Thomas Ian Griffith Jr. was born in Hartford, Connecticut on March 18, 1962, the son of Irish-American Hartford natives Mary Ann (née O'Neil; 1934–1990)[12] and Dr. Thomas Joseph Griffith Sr. (1927–2017).[13][2][14] His maternal grandfather, John J. O'Neil, was born in Killorglin, County Kerry, Ireland, and emigrated to Hartford in the 1920s.[15] His maternal grandmother, Margaret (née Galvin), was also born in County Kerry, Ireland and spent most of her life in Hartford.[16] His paternal grandparents, Michael J. Griffith and Mary Agnes (née Radigan), were both born in County Mayo, Ireland, and emigrated (separately) to Hartford in the 1910s.[17][18]
Griffith's mother, who was voted Mrs. Connecticut of 1964,[19] was the founder and director of the noted Irish dancing academy, The Griffith Academy of Dance in Wethersfield, Connecticut.[20][12] She was a graduate of the University of Hartford, and received a Master's degree in counseling from St. Joseph College.[12] She was also an accredited An Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha and Teagascóir Coimisiún Le Rinci Gaelacha Irish dance teacher.[12] His paternal grandmother, Mary Agnes, was also a member of The Irish Dancing Commission.[21] His father served in the Navy during World War II and later hosted a weekly Sunday radio show, The Irish Hour (produced by his brother William E. Griffith).[13][22] He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from the University of Hartford and went on to earn three Master of Science degrees and a PhD in Education from Boston University.[13] He was an assistant professor in business administration at the University of Hartford,[19] before moving to Florida to teach at Lynn University in Boca Raton and Broward College in Davie.[2][14]
Griffith has an older sisters, Colleen Marie, and a younger sister, Mary Beth,[12][19] both of whom continued in their mother's footsteps and teach at The Griffith Academy.[14][23] His family's dancing background and the taking over of the academy by his sister after his mother's passing would later be developed by Griffith into a television program, The Dunnings.[24][25]
Education and studies (1962–1980)
Griffith grew up in Wethersfield, Connecticut.[26] During the 1960s, he was part of the youth Irish dancing group The Griffith Dancers, under the direction of his mother.[27][28] The dancing group traveled around the United States, Canada, and United Kingdom, performing and taking part in competitions.[29] In addition to learning various forms of dancing (such as Irish step-dancing and Celtic folk-dancing) from his mother, he also learned to sing and play several instruments, including the piano and the accordion.[4] He was so proficient on the accordion that he won United States and Connecticut State championships.[4] At certain shows he would dance a jig and play his accordion,[30] and would usually accompany The Griffith Dancers on the instrument.[31][32] Of his dancing, he later said "I never had a formal dance lesson in my life, I picked up tap dancing while playing the piano for allowance money as a child in Hartford, Connecticut."[4] Griffith also juggled and wrote songs.[4]
He attended South Catholic High School in Hartford, graduating with the class of 1978, where he was Treasurer his junior year, Vice-President his senior year, and also co-editor of the school's yearbook, the Canticle.[14][33] He won awards in algebra, biology, and chemistry, and was a member of the State Creative Youth.[33] He focused on sports his freshman year, playing football and basketball, but was later drawn into music and theatre, as a member of the school's madigral and glee club.[33] His sophomore year, he joined the school's drama club, The South Catholic Players, as their piano accompanist.[33][34] As a way to meet girls that acted in the plays, Griffith also wound up acting in the school's productions.[34] His senior year, under the direction of John Kiely, he played the lead, Albert Peterson, in a 1978 production of the musical comedy Bye Bye Birdie.[33]
Griffith became obsessed with taekwondo when he was 12, studying at the S.K. Tae Kwon Do Academy in Hartford, and earned a black belt when he was 18.[35][36] He later earned a black belt in American Kenpo while studying the sport in New York under Hyung Yup Chung.[3] After moving to Los Angeles in the late 1980s, he studied with Jun Chong.[3] In the 1990s, he picked up boxing under Benny Urquidez.[3] He is also trained in kickboxing, wrestling, fencing, and stage combat.[37][38]
Some sources state that he studied law at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he was a dean's list student before leaving after his junior year to "make it" as an actor in New York.[14][4] Other sources report that he was an English and music major at that same college, but that he graduated before setting out into acting.[39] The college's website lists him as a class of 1982 student.[40] Its 1980 yearbook, the Purple Patcher, lists him as a resident student,[41] while its 1981 edition lists him as a player in the lacrosse team,[42] but he is absent from the 1979 and 1982 editions.[43][44] Griffith later mentioned taking part in the college's plays.[34]
