Linda Bloodworth-Thomason

Last updated
Linda Bloodworth-Thomason
Born
Linda Joyce Bloodworth

(1947-04-15) April 15, 1947 (age 76)
Poplar Bluff, Missouri
Alma mater University of Missouri
Occupations
  • Writer
  • director
  • producer
Years active1973–present
Spouse
​
(m. 1983)​

Linda Joyce Bloodworth-Thomason (born April 15, 1947) is an American writer, director, and television producer. She is best known for creating, writing, and producing several television series, most successfully with the sitcoms Designing Women and Evening Shade . She and her husband, Harry Thomason, are also notable for their friendship with former President Bill Clinton, and the role they played in his election campaigns.

Contents

Early life

Bloodworth was born in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, the daughter of Ralph and Claudia Bloodworth. [1] She graduated from Poplar Bluff High School. She went on to obtain a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. [2]

In the early 1970s she moved to Los Angeles, California, where she taught English at Jordan High School, in the south Los Angeles community of Watts. [2]

Career

Early career

After her teaching stint concluded, Bloodworth went on to work for The Wall Street Journal in advertising. She then became a reporter for the Los Angeles Daily Journal . During this period, she also began working as a freelance writer in television. [2]

Her early script-writing work included five episodes of M*A*S*H  – of which one episode, "Hot Lips and Empty Arms," written with Mary Kay Place, was nominated for an Emmy Award  – as well as scripts for Rhoda , the television version of Paper Moon, and the original pilot for One Day at a Time . She also wrote scripts for the short-lived sitcoms Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers and Filthy Rich . [2] [3]

Creating and producing

Bloodworth met Harry Thomason in 1978 and married him in 1983. [4] That same year, the pair created Mozark Productions, named for their respective home states: Missouri, or "MO," and Arkansas, with an allusion to the Ozarks region overlapping both states. [2]

The company produced several situation comedies, most notably the show Designing Women , which reunited Bloodworth-Thomason with Filthy Rich cast members Dixie Carter and Delta Burke. The company also created and produced Evening Shade , Hearts Afire , Women of the House (a short-lived Designing Women spin-off starring Burke), and Emeril (a short-lived sitcom featuring chef Emeril Lagasse). [4] [3] Unfortunately, Emeril was to premiere on September 11, 2001 but was preempted by continuous coverage of the aftermath of the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks. [5] The premiere of Emeril was delayed by two weeks and was never able to find an audience due to the premiere occurring so close to the attacks, leaving the air after only seven aired episodes after November 2001. [6]

In 1994, she was awarded the Women in Film Lucy Award in recognition of her excellence and innovation in her creative works that have enhanced the perception of women through the medium of television. [7]

In 2018, Bloodworth-Thomason wrote a guest column for The Hollywood Reporter in which she stated that, starting in 1995, then-president of CBS Les Moonves kept her shows off the air for seven years, derailing her career by turning down every pilot she proposed, despite her having what was at the time the largest writing and producing contract in the history of CBS. [8]

Other work

Her first novel, Liberating Paris, was published in 2004. Variety reported in March 2005 that the Thomasons were working on a screen adaptation of the novel, with actors Michelle Pfeiffer, Billy Bob Thornton, and Dwight Yoakam committed to the film despite there being no completed script. It was one of two film projects that the Thomasons were to produce with Jeff Sagansky, the other being a Bloodworth-Thomason script called Southern Comfort, based on a 2001 documentary of the same name by filmmaker Kate Davis. A new series, 12 Miles of Bad Road , was slated to debut on HBO. The show starred Gary Cole and Lily Tomlin. [9] After six episodes of a proposed ten-episode run were shot, the show was dropped by HBO before being broadcast. [10]

Her documentary Bridegroom premiered at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival. [11]

In 2015, Bloodworth-Thomason wrote a revised book to a reworked musical version of First Wives Club . [12]

Friendship with the Clintons

The Thomasons' friendship with the Clintons dates to Bill Clinton's days as governor of Arkansas. The couple created several short-subject political promotional films for Clinton and for other candidates, such as General Wesley Clark's presidential bid and Hillary Clinton's run for the United States Senate. [13] [14]

Related Research Articles

<i>Designing Women</i> American sitcom television program

Designing Women is an American television sitcom created by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason that aired on CBS from September 29, 1986, to May 24, 1993, producing seven seasons and 163 episodes. It was a joint production of Bloodworth/Thomason Mozark Productions in association with Columbia Pictures Television for CBS.

