Alum Don Umphrey's critically acclaimed 'Meanest Man in Texas' premieres at Nashville Film Festival this week
Kim Chaudoin | 615.966.6494 |
Don Umphrey (’69) knows first-hand what it’s like to find himself face down and to give up on a dream.
He also knows the healing power of redemption.
Umphrey’s road to redemption began in 1967 when he came to Lipscomb University after being kicked out of Eastern Michigan University due to low grades resulting from alcohol abuse. Fifty years later, that journey leads once again to Nashville — to a place where he will realize his dream as his screenplay-turned-movie, “The Meanest Man In Texas,” is premiering at the Nashville Film Festival with screenings on April 26 and 28.
The screenplay, co-written with Justin Ward, is based on the book Umphrey wrote in 1984 about convicted murderer Clyde Thompson.
The story really begins when Umphrey was a high school student in surburb of Detroit, Michigan who dreamed of becoming a writer. After his dismissal from EMU, Umphrey found his way to his mother, Mary’s (Phillips ’38), alma mater in Nashville. But after only three weeks as a Lipscomb student, Umphrey again turned to alcohol and was kicked out of the dorm.
But this time, Umphrey got a second chance.
He was granted an opportunity to remain at Lipscomb if he agreed to live in the home of a faculty member. The late-Marvin Nikolaus, a longtime professor of math, and his wife, Doris, who had just moved to Nashville from Ohio at the time, took Umphrey into their home, where they were also raising young children of their own, including son, Keith, professor of education at Lipscomb University.
While at Lipscomb, Umphrey studied English at the feet of legendary professor Morris Landiss, who became a mentor to him.
“I stayed pretty dry while I was at Lipscomb,” Umphrey recalled. “I had several professors who never stopped believing in me. Dr. Landiss was always interested in what I was doing and in my writing.”
After graduating from Lipscomb in 1969, he pursued a career as a newspaper reporter and editor, winning national awards as both an investigative reporter and columnist. He also won two awards as a television producer.
“But I continued struggling with alcohol abuse,” he continued. “I lost interest in writing. I found myself face down in the pig pen like the prodigal son in the Bible, and at age 27, four years after graduating from Lipscomb, I ended up in a mental hospital.”
For the next two weeks, Umphrey looked deep within his soul and realized he couldn’t continue to live the way he had been living, dependent on alcohol and living without a purpose. A fellow patient who worked as a garbage collector told Umphrey about a program where he could get help for his alcoholism. Those two weeks in the hospital and the advice of the fellow patient likely saved Umphrey’s life.
“I haven’t had a drink since the day I entered the hospital—Nov. 6, 1973,” he said.
He also returned to his faith when he went back to church, and God’s plan began to unfold.
He moved to Texas, became director of public information at Lubbock Christian University in 1975 and began to slowly rebuild his life.
Then one night in 1977 Umphrey’s path crossed that of convicted murderer Clyde Thompson as he attended a service at the Broadway Church of Christ in Lubbock, Texas.
“I walked into the church that night and they had a guest speaker, a guy named Clyde Thompson,” he recalled.
Thompson began to tell his story.
The son of an itinerant preacher in Texas, Thompson dropped out of school in the fourth grade. At age 17, on the night of Sept. 7, 1928, Thompson went on a hunting trip with several friends during which he shot two young men during a fight provoked by his hunting companions, who took part in killing them. The bodies were left in the woods. Thompson and his accomplices returned home, vowing not to speak of the incident. The young men, prominent brothers in the community, died, and citizens throughout west Texas were shocked and angered.
Thompson was soon arrested and signed a confession taking full blame for the murders. He was put on trial in October 1928, was found guilty of murder and sentenced to die in the electric chair. He was found guilty again at his appeal trial, and Thompson was sent to death row in Huntsville, Texas, in March 1931. He was within hours of execution when then-Texas Governor Ross Sterling commuted his life sentence.
Thompson was sent to the Retrieve Prison Farm, south of Houston, to serve hard labor. After a failed prison escape, Thompson and a fellow inmate killed the convict who “snitched” on them. As a result, Thompson received his second life sentence. He received a third life sentence after killing an inmate in a prison scuffle.
In 1936, he was transferred to a special unit known as “Little Alcatraz” in Houston County, Texas. While there, Thompson once again tried to escape, which subsequently resulted in the deaths of three inmates, including Roy Thornton, the husband of Bonnie Parker of Bonnie and Clyde infamy. Thompson was falsely accused of killing another inmate. Prison officials dubbed him "The Meanest Man in Texas” and a prison chaplain said he was “a man without a soul.” Without enough evidence to charge Thompson with the murder, he was locked away in special solitary confinement fashioned from the old morgue that stood outside of death row in Huntsville Texas.
He was a man with three life sentences and no hope.