Career
Theater and soap operas (1980–1987)
In the summer of 1980, between his sophomore and junior year at College of the Holy Cross,[45] Griffith made his Broadway debut when he replaced featured player Tom Cashin in the musical The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, under the direction of Peter Masterson and Tommy Tune at the 46th Street Theatre.[14][4][46] In a 1984 interview with the Los Angeles Times, the actor confided that Tune (for whom he audition)[34] hired him more for his physique and dancing skills than his acting abilities.[39] He later told The Star-Ledger in 1992, "They noticed 'Celtic step dancing' on my resume, and I was asked if I could demonstrate. So I cranked out a little step. They loved it."[47] Griffith performed various roles in the play, including a stage manager, a cameraman, and a football player named Aggie #12 who does a specialty tap-dance.[46][14][4] Having a steady role in the play allowed the actor to move from Yonkers to Manhattan, though he continued attending College of the Holy Cross during the day.[45] He also studied the Michael Chekhov acting technique in New York City during this time.[34]
His stage and theater roles were usually credited under his shortened name, Thomas Griffith;[53] he would not be credited as Thomas Ian Griffith until he was cast in Another World in late 1983, to avoid confusion with another actor, Tom Griffith (who appeared in horror films The Alien Factor (1978), Fiend (1980), Night of Horror (1981), and Nightbeast (1982)).[citation needed]
A New York casting director caught Griffith's work at the Guthrie Theater and arranged for him an audition for NBC in late 1983.[39] From that single audition (in which he was paired with Mary Page Keller),[8][54] he received two simultaneous offers to join either Another World or Search for Tomorrow, both NBC daytime soap operas.[39] The actor chose Another World, was signed to a nine-month contract, and was cast as the "troublemaking-womanizer" Catlin Ewing.[4][39] Griffith had initially planned to return to stage work after his nine-month contract expired, with the television experience added to his resumé, and he took acting lessons when he had time off from shooting.[39] He was also noted for performing and choreographing his own stunts on the show.[55] He made his television-acting debut in January 1984 and wound up playing Ewing for three years, until January 1987.[56][57][14] During this time, he dated his co-star, onscreen love interest, and future wife, Mary Page Keller; the couple eventually married in 1991.[14]
Appearing on Another World made him "one of daytime television's more familiar and possibly popular faces,"[58] a "matinee idol,"[59] and a "soap superstar."[60] He was featured on the cover of Soap Opera Digest's October 1984 issue.[61] By 1985, he was a frequently invited guest at international trade shows and exhibitions, where he met fans and signed autographs.[62][63][64][65] During one of these promotional tours to the Southern United States in the fall of 1985,[66] Griffith landed an uncredited bit part as an extra in the Miami Vice episode "Phil the Shill," which was filmed in Miami, Florida in late October and early November 1985.[67] The episode, which guest starred Phil Collins, was directed by John Nicolella and was broadcast on NBC in December 1985.[68] As early as July 1986, news circulated that Griffith, although playing a popular character on Another World, was not going to renew his contract once it ended in January 1987, and the importance of his role was gradually diminished in the writing of the show.[69][70]
In December 1986, Griffith and Keller were invited to perform on the tenth annual televised benefit special Telethon of Stars, broadcast from CFCF and TQS in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.[71][72] The 22-hour program was a fundraiser for research into children's diseases and featured such stars as Tony Bennett, James Brown, Ginette Reno, Daniel Lavoie, Joe Bocan, Ranee Lee, and Édith Butler.[73] The couple performed two originals songs, but were plagued by issues.[71][74] Reviewing their much-publicized set for The Montreal Gazette, a critic wrote "As for Thomas Ian Griffin [ sic] and Mary Page Keller of Another World, they were downright livid and for good reason. On their first song, they couldn't hear themselves singing, and the camera cut away from them before the applause started. They were promised everything would be ironed out by their second tune, but when they started to lip-sync, the tape started half-way through the song. As soon as the song was over, they stormed off in a huff. Or was it a limo?"[74]
Hollywood and Ian Page Productions (1987–1993)
