Ted Newsom
Encyclopedia
Ted Newsom is an American
writer, director, producer and actor.
; served in the US Army 1972-75 as a surgical assistant in Heidelberg
, Germany. While in the military, he attended the University of Maryland extension; later, Portland State University
, then moved to California, attending UCLA extension, graduating from Los Angeles Pierce College
with an AA, and further study at California State University
at Northridge, where his teachers included Lucille Ball
, Sidney Salkow
and producer Ben Brady.
. The team then collaborated on several screenplays of Marvel Comics characters: Sgt. Fury, Spider-Man
, and The Sub-Mariner, working with Stan Lee
on these adaptations.
Active in the WGA strike in 1988, Newsom segued into directing and producing video documentaries, notably Flesh and Blood, the Hammer Heritage of Horror, becoming the last director to team the British horror stars Peter Cushing
and Christopher Lee
, who co-narrated. The first half of the program was broadcast on the BBC
four days before Cushing died.
He also made Ed Wood—Look Back in Angora, about legendary B-movie maker Ed Wood, video biographies of Marilyn Monroe
, Frank Sinatra
, and Elvis Presley
, and was writer/director of the 26-episode series 100 Years of Horror, again with Christopher Lee as host and narrator.
He served as associate producer on several soundtrack releases of the film music of Ronald Stein
, such as Not of This Earth and It Conquered the World. He provided film commentary on a number of DVD releases, notably The Devil Bat with Bela Lugosi, Jr., Day the Earth Caught Fire and Hell is a City with Val Guest
, and his own production The Naked Monster
, with director Wayne Berwick. He wrote and directed Cinemaker for Charles Band, a video primer on low-budget film production.
Newsom has directed Tab Hunter
, Kenneth Tobey
, John Agar
, Raquel Welch
, Margaret O'Brien
, Jack Palance
, Jack Larson
, Linnea Quigley
, and Brinke Stevens
, with whom he has also written several screenplays (e.g., Teenage Exorcist, Wild Spirit).
Newsom is sometimes credited as Richmond Reed or Reed Richmond, references to a stage name used by John Carradine
, whom Newsom "directed" posthumously, two years after the actor's death, in a film for Fred Olen Ray
. Occasionally he is confused with Ted Newsome, a noted skateboard writer, photographer and video producer, and/or another "Ted Newsom," a Utah-based videographer and editor who goes by the name of "The Rose Phantom."
He appeared on stage in the musical 1776 in Germany, later a Marx Brothers
' parody of Hamlet, entitled A Night in Elsinore. He has done narration and appeared on-screen in films by Fred Olen Ray
, J.R. Bookwalter, and Ron Ford. He also appeared as "Dr. Cooper" in the here! original series The Lair
, which debuted in June 2007.
in 1984, subsequently rewritten by Barney Cohen and polished by "Joseph Goldman" (aka Menahem Golan
). Interim screenwriters (1985-87) included Ethan Wiley, Frank LaLoggia, and Neil Ruttenberg. A 1993 draft of this script, available online, also credits James Cameron
, although the text itself is identical to a 1987 draft without Cameron's name.
Newsom and many of the other writers on that long-aborning project objected to the award of sole credit to David Koepp
without an arbitration or examination of any of the scripts, and a protracted dispute with the WGA
and Sony-Columbia Pictures ensued. Newsom filed a NLRB complaint on their collective behalf and a subsequent unilateral lawsuit. Presumably the situation was amicably resolved.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer, director, producer and actor.
Early life and education
Son of Vernon and Patricia Newsom; grew up in Portland, OR, Spokane, WA and the San Fernando ValleySan Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...
; served in the US Army 1972-75 as a surgical assistant in Heidelberg
Heidelberg
-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...
, Germany. While in the military, he attended the University of Maryland extension; later, Portland State University
Portland State University
Portland State University is a public state urban university located in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1946, it has the largest overall enrollment of any university in the state of Oregon, including undergraduate and graduate students. It is also the only public university in...
, then moved to California, attending UCLA extension, graduating from Los Angeles Pierce College
Los Angeles Pierce College
Los Angeles Pierce College, also known as Pierce College, Pierce, is a community college that serves more than 23,000 students in the northern Chalk Hills of Woodland Hills, a community within the San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles, California.The college began with 70 students...
with an AA, and further study at California State University
California State University
The California State University is a public university system in the state of California. It is one of three public higher education systems in the state, the other two being the University of California system and the California Community College system. It is incorporated as The Trustees of the...
at Northridge, where his teachers included Lucille Ball
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy...
, Sidney Salkow
Sidney Salkow
Sidney Salkow was an American film director , screen writer, and television director....
and producer Ben Brady.
