Tom Holland

Tom Holland
Born	July 11, 1943 Poughkeepsie, New York
Known for	Fright Night
Occupation	Director, Writer, Actor
Height	5'11"

Tom Holland is the writer and director of Fright Night and Child's Play. Today he's primarily known as a horror director but during the 1960s and '70s Holland acted under the pseudonym Tom Fielding. In addition to appearing in a handful of low-budget movies, he was familiar to TV audiences from soap operas, prime-time shows and hundreds of commercials.

Biography

Early Life

Thomas Lee Holland was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, the son of Lee and Tom Holland. During childhood, his father worked for a department store chain, which caused the family to frequently travel. "By the time I was two, I had been in almost every state," Holland revealed in a 1966 interview. "I've been in five schools and now I'm a transfer student at New York University." During his youth he felt like an outsider, and this probably helped shape his career in the horror genre. "I always felt left out in school. I remember when I was in fourth grade, I felt everybody was on one side and I was on the other." An only child, Tom's closest companion was his beloved dog Tippy, who comforted him when his parents were fighting. "They separated one year out of every ten, and there were times when my parents used to get at each other, by each complaining to me about the other."

Things began to turn around for Tom in eighth grade when he received a love letter from a girl who gushed, "I need you, and I want you, and I love you! After that, I got admiration and acceptance and I felt better." Although he had always been a fan of movies, the acting bug bit him in high school, when he performed in a number of school play. At 16, he spent the summer as an apprentice at Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, PA, and enjoyed the experience so much that he considered dropping out of school and pursuing a career in the theatre. "My parents had a hell of a time getting me to finish high school and go to college. I'm glad they made me do it."

1960's - '70s Acting Career

Holland attended Ossining Public High School before transferring to Worcester Academy where he graduated in 1962. He then entered Northwestern University as a drama major, before transferring to New York University. While in New York, he took drama classes at the Herbert Berghof Studio, studing under Berghof and his wife Uta Hagen, Irene Daily and Frank Casaro. He also went to the world famous Actor's Studio and studied under the tutelage of the legendary Lee Strasberg.

Despite his passion for showbiz, Holland found difficulties acting. "I had a bad time, emotionally. I was fired from an off-Broadway show." At the behest of a friend, Holland landed a modeling gig which paid $7,000, an exorbitant salary in the early 1960s, so he decided to splurge on his mother. "I bought her some fine jewelry, and she said, 'Why didn't you buy me something practical like a transistor radio?' It took me two years to recover from that remark."

In 1963, Holland landed a studio contract. "People with Warner Bros. took me to Jack Warner, and he picked me personally." Unfortunately, the actor's union wouldn't permit him to use his real name, since there was another actor named Tom Holland, so he changed his name to Tom Fielding. His first job was dubbing dialogue for the Elia Kazan drama America, America. His television debut was on the short-lived Western Temple Houston, which he followed up with a spot on the popular 77 Sunset Strip. Holland didn't like the nature of Hollywood and realized work was more lucrative in New York, so he asked to be let out of his contract. After appearing on the soap operas The Doctors and the Nurses and Love of Life, he landed a regular role on the struggling daytime series A Time for Us (previously titled A Flame in the Wind), replacing Gordon Gray.

After the series was canceled, Holland migrated back to California and began appearing in guest-starring roles in television shows such as Felony Squad, Combat!, Medical Center, and The Incredible Hulk. His film work was sparse and relegated to independent movies and bit parts, including A Walk in the Spring Rain alongside Anthony Quinn and Ingrid Bergman. His only leading film role was the 1972 dramedy Josie's Castle, in which he co-starred with Star Trek veteran George Takei, but the film suffered a variety of production problems and was ultimately re-edited and sold as a sexploitation film. To supplement his income, he also took roles in TV commercials, and amassed more than 200 commercial credits.

