Thomas Henderson Mount (born May 26, 1948) is the former President of Universal Pictures and one of America's well-known independent producers.In the course of his forty-year career as film producer, entrepreneur, and studio head, Thom Mount has made an indelible mark on the American film industry. Born in Durham, North Carolina, he studied art at Bard College where he received a BA, and served on Bard's Board of Trustees for many years. He received an MFA in Film and Video at the California Institute of the Arts. After "start up" jobs working for Roger Corman, Jane Fonda, and Daniel Selznick, Mount started as an assistant at Universal Pictures in late 1972. He developed and supervised "youth unit" and low-budget comedies there and was appointed head of Universal Studios at the age of 26, (dubbed a "baby mogul" by Time magazine).MCA/Universal Chairman Lew Wasserman was a mentor to Mount, placing him on the executive fast track and charging him with managing studio relationships including Alfred Hitchcock, Dino DeLaurentis, Edith Head, George Roy Hill, and Paul Newman. He was responsible for much of the studio's success in the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s with almost 200 films under his supervision. They included Back to the Future, Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Blues Brothers, Car Wash, Coal Miner's Daughter, Conan the Barbarian, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Missing, Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, National Lampoon's Animal House, On Golden Pond, Repo Man, Scarface, Smokey and the Bandit, The Breakfast Club, The Deer Hunter, and The Jerk.After leaving Universal in late 1984, Mount founded his own company, which produced acclaimed films like Bull Durham, Tequila Sunrise, Frantic, Natural Born Killers, Can't Buy Me Love, The Indian Runner, Night Falls on Manhattan, and Death and the Maiden, which he first produced on stage in London's West End and on Broadway.Mount is a co-founder of the Los Angeles Film School, two-term president of the Producers Guild of America (which he helped to revitalize), and has been a consultant for RKO Pictures. He joined the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1977. He started a new venture in 2012, Day for Night Productions, which focuses on developing and producing "youth" genre films of high quality.Mount has taught at many universities internationally, and served on the board of political and charitable organizations including presidential campaign positions with Senator Ted Kennedy and Governor Bill Richardson. He served on the President's Advisory Board at Duke University, Cal Arts Board of Trustees, and advisory boards at The University of Texas at Austin, George Eastman House, North Carolina School of the Arts, Florida Atlantic University, and many socially progressive groups. He has been an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University, and is called upon to speak on media, social and business issues.Frequently rumored to be the model for Robert Altman'
My Man Adam, Can't Buy Me Love, Frantic, Bull Durham, Stealing Home, Tequila Sunrise, Frankenstein Unbound, Death and the Maiden, Night Falls on Manhattan, Bathory, Chéri
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Hollywood regards the South as an ethnic backwater and a cultural backwater, and I think it is nonsense. I'd like to point out that anything from "Bull Durham" to "Smokey and the Bandit" to "An Officer and a Gentleman" has some sort of Southern setting, and there are lots of compelling, commercial stories to be made there.
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It is not that violent pictures create more violence, but the constant litany of gratuitous violence that is destructive of the fabric of the culture because it lowers our threshold for sensitivity to the issue.
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Fact
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MFA from California Institute of the Arts.
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Served two terms as President of The Producers Guild of America.
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Co-Founder of The Los Angeles Film School.
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Graduated from Bard College.
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Served as a reporter with the Liberation News Service.
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Former President of Universal Pictures.
Producer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Good Luck with That
2017
producer filming
Grace Paine: The Bombay Beach Incident
2011
Short executive producer
In Her Skin
2009
executive producer
Chéri
2009
executive producer
Bathory: Countess of Blood
2008
executive producer
A West Texas Children's Story
2007
executive producer
Are We Done Yet?
2007
supervising producer
The Mark Twain Prize: Richard Pryor
1999
TV Movie co-producer
The Band: Live at the New Orleans Jazz Festival
1998
Video executive producer
Night Falls on Manhattan
1996
producer
Death and the Maiden
1994
producer
Natural Born Killers
1994
executive producer
The Doors: Live in Europe 1968
1991
Video documentary executive producer
The Indian Runner
1991
executive producer
Morning Star
1991
TV Mini-Series producer - 2 episodes
Roger Corman's Frankenstein Unbound
1990
producer
Tequila Sunrise
1988
producer
Open Admissions
1988
TV Movie producer
Stealing Home
1988
producer
Bull Durham
1988
producer
Frantic
1988
producer
Can't Buy Me Love
1987
producer
Charlie Barnett's Terms of Enrollment
1986
Video executive producer
Pirates
1986
executive producer
Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling
1986
supervising producer
My Man Adam
1985
executive producer
Thanks
Title
Year
Status
Character
Animal Among Us
2017
very special thanks post-production
Edgeplay
2004
Documentary special thanks
Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling
1986
special thanks
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
Unsung Hollywood
2015
TV Series documentary
Himself
Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic
2013
Documentary
Himself
Teen spirit: Les ados à Hollywood
2009
TV Movie documentary
Himself
Animal House: The Inside Story
2008
TV Movie
Himself
Hollywood's Master Storytellers: The Blues Brothers
2005
TV Movie
Himself
Mackendrick on Film
2004
Documentary
Himself
Unseen + Untold: The Blues Brothers
2004
TV Movie documentary
Himself
Between the Lines: The Making of 'Bull Durham'
2001
Video documentary short
Himself
The Yearbook: An 'Animal House' Reunion
1998
Video documentary
Himself
Biography
1996
TV Series documentary
Himself - Producer
The Media Show
1989
TV Series
Himself
Won Awards
Year
Award
Ceremony
Nomination
Movie
2001
Special Achievement Award
Satellite Awards
Career of Outstanding Service in the Entertainment Industry