After leaving Another World in 1985, his girlfriend Keller moved from Brooklyn, New York (where most of the television series was filmed) to Los Angeles, California (she was a native of Monterey, California);[75] Griffith joined her in early 1987, when his contract expired.[14][76] There, they made their home and formed an independent film production company, Ian Page Productions, named after their middle names, and he began writing the screenplay for A Place to Hide (later filmed as Night of the Warrior).[77] In 1988, Griffith had a guest role on NBC's prime-time television crime drama series In the Heat of the Night; he appeared as Luke Potter in the two-part season two premiere episode "Don't Look Back," which aired in December 1988.[78][79][80]
In late 1988, Griffith landed his theatrical film debut when he was cast as the lead villain in The Karate Kid Part III (released in June 1989).[81] In the film, he portrays Terry Silver, a rival martial arts expert who influences Daniel LaRusso against his friend and mentor, Mr. Miyagi. Although many reporters assumed that he won the role of Silver because of his personal knowledge of martial arts, Griffith explained that he landed the part solely because of his acting experience as the character of Silver, as originally written when he auditioned, didn't have much fighting in the film.[3] The plot initially revolved around Silver torturing LaRusso and plotting his demise, but once the film's fight choreographer, Pat Johnson, discovered Griffith's expertise with martial arts, he recommended that the actor approach director John G. Avildsen for new scenes to be written.[3] Avildsen was excited about expanding Silver's parts and reworked the script to make the character an equal nemesis.[3]
Despite being offered similar martial arts roles following The Karate Kid Part III, the actor did not want to be typecast.[3] When interviewed by Black Belt magazine, Griffith explained he wanted to keep his roles balanced, and that although he loved doing action and martial arts films, he was also driven to keep playing straight drama parts, and was interested in going back to plays and doing Shakespeare.[3] He also told the New York Daily News "I'm hoping that in between the big action films there will be something more soulful."[8] Griffith then landed another guest role on CBS's prime-time television crime drama series Wiseguy; he appeared in the two-part season two finale episodes "Le Lacrime d'Amore Part 1: AKA The Four-Letter Word" and "Le Lacrime d'Amore Part 2: AKA There's Plenty of Time," which aired in May 1989. Griffith plays the role of Roger Totland, Amber Twine's (Patti D'Arbanville) attorney who convinces her to sever ties with the protagonist, Vinnie Terranova (Ken Wahl), by seducing and wining and dining her, in an attempt to profit from the sale of her company and real estate.[82]
His agent heard that ABC was casting for its television biopic of late screen actor Rock Hudson and sent Griffith over to audition for director John Nicolella.[34] Although Griffith only did a cold reading, Nicolella loved his delivery and asked him to repeat the audition for a dozen ABC executives; the following day, Griffith was informed that he had the part.[34] The actor admitted to The New York Times that prior to the Hudson biopic, he was not a fan of the screen legend's work and had only seen Giant (1956), but that through research for the role, he learned to appreciate the late actor's work and found it to be a great role for him.[83][82] Griffith was only one inch taller than Hudson and had a similar physique, but required several hours of makeup each day (including darkening his brown hair and wearing brown contacts over his blue eyes) to get into character, especially when depicting Hudson's final years as he was dying from AIDS.[83][1] Producer Frank Konigsberg later told newspaper reporters that he felt it was more important to cast an actor who could play Hudson's tortured spirit than an exact lookalike,[1] and that Griffith "has the presence, the height and the build of Rock. He also has that wonderful kind of open, all-American quality, a boyish innocence that makes you really like the guy. That's what Rock had, too."[84] The two-hour Rock Hudson film was broadcast on ABC in January 1990.[14][85]
Through Ian Page Productions, Griffith wrote and co-produced the action flic Night of the Warrior, which originated from a screenplay and story he wrote in 1988 titled A Place to Hide.[86][77][87] The film, when initially scheduled to start shooting in late November 1988 (before being delayed when Griffith was cast in The Karate Kid Part III), was a mystery-drama flic about a poet who works at a strip club.[14][88] It was to be directed by Scott Thomas and co-star Griffith and Keller with a cast that boasted Arlene Dahl, Bill Erwin, Dana Ashbrook, and Chris Lemmon, and be co-produced by Mike Erwin (son of actor Bill Erwin) and Jeff King.[77][88][89] By 1989, the film's cast had changed to star Lorenzo Lamas (Dahl's real-life son) replacing Griffith; the former also came in as co-producer through his film production company, Blueline Productions/Erwin, Lamas, Kirishima Productions (co-owned with Mike Erwin and J. Max Kirishima).[90][86] Erwin, Lamas, and Griffith had met through their love of karate.