Career
Freelancing for magazines and newspapers led him to magazine editing jobs. With John D. Brancato, Newsom co-wrote The Un-Official NFL Players Handbook, a humor book for Simon & SchusterSimon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster, Inc., a division of CBS Corporation, is a publisher founded in New York City in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. It is one of the four largest English-language publishers, alongside Random House, Penguin and HarperCollins...
. The team then collaborated on several screenplays of Marvel Comics characters: Sgt. Fury, Spider-Man
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...
, and The Sub-Mariner, working with Stan Lee
Stan Lee
Stan Lee is an American comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, television personality, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics....
on these adaptations.
Active in the WGA strike in 1988, Newsom segued into directing and producing video documentaries, notably Flesh and Blood, the Hammer Heritage of Horror, becoming the last director to team the British horror stars Peter Cushing
Peter Cushing
Peter Wilton Cushing, OBE was an English actor, known for his many appearances in Hammer Films, in which he played the handsome but sinister scientist Baron Frankenstein and the vampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing, amongst many other roles, often appearing opposite Christopher Lee, and occasionally...
and Christopher Lee
Christopher Lee
Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ is an English actor and musician. Lee initially portrayed villains and became famous for his role as Count Dracula in a string of Hammer Horror films...
, who co-narrated. The first half of the program was broadcast on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
four days before Cushing died.
He also made Ed Wood—Look Back in Angora, about legendary B-movie maker Ed Wood, video biographies of Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
, Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, and Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
, and was writer/director of the 26-episode series 100 Years of Horror, again with Christopher Lee as host and narrator.
He served as associate producer on several soundtrack releases of the film music of Ronald Stein
Ronald Stein
Ronald Stein was an American film composer.-Biography:Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Stein wrote scores for numerous low budget horror and exploitation films during the 1950s and 1960s, many of which were released by American International Pictures...
, such as Not of This Earth and It Conquered the World. He provided film commentary on a number of DVD releases, notably The Devil Bat with Bela Lugosi, Jr., Day the Earth Caught Fire and Hell is a City with Val Guest
Val Guest
Val Guest was a British film director, best known for his science-fiction films for Hammer Film Productions in the 1950s, but who also enjoyed a long, varied and active career in the film industry from the early 1930s up until the early 1980s.-Early life and career:He was born Valmond Maurice...
, and his own production The Naked Monster
The Naked Monster
The Naked Monster is a 2005 American ultra low-budget science fiction and horror comedy film written by Ted Newsom and directed by Newsom and Wayne Berwick as an homage to and spoof of the "giant monster-on-the-loose" films of the 1950s...
, with director Wayne Berwick. He wrote and directed Cinemaker for Charles Band, a video primer on low-budget film production.
Newsom has directed Tab Hunter
Tab Hunter
Tab Hunter is an American actor, singer, former teen idol and author who has starred in over forty major films.-Background:...
, Kenneth Tobey
Kenneth Tobey
Kenneth Tobey was an American stage, television, and film actor.-Early years:Born in Oakland, California, Tobey was headed for a law career when he first dabbled in acting at the University of California Little Theater...
, John Agar
John Agar
John George Agar was an American actor. He starred alongside John Wayne in the films Sands of Iwo Jima, Fort Apache and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, but was later relegated to B movies, such as Tarantula, The Mole People, The Brain from Planet Arous, Flesh and the Spur, and Hand of Death...
, Raquel Welch
Raquel Welch
Jo Raquel Tejada , better known as Raquel Welch, is an American actress, author and sex symbol. Welch came to attention as a "new-star" on the 20th Century-Fox lot in the mid-1960s. She posed iconically in a animal skin bikini for the British-release One Million Years B.C. , for which she may be...
, Margaret O'Brien
Margaret O'Brien
Margaret O'Brien is an American film and stage actress. Although her film career as a leading character was brief, she was one of the most popular child actors in cinema history...
, Jack Palance
Jack Palance
Jack Palance , was an American actor. During half a century of film and television appearances, Palance was nominated for three Academy Awards, all as Best Actor in a Supporting Role, winning in 1991 for his role in City Slickers.-Early life:Palance, one of five children, was born Volodymyr...
, Jack Larson
Jack Larson
Jack Edward Larson is an American actor, librettist, screenwriter and producer. He is best known for his portrayal of photographer/cub reporter Jimmy Olsen on the TV series Adventures of Superman.-Biography:...
, Linnea Quigley
Linnea Quigley
Linnea Barbara Quigley is an American scream queen, B movie actress, and film producer.-Early life:Quigley was born in Davenport, Iowa, the daughter of Dorothy and W. Heath Quigley, a chiropractor and psychologist. She moved to Los Angeles in the late 1970s to pursue her dreams of acting...
