TRAGEDY & TRIUMPH SPAN THREE GENERATIONS OF A LONG ISLAND FAMILY IN DAD'S IN HEAVEN WITH NIXON
Documentary Premieres Tuesday, April 6th at 8:30p PT/ET on SHOWTIME
LOS ANGELES, CA (March 1, 2010) - Writer, director, producer Tom Murray traces his fractured childhood in 1960s Southampton, New York in DAD'S IN HEAVEN WITH NIXON, a stirring, thought-provoking documentary premiering Tuesday, April 6th at 8:30p PT/ET which recounts his grandfather and father's battles with bipolar disorder and, conversely, his brother's prosperity through autism and how their afflictions affected their large, affluent Irish-American family. The documentary will air as part of Autism Awareness Month.
Through candid testimonials, old photos and decades of home movies, Murray weaves together the saga of three generations of his family. Murray's great-grandfather Thomas E. Murray was a brilliant inventor who held patents to hundreds of inventions � second only to Thomas Edison. But the life of his son, John F. Murray was destroyed by depression and bipolar disorder, afflictions shared by his son, Murray's own father Thomas E. Murray II, a successful stockbroker who ultimately lost his family fortune. Later, Murray's brother Chris, who was born severely oxygen deprived and who was encouraged by doctors to be institutionalized, was diagnosed with autism.
While Murray's father and grandfather were ultimately destroyed by their refusal to seek treatment for their disorder and inability to cope with their life's disappointments, Chris shines through his autism � his family's bombardment of love and refusal to believe the experts led him to become, among other professions, an acclaimed artist whose landscapes attracted the likes of Gloria Vanderbilt and are collected by high-profile investors. He channeled his dreams and frustrations through his craft and he now leads a prosperous, successful and independent life. Tom and Chris share their stories of thriving through their father and grandfather's dysfunction and can now even laugh and marvel at emerging whole in spite of it all. The documentary offers proof that the sins of the fathers don't have to be visited upon the sons after all.
DAD'S IN HEAVEN WITH NIXON is produced, directed and written by Tom Murray and executive produced by Jefferson Miller and James Witker.
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After a 15-year career as an Emmy� award-winning anchor, reporter and producer in television news (the last nine years of which were spent at KCAL-TV in Los Angeles), Murray launched Two Sons Productions in May 2001. Their 2004 special "Lost Lives," a pilot for a half-hour show, aired on KCBS-TV in Los Angeles and was produced in cooperation with the Cold Case Homicide Unit of the Los Angeles Police Department. Two Sons Productions has been involved in a variety of other projects, some of which have been produced with Fox Sports Net (for the series, "Beyond the Glory and "Under the Lights") and the Fine Living Network. They have also found success with Court (now Tru) TV, producing a number of hour-long shows for the "The Investigators", as well as "Power, Privilege & Justice," hosted by Dominick Dunne. The first effort for "The Investigators," a segment called "A Husband's Secret," aired in January 2002, and was the highest-rated original program in the network's history. Their "Death of a Salesman," which aired in February, 2008, was one of the highest-rated original programs in the history of the network.
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