor, and director. He won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for On Golden Pond , an adaptation of his own play of the same name .
17-406: The West Side Waltz is a play by Ernest Thompson . The play focuses on Margaret Mary Elderdice, an aging, widowed pianist living in a dreary Upper West Side apartment, and her relationships with a prim, virginal violinist neighbor and the young companion who moves in for an extended stay. Thompson was prompted to write the piece when screenwriter George Seaton offered him a grant to write
34-737: A "lighthearted" answer to The Vagina Monologues . In 2001, he directed his own live TV version of On Golden Pond , starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer . His play White People Christmas played at the Zephyr Theatre in Los Angeles, directed by Thompson. In 1991 his son August was born. In 1993, Thompson married Kristie Lanier at his home in New Hampshire, where he raised daughters Heather and Danielle. Thompson and Lanier later divorced. On Christmas Day in 2012, he married Kerrin (Rocha) Adrian. Thompson lives most of
51-572: A new play following the success of his previous work, On Golden Pond . The play originally was presented off-Broadway in 1978. After three previews, the Broadway production, directed by Noel William, opened on November 19, 1981, at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre . Despite the presence of screen legend Katharine Hepburn , supported by Dorothy Loudon , Regina Baff , and David Margulies , it ran for only 126 performances. Hepburn
68-651: A new play for the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. Thompson wrote and directed a television version based on the play, premiering on Thanksgiving night 1995, starring Shirley MacLaine , Liza Minnelli , Kathy Bates , and Jennifer Grey . As an actor, Thompson's only Broadway appearance was as drifter Hal Carter in Summer Brave , William Inge 's revised version of his play Picnic . He portrayed Ranger Matt Harper on NBC’s 1974 series Sierra and Dr. Phil Parker on ABC's Westside Medical . He appeared on
85-614: Is a play by William Inge , a revision of his Pulitzer Prize -winning 1953 play Picnic . Set in Independence, Kansas , a small town in Kansas in the early 1950s, it focuses on Hal Carter, an attractive young stranger who drifts into town just before the annual Labor Day celebration and sets off a chain of events that prompts various residents to reflect on the present and contemplate an unpromising future. Of it, Inge said, "A couple of years after Picnic had closed on Broadway, after
102-477: Is the main substantive difference between it and Picnic , with Madge staying rather than running after Hal. The ending for Picnic was suggested by Josh Logan, the director. Although Picnic is set in the early 1950s, both plays are about growing up in Independence, Kansas in the 1920s, as all the allusions in the texts show, and most of the characters are based upon people who lived in Independence when Inge
119-707: The Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in 1981 as well as awards from the Golden Globes and the Writers Guild of America . The West Side Waltz , Thompson's second popular play, opened on Broadway, starring Katharine Hepburn on November 19, 1981. Thompson is quoted as saying that The West Side Waltz came about after a telephone call he received on behalf of screenwriter George Seaton , creator of movies such as Miracle on 34th Street , offering Thompson "the only George Seaton grant" to write
136-653: The 1990s, Thompson wrote the television film Take Me Home Again (released on DVD as The Lies Boys Tell ) in 1994, based on the novel by Lamar Herrin, starring Kirk Douglas and Craig T. Nelson , in which Thompson also appeared. He directed and acted opposite Shirley MacLaine and Jennifer Grey in The West Side Waltz and co-wrote and directed the Emmy-nominated movie Out of Time , starring James McDaniel and Mel Harris . In 2000, Thompson directed The Penis Responds , with Richard Gilliland , as
153-734: The NBC soap opera Somerset as Tony Cooper, son of Rex and Laura Cooper, and in the television films The Rimers of Eldritch and F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Last of the Belles . Other acting credits include roles in the Bob Fosse movie Star 80 and Next Stop Wonderland , directed by Brad Anderson . Thompson wrote the screenplay for the feature film Sweet Hearts Dance , directed by Robert Greenwald and starring Susan Sarandon and Don Johnson . He directed 1969 , starring Kiefer Sutherland , Robert Downey, Jr. , and Winona Ryder . During
170-664: The author of the play On Golden Pond , which he wrote at the age of 28. The play opened off-Broadway in 1978, starring Tom Aldredge and Frances Sternhagen . A great success at the Kennedy Center , it opened at the New Apollo Theater on Broadway February 28, 1979. Revived the following season at the Century Theatre, On Golden Pond ran for more than 400 performances. It became a hit 1981 film , starring Katharine Hepburn and Henry Fonda . Thompson won
187-421: The film version had made its success, I got the early version out of my files and began to rework it, just for my own satisfaction. Summer Brave is the result. I admit that I prefer it to the version of the play that was produced [originally], but I don't necessarily expect others to agree...I feel that it is more humorously true than Picnic , and it does fulfill my original intentions." The Broadway production
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#1732794090689204-665: The first performance of Summer Brave came only after Inge's death in 1973. However, he wrote the original version of Summer Brave long before Picnic . In other words, Picnic was revised from Summer Brave , not the other way around. In fact, a manuscript copy of the play Summer Brave held in Special Collections at the University of Kansas library has an inscription by Inge on the title page. There Inge refers to it as an early version of Picnic, and one that he much preferred to Picnic . The ending of Summer Brave
221-577: The year in New Hampton, New Hampshire (very close to where On Golden Pond was filmed). In 2008, Thompson co-founded Whitebridge Farm Productions with partners Morgan Murphy and Lori Gigliotti-Murphy. He wrote, directed and starred in the company's first two movies, Heavenly Angle and Time and Charges , both of which were primarily filmed in the Granite State and offered by Whitebridge Farm Productions. Summer Brave Summer Brave
238-625: Was a boy. In addition, sections of Summer Brave reflect biographical events that Inge's family felt were too personal to make public. Hence, one page from the KU library's copy of the Summer Brave manuscript was intentionally removed (possibly by Inge's sister), leaving a gap of information in an important conversation that does not exist at all in the published version of the play. Inge always wanted to retain aspects of Summer Brave in Picnic . Hence,
255-664: Was born as Richard Ernest Thompson in Bellows Falls, Vermont , to parents Theron and Esther Thompson. He spent his early years in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine, moving to Maryland as a junior high school student. He attended the University of Maryland and the Catholic University of America , before ultimately graduating cum laude from American University in 1971. Thompson is best known as
272-558: Was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play, but lost to Zoe Caldwell ( Medea ). The production then went on tour, running at the Shubert Theatre (Boston) from April 13 to May 1, 1982. Thompson wrote the teleplay for and directed a CBS production that originally aired on Thanksgiving night in 1995. The cast included Shirley MacLaine , Liza Minnelli , Kathy Bates , Jennifer Grey , Estelle Harris , and Robert Pastorelli . Ernest Thompson Thompson
289-531: Was staged two years after Inge's death. Produced by Fritz Holt and directed by Michael Montel, it was not a success. After three previews, it opened on October 26, 1975 at the ANTA Playhouse and closed after 18 performances. Ernest Thompson , who later won fame as the writer of On Golden Pond , starred as Hal Carter. The supporting cast included Nan Martin , Alexis Smith , Jill Eikenberry , Miles Chapin , and Peter Weller . First published in 1962,
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