Holland was never entirely happy as an actor. "In the beginning I did everything, worked as a Grip, Loader, PA, what have you," Holland said. "In my mind I was always working toward directing feature films and so I decided early on that any job I could take on a working set would give me the tools to make my own films." Worrying that his Hollywood career might not pan out, Holland attended the UCLA School of Law, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa. He also received his Juris Doctorate from the UCLA School of Law. "I had just taken the Bar Exam and I was waiting for my results, which at the time took three months to post," he told B-Movie Nation. "At the same time I received word that a treatment I had written had been optioned." As a struggling actor I had become used to being poor, so I decided to pursue my passion to create rather than litigate. And I've never really looked back." Holland did pass the Bar Exam on his first attempt and has been a member of the California Bar Association since 1973.

In December 2009 Holland was cast for Adam Green's Hatchet 2, who star alongside Danielle Harris, Tony Todd, Kane Hodder, and R.A. Mihailoff. He narrated the film Hatchet II alongside Adam Green on San Diego Comic-Con International 2010. In an interview published in January 2011 with mondo-video.com, Holland shared some stories about his acting days, which included working with legendary actress Ingrid Bergman, and martial arts expert, Bruce Lee.

1970's - '80s: Screenwriting

Holland's first screenplay, The View from 30 was optioned for $1500 in 1972 by producer Dick Berg. Although that film never materialized, Berg later used Holland's treatment for a 1978 movie of the week entitled The Initiation of Sarah, which owed a heavy debt to the previous year's smash hit Carrie. The movie got big ratings and became noted for a scene in which Morgan Fairchild wound up drenched in a fountain. "You could see her nipples," Holland howled. "[It was] the first [program on American television] to have a wet T-shirt scene in it and it created a firestorm of controversy." Holland continued to hammer out scripts and his first movie produced was the 1981 film The Beast Within. Financially it was considered a failure, but the aspiring director was so happy to have penned a feature that it gave him the confidence to tackle his next project.

Holland paired with Hitchock protegee Richard Franklin on made-for-TV sequel to the 1960 classic Psycho. "I never worked harder, that script was my life," he commented. During that flourishing age of TV movies, it wasn't unusual for the networks to produce low-rent sequels like 1976's Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby for television, but Holland crafted the script with so much care that it attracted star Anthony Perkins. Once word began to spread that Perkins was set to reprise his iconic role, the status was changed from a movie-of-the-week to a full-fledged theatrical film. "That was the number one movie that summer, it did a $100 million world wide," Holland boasted. He hadn't been asked to participate during the filming of The Beast Within, so Holland worked closely with Franklin to ensure his vision made it to the screen, even acting in a bit part in the movie as the Sheriff's deputy.

Holland's next screenplay, Cloak & Dagger, was a semi-remake of Hitchcock's Rear Window, this time with a child protagonist. Again Franklin directed. "It wasn’t a success when it came out, because the studio didn’t know what to do with it, because it was a family oriented film when they were making a lot of R rated films," Holland commented. "But they played the shit out of it on cable and it became enormously influential." The source story, Cornell Woolrich's The Window, resonated with Holland and unintentionally became the model for his next three films as well.

The next screenplay to be produced was A Scream for Help, which was originally supposed to be directed by Franklin, but ultimately the directorial reigns went to b-movie legend Michael Winner. "It was unreleasable," Holland lamented. "And then I started directing in a way of self-defense."

Dead Rabbit Films/Directing

He founded alongside his compatriot David Chackler the horror film company Dead Rabbit Films; the first feature premiere film was the remake of Fright Night.

Holland also wrote and directed a series of anthology shorts for FearNet entitled "Tom Holland's Twisted Tales." The series was issued on DVD as a feature-length anthology.

On directing, he would be famous for writing and directing twisted tales ordinary people facing the unknown and evil beings from beyond. He began by writing the scripts of the films The Beast Within and Psycho II, followed later by directing Fright Night, Child's Play, and the TV films The Stranger Within and The Langoliers. The only non horror film he made was the crime comedy-drama Fatal Beauty.

