Thomas bought his first press camera at the age of
thirteen. He was a seasoned photo journalist before collaborating with Frank Ray Perelli on films
in Hollywood at the age of twenty-three. The two scripted a television series titled "The Legends
of Pancho Villa," out of which came a later feture movie titled "She Came From The Valley"
about Pancho Villa's raid on Douglas, New Mexico, his only incursion into the United States.
Other works the two writers collaborated on were an exploitation film titled
"Candia;" a Playhouse 90 script about Pete Herman, a bantam weight world champion who went
blind in the ring at the height of his career; a Playhouse 90 script about Nick Lucas, the first
recording artist to make it big with the advent of vinyl mass produced recordings; and other
projects which they ghosted for various producers.
Thomas also collaborated with John Randall, aka Johnny Aladdin, a Houdini
type performer who provided technical and creative input for a television series designed as a
vehicle for Randall titled "The Adventures of Johnny Aladdin." This project got circulated
through various Hollywood agencies and, years later, a strikingly similar series titled "The
Magician," in which they were not involved, became successful.
Lenny Bruce solicited Thomas to assist in writing comedy and screenplays. The
two collaborated on many of Bruce's famous comedy routines eventually recorded on Fantasy
Records, and three screenplays; "The Leather Jacket," "Killer's Grave," and "The Degenerate."
Thomas was Director of Cinematographer for the filming of "Leather Jacket." The other two
screenplays were never produced." Much of the footage from "Leather Jacket" appears in Bob
Weide's Oscar nominated documentary about Lenny Bruce titled "Swear To Tell The Truth."
Thomas worked as a DP, cinematographer, or crew member with various other
feature producers including Charles Band, Dale Ireland, and others.
Thomas was never employed as a cinematographer or DP by a union producer,
but the other side of that coin was his freedom to be the lowest bidder for extraneous 'pickup'
work such as establishing locale shots (that long pan of the city or desert or seashore before the
closeups), 'trick' shots (usually car crashes), and 'FX' shots (in-camera fades, 'slo-mo,' 'prism,'
'matte,' 'rotoscope,' and 'glass' shots). When Perelli became Associate Producer on the black and
white "Harlow" film produced by Bill Sergeant, the first movie to be shot with television
equipment, Thomas contributed to the technical process of transfering the electronic image to
film. With Ernie St. George, he helped develop a film saving wide screen process that would later
be slightly altered and patented by Technicolor under the name Technovision.
Thomas worked in both the feature 35mm format and also in the 16mm format
used in 'industrial,' 'educational,' and early television mediums. In the 1960's and 1970's, Thomas
did a series of 16mm industrial films for clients such as California Southern Gas Company, Coca
Cola Bottling Company, the Los Angeles Sentinel, the LAC/USC Medical Center, the Los
Angeles County Health System, the Jamaican Tourist Board, and a number of television
'pilots.'
William Karl Thomas currently lives in Tucson, Arizona, where he continues to
work on local, out of state, and international film projects.