[91] With new producers Lamas and Kirishima on board, the script was drastically changed to include more martial arts and turn it into more of an action film, about which Griffith was unhappy (the film was also retitled Night Warrior).[14] With a $3 million budget,[92] the movie was finally filmed between March–May 1990,[93][94] with director Rafal Zielinski and starring Lamas, Kathleen Kinmont (Lamas' real-life wife, replacing Keller), Dahl, Erwin, Anthony Geary, and Danny Kamekona.[14] It was initially to be distributed in 1990 via Kodiak Films,[94] but was ultimately distributed in theaters via Trimark Pictures and Little Bear Films in June 1991, and on video and laserdisc via its division Vidmark Entertainment, in September 1991.[14][77][95]
Griffith and Keller next co-wrote, co-produced, and co-starred in the political action thriller film Ulterior Motives (working title Deadline[93]) involving a New York Times reporter, Erica Boswell (Keller), who uncovers a story about a Japanese-American businessman selling U.S. defense secrets to Japan. She hires private detective Jack Blaylock (Griffith) to help with the investigation.[96] Directed by James Becket, its cast also included Ken Howard, Ellen Crawford, M.C. Gainey, Hayward Nishioka, Tyra Ferrell, and Joe Yamanaka. Ulterior Motives was again produced in cooperation with Erwin and Lamas' film production company, Erwin, Lamas, Kirishima Productions,[97] and was filmed between June–August 1990 for $3 million.[98][99][92][100] It was screened in February and March 1991 at the American Film Market in Santa Monica, California,[101] was then presented out-of-competition at the Cannes Film Festival in France through Filmstar in May 1991,[102] then received limited screenings via Pangea Film Group in 1991.[103] A larger release happened two years later in late 1992, when Imperial Entertainment issued it on video and laserdisc.[104][14][77]
With several acting, writing, and producing credits to his name, Griffith was picked up for representation by talent agency Creative Artists Agency.[14] In 1991, his agent took Griffith's new screenplay for Excessive Force, in which he plays Detective Terry McCain, a Chicago police officer who gets framed for the murder of a mob boss, to New Line Cinema.[105][11] Within two weeks, New Line Cinema's president Michael Lynne had agreed to finance and distribute the film and wanted Griffith to also star in it.[11][106] Ultimately, the offer evolved into a three-picture writing-producing-starring-directing deal for Ian Page Productions, though Griffith did not use his option to direct the film.[14][105][106] Griffith said he wanted someone else to direct so that he could be focused on acting on the set.[11]
Excessive Force was given a $5.5 million budget[11] and John Hess was hired to direct, while Griffith produced, co-choreographed (with Bobby Bass), and starred in the film; he can also be seen playing several jazz tunes on the piano.[14][3] The movie was filmed on location in Chicago, Illinois between March–May 1992,[107][105] and included such notable stars as James Earl Jones, Burt Young, and Lance Henriksen.[108] For his role, Griffith did research by spending time with real Chicago cops who patrolled rough areas of the city and was present during a raid on a crack house.[11]Excessive Force received limited theatrical releases starting on November 6, 1992 and into 1993,[109] during which Griffith embarked on a promotional tour to plug the film.[11] The wide theatrical opening of Excessive Force was in February 1993,[110] and by May 1993, the film was in theaters everywhere.[111] Although the film fared poorly at the box office, grossing only $1.1 million in the US, it sold so well when issued on VHS that same year via New Line Home Video, grossing a profit within months,[111] that New Line Cinema was open to a sequel.[112] That sequel was eventually produced, Excessive Force II: Force on Force, but without any input from Griffith.
Griffith was next cast to co-star alongside Christopher Plummer and Nastassja Kinski in the Canadian action film Crackerjack, which was directed by Michael Mazo and filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia between September–November 1993.[118][119] The film deals with Jack Wild (Griffith), a burnt-out cop who is taken to a mountain resort by his brother, sister-in-law, and newborn child to help him recover emotionally from the death of his wife. There, he befriends a tour guide (Kinski), but the entire resort is soon held hostage by a master criminal (Plummer) and his henchmen, who threaten to bury it under an avalanche using explosives. Crackerjack was produced by North American Releasing and was distributed theatrically in the United States by Worldvision Enterprises and had its world premiere at the American Film Market on February 25, 1994.[120] A sequel was produced in 1995, Crackerjack 2, but with Judge Reinhold taking over Griffith's role; a third film was produced in 1999, Crackerjack 3, but with no relation to the first two movies.