Interviews

Choice Cuts - Episode 25 - Tom Holland, Part 3

Adam Green's Scary Sleepover - Episode 3 Tom Holland

Galleries

Fright Night

Psycho II

With Anthony Perkins

Child's Play

Josie's Castle

Model Shop

A Time For Us (aka A Flame in the Wind)

A Walk in the Spring Rain

Combat, "Entombed"

The Incredible Hulk, "Another Path

Twisted Tales

Tom Holland's Twisted Tales

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Actor	Role	Notes
1963	America, America			Yes	Voice-Overs
1969	Changes			Yes	Roommate
1969	Model Shop			Yes	Gerry
1970	A Walk in the Spring Rain			Yes	Boy
1972	Josie's Castle			Yes	Leonard
1982	The Beast Within		Yes
	Class of 1984		Yes
1983	Psycho II		Yes	Yes	Deputy Norris
1984	Scream for Help		Yes
	Cloak & Dagger		Yes
1985	Fright Night	Yes	Yes
1987	Fatal Beauty	Yes
1988	Child's Play	Yes	Yes
	Fright Night II		Yes
1993	The Temp	Yes
1996	Thinner	Yes	Yes
2010	Hatchet II			Yes	Bob	Uncredited
2011	Fright Night		Yes
2015	Killing Frank	Yes	Yes			pre-production
	The Ten O'Clock People	Yes	Yes			pre-production

Television

Year	Title	Director	Producer	Writer	Actor	Role	Notes
1963	Temple Houston				Yes
1964	77 Sunset Strip				Yes		Episode: "Lover's Lane"
	Theatre of Stars				Yes	Vic Burns	Episode: "Out on the Outskirts of Town"
	The Doctors and the Nurses				Yes
	Love of Life				Yes
1965-1966	A Flame in the Wind (aka A Time for Us)				Yes	Steve Reynolds #2
1967	Combat!				Yes	Pfc. Tommy Bishop	Episode: "Entombed"
1968	Felony Squad				Yes	LeRoy Baker	Episode: "Epitaph for a Cop"
1969	My Friend Tony				Yes		Episode: "The Hazing"
	The Young Lawyers				Yes	David Harrison	Episode: "Pilot"
	Medical Center				Yes	Jess Yarnaby	Episode: "24 Hours"
1978	The Initiation of Sarah			Yes			TV movie
	The Incredible Hulk				Yes	Frank Silva	Episode: "Another Path"
1983	The Winds of War				Yes	Devilfish Sub Captain	Episode: "Into the Maelstrom"
1986	Amazing Stories	Yes					Episode: "Miscalculation"
1989-1992	Tales from the Crypt	Yes		Yes			Episodes: "Lover Come Hack to Me" "Four-Sided Triangle" "King of the Road"
1990	The Stranger Within	Yes					TV movie
1991	The Owl	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes		CBS TV Pilot. Holland is credited as director in the American TV version. He revoked his directorial credit from the extended International version (which he appears in as an actor).
1994	The Stand				Yes	Carl Hough	TV miniseries
1995	The Langoliers	Yes		Yes	Yes	British assassin's employer
2006	Driven	Yes	Yes	Yes
	The Initiation of Sarah			Yes			TV movie
2007	Masters of Horror	Yes					Episode: "We All Scream for Ice Cream"
2008	5 or Die	Yes	Yes	Yes			TV movie
2010	Team Unicorn				Yes	Grandpa	Episode: "A Very Zombie Holiday"
2012	Twisted Tales	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Awards and Nominations

Year	Award	Category	Film	Result
1984	Edgar Award	Best Motion Picture	Psycho II	Nominated
1986	Dario Argento Award	Best Film	Fright Night	Won
	Critics' Award	Special Mention		Won
	International Fantasy Film Award	Best Film		Nominated
	Saturn Award	Best Director		Nominated
		Best Horror Film		Won
		Best Writing		Won
1990		Best Horror Film	Child's Play	Nominated
		Best Writing Shared with Don Mancini and John Lafia		Nominated}
1996		Best Television Presentation	The Langoliers	Nominated

External links

• Facebook
• Tom Holland's Terror Time
• The Internet Movie Database