Ernest Thompson

Ernest Thompson, born Richard Ernest Thompson on November 6, 1949, in Bellows Falls, Vermont, is an American writer, actor, and director. The son of Theron and Esther Thompson, he spent his early years in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine before relocating to Maryland during junior high school. He studied at the University of Maryland and the Catholic University of America, ultimately earning a degree cum laude from American University in 1971.

Thompson is best known as the playwright behind On Golden Pond, which he wrote at age 28. The play debuted off-Broadway in 1978, with Tom Aldredge and Frances Sternhagen in the leading roles, and following a successful run at the Kennedy Center, it opened on Broadway at the New Apollo Theater on February 28, 1979. A revival at the Century Theatre extended the production's run to more than 400 performances. Thompson received a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding New Play in 1979 for the work. The play was adapted into a 1981 film starring Katharine Hepburn and Henry Fonda, for which Thompson won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, along with honors from the Golden Globes and the Writers Guild of America.

Thompson's second major play, The West Side Waltz, came about after he received a grant offer connected to screenwriter George Seaton, creator of films such as Miracle on 34th Street, to write a new play for the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. The production opened on Broadway on November 19, 1981, starring Katharine Hepburn. Thompson later wrote and directed a television adaptation of the play, which premiered on Thanksgiving night in 1995 with a cast that included Shirley MacLaine, Liza Minnelli, Kathy Bates, and Jennifer Grey, with Thompson also appearing in the production.

As a stage performer, Thompson's sole Broadway acting credit was the role of drifter Hal Carter in Summer Brave, William Inge's revised version of his play Picnic, in 1975. His television acting work included the role of Ranger Matt Harper on NBC's 1974 series Sierra, Dr. Phil Parker on ABC's Westside Medical, and Tony Cooper on the NBC soap opera Somerset. He also appeared in the television films The Rimers of Eldritch and F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Last of the Belles, as well as the films Star 80, directed by Bob Fosse, and Next Stop Wonderland, directed by Brad Anderson.

Beyond acting, Thompson wrote the screenplay for Sweet Hearts Dance, directed by Robert Greenwald and starring Susan Sarandon and Don Johnson, and directed the film 1969, with a cast that included Kiefer Sutherland, Robert Downey Jr., and Winona Ryder. In 1994, he wrote the television film Take Me Home Again, based on Lamar Herrin's novel and starring Kirk Douglas and Craig T. Nelson, in which he also appeared. He co-wrote and directed the Emmy-nominated television film Out of Time, starring James McDaniel and Mel Harris. In 2001, Thompson directed a live television version of On Golden Pond starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer.

In 2008, Thompson co-founded Whitebridge Farm Productions with partners Morgan Murphy and Lori Gigliotti-Murphy. He wrote, directed, and starred in the company's first two films, Heavenly Angle and Time and Charges, both shot primarily in New Hampshire. Thompson has a son, August, born in 1991, and daughters Heather and Danielle. He married Kristie Lanier in 1993, and the two later divorced. On Christmas Day 2012, he married Kerrin Adrian. Thompson resides primarily in New Hampshire, near the location where On Golden Pond was filmed.