, and Brinke Stevens
Brinke Stevens
Brinke Stevens is an American actress, model and writer.-Life and career:Born in San Diego, California, Stevens has studied several foreign languages, including Esperanto, and gained a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Psychology from San Diego State University and a Master of Science in Marine...
, with whom he has also written several screenplays (e.g., Teenage Exorcist, Wild Spirit).
Newsom is sometimes credited as Richmond Reed or Reed Richmond, references to a stage name used by John Carradine
John Carradine
John Carradine was an American actor, best known for his roles in horror films and Westerns as well as Shakespearean theater. A member of Cecil B DeMille's stock company and later John Ford's company, he was one of the most prolific character actors in Hollywood history...
, whom Newsom "directed" posthumously, two years after the actor's death, in a film for Fred Olen Ray
Fred Olen Ray
Fred Olen Ray is an American director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and cinematographer.-Biography:He is the producer, director, and screenwriter of low to medium-budget feature films in many genres, including horror, science fiction, action/adventure, softcore sex films and crime dramas...
. Occasionally he is confused with Ted Newsome, a noted skateboard writer, photographer and video producer, and/or another "Ted Newsom," a Utah-based videographer and editor who goes by the name of "The Rose Phantom."
He appeared on stage in the musical 1776 in Germany, later a Marx Brothers
Marx Brothers
The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act, originally from New York City, that enjoyed success in Vaudeville, Broadway, and motion pictures from the early 1900s to around 1950...
' parody of Hamlet, entitled A Night in Elsinore. He has done narration and appeared on-screen in films by Fred Olen Ray
Fred Olen Ray
Fred Olen Ray is an American director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and cinematographer.-Biography:He is the producer, director, and screenwriter of low to medium-budget feature films in many genres, including horror, science fiction, action/adventure, softcore sex films and crime dramas...
, J.R. Bookwalter, and Ron Ford. He also appeared as "Dr. Cooper" in the here! original series The Lair
The Lair
The Lair is an American gay-themed vampire television series produced by here! in 2007. The first season, consisting of six episodes, wrapped production in January of that year. The first two episodes premiered on June 1, 2007. Season 2, consisting of 9 episodes debuted on September 5, 2008...
, which debuted in June 2007.
Spider-Man
With John Brancato, Newsom wrote the original screenplay of Spider-ManSpider-Man
Spider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...
in 1984, subsequently rewritten by Barney Cohen and polished by "Joseph Goldman" (aka Menahem Golan
Menahem Golan
Menahem Golan is an Israeli director and producer. He has produced movies for such stars as Sean Connery, Sylvester Stallone, Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Charles Bronson, and was known for a period as a producer of comic book-style movies like Masters of the Universe, Superman IV:...
). Interim screenwriters (1985-87) included Ethan Wiley, Frank LaLoggia, and Neil Ruttenberg. A 1993 draft of this script, available online, also credits James Cameron
James Cameron
James Francis Cameron is a Canadian-American film director, film producer, screenwriter, editor, environmentalist and inventor...
, although the text itself is identical to a 1987 draft without Cameron's name.
Newsom and many of the other writers on that long-aborning project objected to the award of sole credit to David Koepp
David Koepp
-Career:As a writer, Koepp has worked on such blockbuster Hollywood films as Jurassic Park, Mission Impossible, and Spider-Man. Koepp had a cameo as the "Unlucky Bastard" in The Lost World: Jurassic Park, in which he was serving as Writer and Second Unit Director.His work as a director has not had...
without an arbitration or examination of any of the scripts, and a protracted dispute with the WGA
WGA
WGA is a three-letter abbreviation for:* Writers Guild of America, an American union** Writers Guild of America, East** Writers Guild of America, West* Web Gallery of Art* Western Golf Association...
and Sony-Columbia Pictures ensued. Newsom filed a NLRB complaint on their collective behalf and a subsequent unilateral lawsuit. Presumably the situation was amicably resolved.
External links
- Ted Newsom at the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
- Cinemaker sitehttp://www.cinemaker.net
- Play, A Night in Elsinorehttp://www.shakespeare-parodies.com/hamlet.html
- Spider-Man draftshttp://www.writemovies.com/scripts_s.htm
- Regarding WGA Arbitrationhttp://experts.about.com/e/w/wg/WGA_screenwriting_credit_system.htm
- Interviewhttp://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.geocities.com/guestar57/july05interview.html&date=2009-10-25+23:35:34
- Skateboard writer/director Ted Newsomehttp://www.2headedhorse.com/ted%27sindex.html
- Rock videographer Ted Newsomhttp://therosephantom.tripod.com
- Ted Newsom's Official Bloghttp://tednewsom.personalfanpages.com