Harry Zell Thomason is an American film and television producer and director, best known for the television series Designing Women. Thomason and his wife, Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, are close friends of President Bill Clinton and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and played a major role in President Clinton's election campaigns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delta Burke</span> American actress, producer and author (born 1956)

Delta Burke is an American actress, producer, and author. From 1986 to 1991, she starred as Suzanne Sugarbaker in the CBS sitcom Designing Women, for which she was nominated for two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.

<i>Evening Shade</i> American television series 1990–1994

Evening Shade is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from September 21, 1990, to May 23, 1994. The series stars Burt Reynolds as Woodrow "Wood" Newton, an ex-professional football player for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who returns to rural Evening Shade, Arkansas, to coach a high-school football team with a long losing streak. Reynolds personally requested to use the Steelers as his character's former team because he was a fan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dixie Carter</span> American actress (1939–2010)

Dixie Virginia Carter was an American actress. She starred as Julia Sugarbaker on the sitcom Designing Women (1986–1993) and as Randi King on the drama series Family Law (1999–2002). She was nominated for the 2007 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Gloria Hodge on Desperate Housewives (2006–2007).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loni Anderson</span> American actress

Loni Kaye Anderson is an American actress. She played receptionist Jennifer Marlowe on the CBS sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati (1978–1982), which earned her three Golden Globe Awards and two Emmy Award nominations.

Mary Kay Place is an American actress. She is best known for portraying Loretta Haggers on the television series Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, a role that won her the 1977 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress - Comedy Series. Her numerous film appearances include Private Benjamin (1980), The Big Chill (1983), Captain Ron (1992) and Francis Ford Coppola's 1997 drama The Rainmaker. Place also recorded three studio albums for Columbia Records, one in the Haggers persona, which included the Top Ten country music hit "Baby Boy". For her performance in Diane (2018), Place won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress and the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jan Hooks</span> American actress and comedian (1957–2014)

Janet Vivian Hooks was an American actress and comedian. Hooks was best known for her tenure on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live, where she was a repertory player from 1986 to 1991. After leaving SNL, she continued to make cameo appearances until 1994. Her subsequent work included a regular role on the last two seasons of Designing Women, a recurring role on 3rd Rock from the Sun, and a number of other film and television roles, including on 30 Rock and The Simpsons.

<i>Lime Street</i> (TV series) American TV series or program

Lime Street is an American action/drama series that aired on the ABC television network during the 1985 television season. The series was created by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, who also served as executive producer alongside husband Harry Thomason, and series star Robert Wagner.

<i>Women of the House</i> Spin-off of Designing Women TV series

Women of the House is an American sitcom television series and a spin-off of Designing Women that aired on CBS from January 4 to August 18, 1995, and the last four episodes airing on Lifetime on September 8, 1995. The series starred Delta Burke, reprising her role of Suzanne Sugarbaker, who had reconciled with producers of Designing Women after a bitter, highly publicized, off-screen battle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julia Duffy</span> American actress (born 1951)

Julia Margaret Duffy is an American actress. She began her career in television, appearing in minor guest roles before being cast in the role of Penny Davis in the series The Doctors from 1973 until 1977. She starred in the acclaimed Broadway revival of Once in a Lifetime in 1978.

Linda Day Varnum was an American television director, working primarily in situation comedies.