He then starred in Nu Image's suspense-action production Blood of the Innocent, which was filmed on location in Nieborów, Czerwińsk nad Wisłą, and Warsaw, Poland between August and September 1994,[121] as a co-production with Poland's Mondofin.[122] The film's working title was Angel of Death and it co-starred John Rhys-Davies and Rutger Hauer.[122] The movie follows Chicago cop Frank Wusharsky (Griffith) who travels to Poland to find the hoods who killed his brother. Aided by the local police captain (Rhys-Davies), he discovers that his sibling was murdered by the Russian mafia, who are killing local peasants and selling their organs on the black market after a doctor (Hauer) dismembers them.[123] The film premiered on Showtime in December 1994,[124] and was later released on VHS via Republic Pictures in 1995, under the alternative titleBeyond Forgiveness.[123]
He was again cast by Nu Image in Hollow Point, an action-comedy film co-produced with Canada's Astral Programming Enterprises, Phoenician Films, and Filmline International.[125] Though some stock footage of Boston's landscape was used during the opening, and the police cars bared that city's name, the movie was shot entirely in Montreal, Quebec during seven weeks between April and May 1995.[126][127]Hollow Point was directed by Sidney J. Furie and co-starred Tia Carrere, John Lithgow, and Donald Sutherland.[128][125] Griffith (who shows off his operatic singing during several scenes) stars as Max Parrish, a DEA agent who teams up with an FBI agent (Carrere) and a flamboyant hitman (Sutherland) to take down a criminal syndicate lead by a financial adviser (Lithgow).[125] The film premiered on HBO in June 1996.[129]Vidmark Entertainment released the film on VHS in the United States, Sterling Entertainment Group released it on DVD in the United States, while TVA Films issued it on DVD in Canada.[125]
In 1995, Griffith wrote, directed, and co-produced the children'smartial artseducational filmKick Time!, which starred youth martial arts instructor Robert "Karate Bob" Meltzer (who co-produced).[130] The thirty-minute made-for-video film co-starred Keller (who also co-produced) as Kirby the clown, along with Meltzer's pupils, the Kick Time Kids, showing a basic skills non-aggressive, non-contact program.[130] Originally released on VHS in 1995 through Griffith, Keller, and Meltzer's Kick Time Productions, it was later re-issued on DVD in 2005.[131]
In March 1997, NBC announced it had filmed a pilot episode for a proposed television drama series named The Angel (later renamed The Guardian), for its fall 1997 schedule.[141][142] The premise of the show, which was written and directed by Rob Cohen, had Griffith starring as Ray Angelotti (known as The Guardian Angel), an ex-thief and martial arts expert with a sixth-degree Kenpo Karate black belt, who comes out of prison determined to right wrongs and make up for his past misdeeds.[143] The pilot episode also included Stephanie Niznik, Rebecca Rigg, Brian Thompson, and Tippi Hedren.[143] The show was not picked up.
Transition to co-starring roles (1997–1999)
Griffith was next cast as co-star in director John Carpenter's neo-Westernaction horror filmVampires, playing the role of head vampire Jan Valek. The movie starred James Woods, Daniel Baldwin, and Sheryl Lee, and was shot from June to August 1997 in New Mexico.[144][145] The plot deals with a modern-day vampire hunter (Woods) and his partner (Baldwin), hunting for the world's first vampire (Griffith) in the American south, using his latest victim (Lee) to track him down. The film, which was produced through Spooky Tooth Productions and Storm King Production was distributed via Largo Entertainment, and released through Columbia Pictures in October 1998.[146][147]
In The First Vampire, a bonus feature included on Vampires' collector's edition Blu-ray, Griffith recalls coming into the production through an audition with Carpenter's wife, producer Sandy King, prior to going to the Philippines to film Behind Enemy Lines.[148] While filming Behind Enemy Lines, Griffith received news from his agent that he got the part in Vampires.[148] When King and Carpenter first met with Griffith, his hair was still long from his role in Kull the Conqueror, but he had since cut his hair short for the war picture; this gave the producers the idea of giving Valek long hair and sent Griffith in for extensions.[148] Carpenter also instructed Griffith not to take part in pre-production rehearsals with the other actors, so that his character would be intentionally detached and emotionless.[148] Griffith would show up to film scenes having never met his co-stars, and often found it difficult not to laugh at Woods' comical improvised lines.[148]
The actor next co-starred in The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax a spy-mystery for Corymore Productions (in co-production with Scripps Howard Productions), owned by actress Angela Lansbury and her producer husband Peter Shaw.[149][150] The movie was directed by their son, Anthony Pullen Shaw, and was filmed between November and December 1997, on location in Ireland, France, and Morocco.[149][151][150] The story follows Emily Pollifax (Landsbury), a sexagenarian widow who applies to become a CIA agent, and through a mix-up is mistaken for a real agent and sent on a foreign mission. The CIA sends their own agent Jack Farrell (Griffith) to shadow her and see that nothing happens to her, but is himself caught up in the action.[149]The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax aired on CBS in May 1999,[152] and the network hoped it would lead to additional Emily Pollifax films.[149]
Griffith next starred in the action-disaster filmAvalanche, which he co-produced through Ian Page Productions, in co-operation with producers Richard Pepin and Joseph Merhi's PM Entertainment Group, and writer-director Steve Kroschel's Kroschel Films.[153] Griffith also helped with the script.[154] The film was shot at Hatcher Pass, Knik Glacier, and Anchorage, Alaska from October to December 1998, and includes footage of real avalanches, which Kroschel had spent four years documenting and filming beforehand.[155][156] Co-starring in the movie are Caroleen Feeney, R. Lee Ermey, John Ashton, and C. Thomas Howell. The film's plot deals with a helicopter pilot, Neal Meekin (Griffith), who helps an EPA employee (Feeney) try to prevent an oil company's new pipeline to cause a major avalanche.[157] The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1999, out of competition,[157][154] and had its North American television premiere on UPN in January 2001.[152][158][159] It received numerous home media releases, notably a VHS in the United Kingdom by Entertainment In Video in 1999,[160] and a VHS and DVD by First Look Home Entertainment in April 2002, under the alternative title Escape from Alaska.[152][161][162] It was later re-issued on DVD by Echo Bridge Home Entertainment in 2017, also under its alternative title.
