MSU Alumnus Tom Rickman will speak at Opening Convocation

 

 

Tom Rickman, a 1965 Murray State University graduate, will speak at the opening Convocation on Monday, August 22 at 1 p.m. in Lovett Auditorium as a part of the Murray State University Freshman Reading Experience. He will discuss Mitch Albom’s four time New York Times bestseller book Tuesdays with Morrie, that garnered Rickman the Writer’s Guild Award and the Humanitas Prize for his teleplay.

 

Albom penned the non-fiction story after he reacquainted himself with Morrie Schwartz, his former college professor and mentor who was dying. Through their weekly visits Albom was able to capture Morrie’s final words of wisdom prior to his death.

 

When writing the ‘Tuesdays’ teleplay Rickman obtained actual tapes of Morrie from Albom which helped him in creating the main character’s voice in the television movie that starred the late Jack Lemmon. Effective interpretation of the character’s voice is important to Rickman. “I try to convey them in the most accurate way that I can.”

 

Rickman, whose screenwriting/directing feature movie credits include his Oscar-nominated “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” “Bless This Child,” “Everybody’s All American,” and “Truman,” for which he received an Emmy nomination.  His other television credits include “The Reagans.” Currently, Rickman is writing “Berry Gordy’s Motown,” a 12-hour miniseries for NBC to be aired next year.

 

A native of Sharpe, Ky., Rickman received an M.A. in English at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, where he founded The Depot, an off-campus theater that is still in operation. 

 

During graduate school, Rickman’s first movie “Good Blood,” based on a Flannery O’Connor story, resulted in a fellowship to the American Film Institute (AFI) in Beverly Hills, Calif.   Filming at his boyhood home and using local talent, Rickman’s AFI film “What Fixed Me” won a national award for student films.  While at AFI, Rickman was hired by MGM to write the screenplay for “Kansas City Bomber,” starring Raquel Welch.

 

A charter trustee of Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute in Utah, Rickman has continued to mentor hopeful writer/directors there as well as internationally in Cuba, Brazil, France, Italy, Norway, Ireland and other countries.  He has taught a master’s course in writing at the University of Southern California and also founded his own screenwriting workshop at the Squaw Valley Writer’s Conference near Lake Tahoe, Calif.

 

A 1981 MSU Distinguished Alumnus recipient, Rickman says his Kentucky roots have always played a big part in his writing and film making, adding that his father and mother, the late Marshall and Colleen Rickman, were hard-working people who provided him with a strong sense of their rural Kentucky home.

 

"Next fall's entering freshmen at Murray State University are fortunate to have an opportunity to meet one of the university's most successful graduates as a part of the Freshmen Reading Experience," said Dr. Don Robertson , vice president for student affairs. "Tom Rickman has many outstanding accomplishments, including his teleplay of Mitch Albom's book, Tuesdays With Morrie . Murray 's students will benefit greatly from hearing what Mr. Rickman has to share with them at the New Student Convocation in August."

 

Rickman lives in Encino, Calif., with his wife, Beth.