Then one day, after months in solitary confinement, Thompson was given a Bible to read. He initially read it to prove those who believed in it to be fools. But instead, he began to believe. He completed correspondence courses in Bible and journalism, and began to write articles for religious publications. His faith grew as he was convicted by what he learned as he read the Bible over and over again. He became a changed man; one with a soul.
After nearly eight years in solitary confinement, Thompson was moved to a “close-custody” cell block. Two years later, he received a letter from Julia Perryman, one of the 35 members of Meridian (Texas) Church of Christ. The two struck up a friendship through their letters. She embarked on a letter writing campaign to state and prison officials lobbying for his parole in 1949, for which he was denied. She continued her campaign.
Finally, on Nov. 1, 1955, Thompson’s parole was granted, and he was released from prison. He and Perryman married five days later. She worked for Southwestern Christian College in Terrell, Texas, for two years, and Thompson worked as a minister from 1957 to 1970.
From 1970 to 1977, Thompson operated the Prisoners Aid Center in Huntsville, Texas. In 1977, the couple moved to Lubbock, where Thompson served as the chaplain at the county jail.
And that’s when the stories of Umphrey and Thompson intersected. As he listened to Thompson share his story that night, Umphrey was inspired by this unlikely journey of redemption.
“As I listened I realized that we had similar stories,” said Umphrey. “Clyde Thompson was living proof that no matter how low you get, God can heal you. I knew that I could be healed.”
“I knew that this story had to be told,” he said. “I knew it would be meaningful and inspirational to others. I had always wanted to be a screen writer, and this was a story that I believed would make a great movie.”
So, Thompson left Texas and moved to Hollywood as an intern arranged by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and to work on his screenplay about Thompson’s life story. After no big breakthroughs getting his screenplay produced, Umphrey learned of a teaching position Texas Tech University. He had been a teaching assistant there earlier while pursuing a master’s degree. Umphrey developed a fondness for teaching and subsequently earned a Ph.D. in communication at the University of Texas at Austin.
In 1986, Umphrey joined the faculty of Southern Methodist University, where he is professor emeritus today. But he never gave up on his desire to tell Thompson’s story; his book, The Meanest Man in Texas, was published by Thomas Nelson Publishers in 1984 and went out of print in 1987.
The book went back into print with Quarry Press, Dallas, Texas, so that it could be distributed to prisoners nation-wide by NewLife Behavior Ministries in Corpus Christi, Texas. Since that time, Umphrey’s book has been read by thousands of inmates across the country and has been reprinted twice.
A fulltime writer since 2008, Umphrey has penned 11 books. But the desire to tell Thompson’s story through film still tugged at him.
“This story has all of the elements people want to see in a movie — and it has a good message,” said Umphrey. “I just knew that it could make an impact on others if shared in this format.”
Then one day in 2012, Umphrey was reading the Lipscomb University alumni magazine a noticed an article about actor Casey Bond (’09), former Bison baseball player drafted by the San Francisco Giants, who had just completed filming “Moneyball” with Brad Pitt.
“I wrote to Casey and told him this story,” he said. “He was interested in helping bring this dream to a reality.”
Bond caught Umphrey’s passion. His production company, Higher Purpose Entertainment, developed the project and on June 13, 2016, production began.
"To be a Lipscomb alum and to have found a great friendship with Don who was here years before me and to make a movie on a book he wrote is beyond an honor. This project has been out of our hands the whole time and is completely divine,” said Bond.
"This story is so raw and real that it really fits this era of story telling of a real man's journey to faith through his very harsh circumstances. Don has been trying to get this done for almost 40 years, so it's incredible to be one of the leaders on the team who finally made it happen."
Bond is also featured in the film. Actor Mateus Ward portrays Thompson. Directed by Justin Ward, the cast also includes Jamie McShane, Alexandra Bard, Michael Monks and James Morrison.
The film has already won a number of awards. At the Los Angeles Cinema Festival of Hollywood in January, Justin Ward and Umphrey won “Best Script” honors. At February’s IndieFEST the film won an Award of Merit. Other awards included Leading Actor: Mateus Ward; Leading Actress: Alexandra Bard and Supporting Actor: Anthony Guerino.
“Meanest Man in Texas” is nominated for seven awards at the International Christian Film Festival in May 2017. The film is nominated for Best Feature Film, Best Director: Justin Ward, Best Script: Don Umphrey and Justin Ward, Best supporting actor: Ben Reed, Best lead actress: Alexandra Bard, Best lead actor: Mateus Ward and Best Score: Steve Dorff.
“I can see the Lord’s hand in this. All of this is all by the grace of God,” admits Umphrey. “I showed up and did the best I could. But God’s plans for me are bigger than I had for myself.”
Nashville Film Festival Screenings for “The Meanest Man in Texas” are Wednesday, April 26 at 7:30 p.m. at the Regal Hollywood 27 Theater 10 and Friday, April 28 at 3 p.m. at the Regal Hollywood 27 Theater 1. Screenings are open to the public. To purchase tickets click here. To learn more about the film, click here.