Betty Thomas
Betty Thomas was born in St. Louis, Missouri, United States on July 27th, 1948 and is the TV Actress. At the age of 75, Betty Thomas biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, movies, TV shows, and networth are available.
At 75 years old, Betty Thomas has this physical status:
Betty Thomas (born Betty Lucille Nienhauser, 1948) is an American actor, director, and producer of television and motion pictures.
Sergeant Lucy Bates of the television series Hill Street Blues is known for her Emmy Award-winning role.
Thomas is one of only two directors (and the sole solo filmmaker) to have multiple films on the list of the top-grossing female-directed films as of March 2018.
In addition, all of her films are in the top ten most highest-grossing female-directed films in the United States.
Early life
Thomas was born Betty Lucille Nienhauser in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1947 to Nancy (née Brown) and William H. Nienhauser, Sr. in Willoughby, Ohio. Thomas attended Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Thomas studied art and taught high school before joining The Second City, Chicago's premier venue for improvisational theatre.
Thomas came to her entertainment career by a circuitous route. She began working as an artist and school instructor, earning more money for a trip abroad. Thomas was encouraged to try out for the troupe while waiting for tables, and subsequently joined the company.
She was praised for her brassy and outspoken performances, and she became the first female to direct one of their MainStage theatre productions. Thomas has worked with many up-and-coming Second City alumni, including Bill Murray. Thomas moved west when the Second City opened a Los Angeles branch.
Career
Thomas received several bit parts in low-budget films, including Chesty Anderson (1976), and Loose Shoes (1980), the latter of which featured Second City classmate Bill Murray, among other things. Shelley Long appeared in the 1989 film Troop Beverly Hills, starring Shelley Long.
Though Thomas was training her career in comedy, her breakthrough role as an actress came when she was cast in the role of police officer (later Sergeant) Lucy Bates on the TV show Hill Street Blues (1981–87). Her character develops from novice to confident sergeant in the course of the series. She received seven Emmy nominations for best supporting actress and took home the award for the 1984–85 season.
She was given a realistic chance by the show's executive producer after lying to a Variety reporter about proposing a Hooperman episode, and from there her directorial career began. Thomas began directing episodes of Hooperman in addition to the premiere episodes of Doogie Howser, M.D., after making several other acting appearances. In 1989, a swath of gold was discovered in 1989. She went on to direct episodes of Arresting Behavior and several episodes of the HBO series Dream On, the latter of which received her an Emmy award for best director. Thomas is referred to as "The Midnight Queen" because of her love for nighttime shootings.
Thomas took the next step in her directing career in 1992 with her film debut Only You. Only You, a little, playful romantic comedy, was a departure from Thomas' experience on Hill Street Blues or her subsequent television directing. Thomas was selected to direct due to a portion of the film's plot, in which a man is on a hapless quest to find the perfect woman, according to Wayne Rice, film's producer and screenwriter. Without a female director, it would be considered inherently sexist.
Thomas conceived The Brady Bunch Movie (1995), a satirical interpretation of the 1970s television show The Brady Bunch, three years after the introduction of Only You (1995). The Brady Bunch Movie was a box office hit with domestic ticket sales of $46,576,136, almost tripling its $12 million budget and making it one of the highest-grossing films directed by a woman.
She starred in Private Parts (1997), Dr. Dolittle (1998), 28 Days (2000), and John Tucker Must Die (2006). The 2009 film Alvin and the Chipmunks was the first female-directed film to gross more than $200 million, making her the first female-directed picture to reach that level at the box office. Thomas created Audrey, a low-budget online film for the WIGS YouTube channel in 2012. In 1998, her Tall Trees productions firm was signed to Columbia Pictures for the first time.
Thomas received the Dorothy Arzner Directors Award of the Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Awards in 2001, which was presented by the Women in Film Organization's Los Angeles chapter.