Emeril is an American sitcom television series created by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, starring Emeril Lagasse as himself. It aired on Tuesday nights on NBC from September 25, 2001, to December 11, 2001, from 8:00-8:30 EST. A total of 10 half-hour episodes were produced over one season, but only 7 aired.

"Killing All the Right People" is the 26th episode of the sitcom Designing Women. Originally airing on October 5, 1987, as the fourth episode of the second season. It features Tony Goldwyn as Kendall Dobbs, a young gay man dying of AIDS who asks the Sugarbaker ladies to design his funeral. Series creator Linda Bloodworth-Thomason's mother died of AIDS and her experience with her mother's disease and the prejudice associated with it inspired the episode.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tichi Wilkerson Kassel</span> American film personality and publisher

Tichi Wilkerson Kassel was an American film personality and the publisher of The Hollywood Reporter. She established the Women in Film organization, the Key Art and Marketing Concepts awards, and several scholarships for film students.

12 Miles of Bad Road is a television show originally created for HBO centered on a Texas matriarch who must reconcile her booming real estate business and immense wealth with the day-to-day struggles of her dysfunctional family life.

Tara Karsian is an American actress and writer. She is the daughter of actress Pat Carroll.

<i>Bridegroom</i> (film) 2013 American film

Bridegroom is a 2013 American documentary film about the relationship between two young gay men, produced and directed by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason. Bridegroom premiered at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on April 23, 2013, and attracted further press coverage because its premiere screening at the festival was introduced by former President Bill Clinton.

<i>Designing Women</i> (season 1) Season of television series

The first season of Designing Women premiered on CBS on September 29, 1986, and concluded on May 11, 1987. The season consisted of 22 episodes. Created by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, the series was produced by Bloodworth/Thomason Mozark Productions in association with Columbia Pictures Television.

The Designing Women Reunion is a 2003 American television special that reunited the cast of the 1986–1993 sitcom Designing Women. It originally aired on Lifetime on July 28, 2003.

References

  1. ↑ "Ralph Bloodworth obituary". tributes.com. Retrieved May 3, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Behrens, Leigh (July 8, 1990). "Designing Woman". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
  3. 1 2 Proffitt, Steve (22 November 1992). "Linda Bloodworth-Thomason : A Key to That Hollywood-Arkansas Connection". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  4. 1 2 Park, Jeannie (28 January 1991). "When Not Battling Delta Burke, Linda Bloodworth-Thomason and Harry Thomason Are Redesigning CBS". People. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  5. ↑ "The Sitcom Behind the Sitcom: Television: The countdown to an 'Evening Shade' rehearsal can be comedic. Just ask writer and producer Linda Bloodworth-Thomason". The Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 2010-12-12.
  6. ↑ Nemetz, Dave (17 August 2017). "A Look Back at NBC's Infamous Flop Emeril, From Co-Star Carrie Preston". TVLine. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  7. ↑ WIF Projects. "WIF". wif.org. Archived from the original on June 30, 2011. Retrieved May 3, 2015.
  8. ↑ Bloodworth-Thomason, Linda (12 September 2018). "'Designing Women' Creator Goes Public With Les Moonves War: Not All Harassment Is Sexual". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  9. ↑ Carter, Bill, "After 'Sopranos,' a Need for a Hit" (page 2), The New York Times , March 22, 2007.
  10. ↑ Patterson, Troy (26 March 2008). "Was HBO right to cancel 12 Miles of Bad Road?". Slate Magazine. Retrieved May 3, 2015.
  11. ↑ Scheck, Frank (25 April 2013). "Bridegroom: Tribeca Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  12. ↑ Jones, Chris. "Not so sweet revenge in pre-Broadway First Wives Club", Chicago Tribune, March 12, 2015.
  13. ↑ Dowd, Maureen (27 May 1993). "Clinton's Best Friends Find It a Tough Role". New York Times. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  14. ↑ Bloodworth-Thomason, Linda (19 November 2013). "'Designing Women' Creator on Bill Clinton and Her New Documentary: I Believe in 'Honest Propaganda'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
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