(Note: This piece follows “The Films of Russ Doughten, Part 1: 1961–1968.”)
When Donald W. Thompson was a nine year old boy in Hamburg New York, his father took him to see the Humphrey Bogart film They Drive By Night (1940). This experience sparked Thompson’s lifelong interest in filmmaking, and as a boy he made a number of 8mm short films. In high school his obsession with motion pictures resulted in his becoming an apprentice projectionist at a local theater. His parents and teachers helped Thompson learn about filmmaking and he made four 16mm silent movies in high school. Thompson enlisted in the Air Force after graduating, and thanks to his experience making films as a teenager he was employed as an Editorial Specialist with U.S. Air Force Motion Pictures while stationed in Florida and Okinawa. During this time Thompson worked on a “TV film series” titled The Magic Island shot in Tokyo and Hong Kong. When his tour of duty ended in 1960, he spent some time in California studying drama and filmmaking at the Pasadena Playhouse. Like many independent filmmakers of the era (including George Romero), Thompson eventually found steady work in industrial films. While on a 1967 production for General Motors in Iowa he met his future wife Beverly and decided to settle down there. He later worked at Des Moines television station KRNT, and for a time was a…