He then appeared in the dystopian-science fiction filmFor the Cause (also known as Final Encounter), filmed in April 1999 in Bulgaria.[163][164] Although second-billed as co-star, Griffith only appears in less than a third of the movie before being killed, and as such is more of a supporting character. Justin Whalin and Jodi Bianca Wise, who are third and fourth billed (behind Dean Cain and Griffith) have more screen time. The plot deals with a future civilization which has been in a hundred-year war with another colony, but it's general, Murran (Cain), wishes to bring peace between them. He assembles a team, including Evans (Griffith), Sutherland (Whalin), Abel (Wise), Stoner (Trae Thomas), and Layton (Michelle Krusiec), to lead him across to the other side where, unbeknownst to his crew, he plans to set off a bomb.[165] The film was written and directed by David Douglas (and co-directed by his brother Tim), through their Grand Designs Entertainment production company. After a failed distribution deals with Miramax,[166] the picture was finally released via Dimension Films / Nu Image, initially in foreign markets in early 2000, before premiering in the United States in February 2001.[152]
He was next cast in two video productions by country singer Reba McEntire, both produced through her company, Starstruck Entertainment.[167][168] The first was a Christmas-time western drama set in Oregon in 1903, starring McEntire as Rose Cameron, a widow whose farm is about to be foreclosed by dishonest bank president Harlan Gotch (Ronny Cox), only to be reluctantly rescued by Harry Withers (Griffith), a lone rider in town.[169] Originally titled Christmas in Calico, after the book on which it is based,[170][171] it was retitled to Secret of Giving, a song the singer recorded for the film and which is included on her album Secret of Giving: A Christmas Collection, which serves as its semi-soundtrack.[172][173] The picture was directed by Sam Pillsbury and was filmed in Maple Ridge, Vancouver, and Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada from June to July 1999.[174][170][171] It had a special premiere at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center in Nashville, Tennessee in early November 1999,[175] and had it's official television premiere on CBS on Thanksgiving day in November 1999.[176]
The actor also co-starred in McEntire's music video for her song "What Do You Say," the lead single from her album So Good Together, released in November 1999 though the record label MCA Nashville.[177] The video was co-produced and directed by Robert Deaton and his firm Deaton-Flanigen Productions, and depicts a mother dying of cancer and how it affects her husband (Griffith) and their two adolescent children.[172] The music video was filmed after the movie but aired on television first, when the song was released as a single in September 1999. The music video, as well as a making-of-the-video feature showing the sets and actors at work were included as bonus features on the enhanced section of the So Good Together CD.[178] The music video was later included in McEntire's DVD collection Video Gold I, released in November 2006.
Griffith was next cast to co-star as serial killer Doug Brister, a character based on real-life serial killer "Sunset Strip Slayer" Doug Clark, in the thrillerA Vision of Murder: The Story of Donielle.[179] The film stars Melissa Gilbert as Donielle Patton (the real-life woman who helped capture Clark), a woman with psychic capabilities who has visions of murdered victim's killers and helps the police apprehend a local serial killer.[180] The movie was co-produced through director-producer Donald Wrye's SpyGaze Pictures company, who had bought the rights to the story directly from Patton.[181][179] The film also co-stars Maria Conchita Alonso, Kim Hawthorne, and Rip Torn, and was shot in Vancouver, British Columbia during November and December 1999,[182][183] before premiering on CBS in February 2000.[184]
Final starring roles (2000)
In February 2000, Griffith signed with the Metropolitan Talent Agency, where he was represented by Chris Barrett and Karen Forman.[185] He was also managed by Himber Entertainment.[185] That same month, it was announced that he would star in Hilltop Entertainment's thriller film Heart of Gold for producer Harel Goldstein and director Yakov Bentsvi.[186]Variety described the plot as "Based on a true story, life on the streets becomes a nightmare when a bodyguard to L.A.'s top call girls falls in love with one of his charges."[186] The film was never made.
