Biography
Thomas G. Smith was born in Canton, Illinois in 1938. He attended high school in Stockton, California, then entered Northwestern University (1956-1960). "Foster Street" (1959), a slice-of-life look at Chicago, was one of his early student films. While still in college, Smith worked for a Chicago industrial film company, Gilbert Altschul Productions. After graduating from Northwestern University (1960), he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study at the Institute for Higher Studies of Film in Paris (IDHEC). Here he was influenced by several French film greats: Grislan Cloquet (Oscar winning DP of TESS) and J.L. Mundewiller (the lead DP for Gance's three screen "Napoleon" (1927)). When he was called for military service, Smith returned to the U.S. and from 1962 to 1965 served in the U. S. Air Force. In 1965, Smith joined Encyclopedia Britannica Films (EBF), in Chicago. The first academic film he wrote and directed was "Food From The Sun" (1966). This was followed by a succession of educational films where he was usually the writer and always the director. In 1969, he moved to California and joined EBF's talented Hollywood unit. During his 15 years making 16mm films, Smith wrote, produced and directed more than 50 titles. One of Smith's last Britannica films was "The Solar System" (1977) narrated by legendary actor Richard Basehart. The film's 'trick shots' required optical effects, a decade before digital technology. The film won a Hugo at the 1978 Chicago International Film Festival and several other film awards. Its success earned Smith a modest reputation in the growing field of visual effects. In 1979, George Lucas hired Smith to run his visual effects unit, Industrial Light and Magic (ILM). This opened the door to feature films. While running ILM he oversaw the visual effects for many successful films in the early 1980's, including: "Raiders Of The Lost Ark" (1981), "E.T." (1982), "Return Of The Jedi" (1983), "Poltergeist" (1982), and two Star Trek films, "The Wrath Of Khan" (1982), "The Search For Spock" (1984). In 1985 Lucas asked him to produce an ABC two-hour movie of the week, "The Ewok Adventure" (1984). The following year Smith produced a second Ewok special for ABC, "Ewoks: Battle Of Endor" (1985). Both films earned Smith Emmy nominations. Soon after, Smith was tapped to be Post Production Supervisor for Disney's Lucas/Coppola production, "Captain EO" (1986). The 3-D film featured superstar Michael Jackson. From here, Smith joined Disney as a film producer. He specialized in films requiring visual effects. His first successful production "Honey, I Shrunk The Kids" (1989) won him a British Academy Award (BAFTA). Tom soon became deeply involved in Disney's 3-D theme park films. In 1990, he produced Jim Henson's "MuppetVision 3-D." The same year as the Muppet film, Tom directed a one-hour prime-time ABC film for children called, "Ralph S. Mouse" (1990), starring Ray Walston and Karen Black. For directing he was once again nominated for an Emmy. For the fourth time, he did not win. In 1994, Smith produced the Disney theme park attraction, "Honey, I Shrunk The Audience" (1994). He left Disney in 1995 and continued to work both as a producer and producer of visual effects; four of his films were for the Jim Henson Company. In 2000 he served as an early visual effect consultant on Peter Jackson's 'Lord of The Rings' series. In 2001-2002 he produced the visual effects for Ted Turner's epic Civil War film, "Gods And Generals" (2003) and served as a second unit director. This was Tom's last feature film. He returned to documentary films with his production "Spoon River Anthology" (2008), a 50-minute academic film dealing with the poetry of Edgar Lee Masters and with his WWII documentary - "Casualty Of War" (2016). Smith has written several books, and his best selling is the Ballantine/Del Ray book, "Industrial Light and Magic - the Art of Special Effects." He also wrote "Massacre At Baxter Springs," a Civil War story. Smith lives with Elaine his wife whom he married in 1960. They have three children and five grandchildren. Smith is also a 'Scholar At Large' for Western Illinois University.
