Robert Thom (July 2, 1929 – May 8, 1979) was an American writer of films, plays, novels and poems. He is best known for writing the screenplay forDeath Race 2000 (1975), produced byRoger Corman's New World and directed byPaul Bartel.
Born Robert Thom in Brooklyn, New York, to mother Lily Pendlebury, he had a sister. Thom graduated fromYale University as a promising poet in 1952 and became aRhodes Scholar. He studied inOxford for a year.[1]
He sold his first play,The Minotaur, to theCircle in the Square Theatre producers,José Quintero, Ted Mann, Emilie Stevens andJason Wingreen, in 1954.[2] He continued and succeeded in establishing himself as a young playwriting talent in the New York City theater scene.
In 1957, he came to Broadway to work onCompulsion, based on the book and play byMeyer Levin about theLeopold and Loeb case.[1] It starredRoddy McDowall andDean Stockwell and ran for 140 performances. Thom was credited only as an assistant to the producers and received 20% of Levin's royalties.[1][2] He later worked on the screenplay for the 1959film version starringOrson Welles.[2]
Thom moved to the West Coast to work forMGM and wrote screenplays for such youth films asThe Subterraneans, based on the novel byJack Kerouac; andAll the Fine Young Cannibals, loosely based on a novel byRosamond Marshall (both released in 1960). He also worked on others for which he was uncredited.[1]
He co-wrote an episode ofThe DuPont Show of the Week ("The Legend of Lylah Clare" 1963) which was broadcast onNBC. It was later developed as afilm of the same name, released in 1968.[1]
A week after the broadcast of theDuPont Show, Thom won anEmmy forOutstanding Writing Achievement in Drama for a two-part episode of the TV seriesThe Defenders calledThe Madman, starringSylvia Sidney andDon Gordon.[1]
His playBicycle Ride to Nevada, starringFranchot Tone, opened on Broadway on September 24, 1963 but closed after one day.[2][3]
Wild in the Streets, based on a short story written by Thom and originally published inEsquire under the title, "The Day It All Happened, Baby!"[4] was anexploitation film success forAmerican International Pictures in 1968.[1] Thom both wrote and for the first time directed his own film,Angel, Angel, Down We Go, in 1969 for AIP.[1]
He wrote several novels and had just finishedMasquerade before his death.[2][1]
Thom was married to actressJoan Zell from 1953 to 1956. She committed suicide at his home in 1961.[5]
He married actressJanice Rule in 1956; the couple had a daughter, Kate, before they divorced in 1961.
Thom married actressMillie Perkins in 1964; they had two daughters, Lillie and Hedy. They were separated at the time of his death in 1979.[2]
Thom, then a resident of New York City, died from a heart attack while staying in a hotel in Malibu, California, at age 49.[2]
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