The actor was next scooped up by a group of Canadian-British-Italian co-producers to star in two modern adventure films shot back-to-back in 2000: High Adventure and The Sea Wolf. Both films were co-executive produced by British-Canadian Harry Alan Towers' Towers of London (with his wife Maria Rohm), Canadian Gary Howsam's Greenlight Film and Television Entertainment (GFT Entertainment), and Italian Fulvio Lucisano's Italian International Film. They were also both directed by Mark Roper, produced by Canadian Lewin Webb (who worked for Howsam at GFT Entertainment), and written by Peter Welbeck (Towers' pen name) and Peter Jobin.[187]
High Adventure was filmed first during the summer of 2000 in Bulgaria, as a co-production with Evgeni Mihailov's Boyana Film Company.[188][187] The plot deals with Chris Quatermain (Griffith), grandson of famed explorer and adventurer Allan Quatermain, who teams up with a German archaeologist, Hope Gruner (Anja Kling), and an Englishman, Johnny Ford (Harry Peacock), to find Alexander the Great's lost treasure.[189][190]High Adventure was picked up for limited distribution in North American by Canadian company Prophecy Entertainment,[189][188] and in the United Kingdom by British financing company Future Film Group.[190] It had a two-day premiere screening in February 2001 at the AMC Theater in Santa Monica, California.[191] However, the film was released on DVD only in Europe; for its German release by E-M-S in October 2001 it was retitled Quatermain - Der Schatz der Könige (Quatermain - The Treasure of Kings), while in France it was retitled Les aventuriers du trésor perdu (Adventurers of the Lost Treasure).[192]
The Sea Wolf was next filmed in the fall of 2000 in Cuba, as a co-production with Camilo Vives' Productora Cinematografica Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematográficos (ICAIC)[188] Griffith was not the producers' original choice for the role, who had initially cast Mark Dacascos, when the film was to be co-produced by another financier, Amco Entertainment Group.[193] The plot deals with boat Capitan Jeffery Thorpe (Griffith), an ex-United States Navy and self-proclaimed pirate, who comes across a map of Montezuma's treasure shown to him by a mysterious Columbian woman, Helena (Gerit Kling, who also plays her twin sister Marlena), and the two must find it before The Colonel (Barry Flatman) claims it for his own.[189]The Sea Wolf was picked up for limited distribution in North American by Canadian company Prophecy Entertainment,[189][188] and in the United Kingdom by British financing company Future Film Group in 2001.[190][194] It was later distributed by Canadian company Cinemavault Releasing, which arranged for a television premiere in January 2003,[194] and a VHS and DVD release under the alternative title SeaWolf: The Pirate's Curse via The Asylum in July 2003.[195][196] It was later re-issued on DVD by Echo Bridge Home Entertainment in 2004, also under its alternative title.
Continued co-starring roles and return to theater (2000–2002)
With Greg Mellott, he co-wrote the psychological thrillerBlack Point, in which he also co-starred; the film starred David Caruso and Susan Haskell, and also co-starred Miguel Sandoval and Gordon Tootoosis.[152] Filmed from April to May 2001 in Victoria, Deep Cove, Fernwood, and Brentwood Bay, British Columbia (standing in for Washington),[205][206][207] the plot deals with John Hawkins (Caruso), a divorced father whose life has been derailed when his daughter went missing years prior. He befriends and falls in love with Natalie Travis (Haskell), a woman who has moved into the little coastal town in which he lives, but soon learns that her partner is Gus Travis (Griffith), a criminal who is physically abusive to her. Through a series of double-cross and deception, Natalie uses Hawkins to get rid of Travis and get away with the money he is laundering for mobster Malcolm (Sandoval).[208]
Black Point was directed by David Mackay, produced by Canadian producer Raymond Massey (grandson of actor Raymond Massey)[209] through Massey Productions and Black Point Films,[205][210] and had financing and distribution via Promark Entertainment Group/Das Werk AG Company and HBO.[211][212] Although announced as a television film,[212] it was screened at several festivals and events starting in October 2001.[213] At the fifth annual Marco Island Film Festival in October 2002, the film won the Best Feature Thriller award.[214][215] It was eventually released on VHS and DVD in 2002, in Canada via Videal/Universal Studios/Remstar, and in the United States via CityHeat Productions/Artisan Entertainment.
