Thomas Hal Phillips

Thomas Hal Phillips (October 11, 1922 – April 3, 2007) was an American novelist, actor and screenwriter.

Biography Early life Phillips was born on October 11, 1922, on a farm between Corinth and Kossuth in Alcorn County, northeastern Mississippi. After schooling in Kossuth, Phillips attended Hinds Junior College.

Phillips served in the United States Navy in the Mediterranean during World War II, after obtaining a degree in social science from Mississippi State University in 1943.

After the war, he used the G.I. Bill to finance a master's degree in writing at the University of Alabama, which resulted in a thesis that later became his first novel, The Bitterweed Path. His next four books, including another – Kangaroo Hollow – that had a queer theme, were less successful than the first, even though they were well received by literary critics. and did not return to the field until 2002, when Red Midnight was published.

Film and later life The film rights to Phillips's 1955 novel The Loved and the Unloved were sold The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (not an Altman film) and Nashville.

He was a consultant for Ode to Billy Joe in 1976, when he was the first chairman of the Mississippi Film Commission.

The Bitterweed Path (1950) The Golden Lie (1951) Search for a Hero (1952) Kangaroo Hollow (1954), published only in the UK until 2000 The Loved and the Unloved (1955) Red Midnight (2002)

Selected filmography Tarzan's Fight for Life (1958) California Split (1974) Thieves Like Us (1974; associate producer) Nashville (1975; consultant and voice actor) Barn Burning (1980; actor) O.C. and Stiggs (1987; actor) Matewan (1987; actor) Cookie's Fortune (1999)

Short stories Phillips's short stories include: "A Touch of Earth", published in the Southwest Review of 1949 and subsequently in the Best American Short Stories of 1949 collection "The Shadow of an Arm", published in the Virginia Quarterly Review, 1950, was a winner in the 1951 O. Henry Awards "Lone Bridge", published in the Southwest Review of 1951 and subsequently in the Best American Short Stories of 1949 collection "Mostly in the Fields", published in the Virginia Quarterly Review, 1951 and subsequently used as a part of Search for a Hero