Griffith was then hired by producer Edgar Lansbury to co-star in Cohort Productions' drama film Italian Lessons, planned to shoot during the summer of 2001.[216][152] The film was described by the production company as "a witty drama of a Brooklyn youth confronting his origins and growing up."[216] The financing and distribution was to come from Moonstone and Overseas Film Group, but it fell through and the film was never made.[152]
Reuniting with director Rob Cohen (who had written and directed the pilot for The Guardian in 1997), Griffith was given a featured part in the spy-action flick xXx, in which he portrays NSA Agent Jim McGrath, who gets shot during the opening scene while running through a Rammstein concert; his dead body is then passed around via crowd surfing.[224] Griffith's scenes were filmed between December 2001 and March 2002, in Prague, Czech Republic, where most of the movie is set.[225] The film, which stars Vin Diesel and co-stars Samuel L. Jackson, Asia Argento, and Marton Csokas, was produced for Revolution Studios and released by Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures in August 2002.[225] Footage from xXx is used extensively throughout Rammstein's music video for "Feuer frei!", which was also directed by Cohen, including Griffith's dead body crowd surfing which can be seen toward the end. The song was released as a single in October 2002, and the music video was included as a bonus feature on an enhanced section of the "Feuer frei!" CD single.[226] The music video was also later included on Rammstein's DVD Lichtspielhaus, which was released via Motor Music, Republic Records, and Universal Music in December 2003, and the Blu-ray edition of xXx.[227]
Griffith next co-starred in the cyberpunkscience fiction action film Timecop 2: The Berlin Decision (a sequel to Jean-Claude van Damme's 1994 film Timecop), which was shot at the Universal Studios Lot in Universal City, California between March and April 2002.[228][229][230] In the sequel, van Damme's role is replaced by Time Enforcement Commission agent Ryan Chang, portrayed by Jason Scott Lee.[231] Griffith plays Brandon Miller, another Time Enforcement Commission agent with altruistic ideals, who travels back in time to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Chang and Miller get into physical fights in different periods of time as the former realizes the latter is out to erase his lineage, thereby making him non-existent. Griffith's wife, Keller, plays the role of Doc and John Beck also co-stars as director O'Rourke.[232] The film was produced by Mike Elliott and Gary Scott Thompson (the latter of whom also wrote the screenplay), and directed by Steve Boyum, as a direct-to-video release by Universal Studios' Universal Home Entertainment Productions,[229][231] and was released on VHS and DVD in September 2003.[233]
Periodic supporting roles in television and theater (2002–2007)
After filming wrapped for Timecop 2: The Berlin Decision in April 2002, Griffith took a year-and-a-half hiatus from acting. He then only sporadically appeared in television and theater productions. In late 2003, he was cast in the recurring role of Larry Sawyer during the first season of One Tree Hill; his episodes would air between January–May 2004.
In January 2004, he again returned to stage work to appear in a one-night-only revival of the musical I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road at the Freud Playhouse in Los Angeles (the play went on the night before his first episode of One Tree Hill aired).[234][235] Directed by Kay Cole for Reprise Theatre Company's Marvelous Musical Monday series, the play starred Sharon Lawrence as Heather, a middle-age woman who wants to make a comeback musical show of her own material but is discouraged by her manager, Joe Epstein (Griffith).[235]
After another year-and-a-half off, he appeared in one episode of the television show The Closer (August 2005) and also appeared on the stage in Camelot (also August 2005).[236][237] Another year-and-a-half went by before he appeared in one episode of the television show Cold Case (December 2006). In 2007, he was in the television movie The Kidnapping (also known as Black Friday). He also appeared on stage in Chess (September 2007).[238][239]
Focus on writing and producing (2007–present)
After appearing in Chess in September 2007, Griffith retired from acting to focus on screenwriting.[citation needed] In 2009 he wrote the film Mr. Troop Mom. Starting in 2013 for the program's second season, he periodically wrote episodes for the NBC television series Grimm, contributing fourteen in total by the series' end. In its fourth season, he became the story editor and worked on all twenty-two episodes (along with fellow story editor Michael Golamco), in its fifth season, he became the co-producer and worked on all twenty-two episodes (while Golamco was promoted to executive story editor), and for its sixth and final season, he was the supervising producer and worked on all thirteen episodes. Griffith worked on a total of 61 Grimm episodes. He co-created the comic book series Asylum (2014–2016) with John Carpenter and his wife, producer Sandy King.[240][241]
In 2021, Griffith came out of his retirement from acting to reprise the role of Terry Silver in the fourth, fifth, and sixth seasons of Cobra Kai.[244][245] He also voiced his character in the 2022 video game Cobra Kai 2: Dojos Rising.
Personal life
Griffith has been married to his former Another World co-star Mary Page Keller since November 16, 1991.[2][246] The pair have two sons together,[247] Conner O'Neil Griffith (born June 3, 1994),[246] who is a video artist and animator,[248] and Eamon Michael Griffith (born March 28, 1997),[246] who is a musician.[249]
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