Ralph Thomas
1939-2026
Ralph Thomas, an acclaimed filmmaker and journalist, passed away last week at Cottage Hospital surrounded by family. He was 86.
An extraordinary man, Ralph had lived an extraordinary life. Born in the Brazilian Amazon to fundamentalist Baptist missionaries, Ralph was the eldest of three sons. He was educated at his parents’ Bible School in the Amazon until he was 13 when his family moved to rural Alberta, the Bible Belt of Canada. There he attended another fundamentalist school, the Prairie Bible Institute. His religious upbringing was harsh and punitive – with movies, television, novels and dancing strictly forbidden. The isolation of his childhood deeply influenced his adult life – instilling within him a determination to expose the dangers of religious fundamentalism.
In the mid-1950s, his family moved to Toronto, where Ralph finished high school and enrolled at the University of Toronto. The city exposed him to new worlds of literature, music, theatre and politics, all of which became his lifelong passions. He left the university in 1962 to become a journalist for the Toronto Star, writing “The Pop-Rock Scene” and eventually becoming a political reporter. That same year, he married his first wife, Dorothy Mikos, a colleague at the Star, who went on to serve two terms on the Toronto City Council. Together, they had a son, Nye.
Ralph left print media for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, where he became a trailblazing documentarian and current affairs producer. In 1975, he produced the acclaimed docudrama series, For the Record, writing and directing numerous episodes of the series. For the Record was a signal moment in Canadian broadcasting, bringing uncompromising, hard-hitting stories to Canadian television. The show became an incubator for a generation of young writers, actors and directors committed to telling difficult, off-beat and challenging Canadian stories. In 1977 the Canadian Film Awards (precursor to the Genie Awards) bestowed an Award of Distinction on Ralph for “increasing the stature of film drama on television in Canada.
In 1973, having moved into television dramas, Ralph met Vivienne Leebosh, a documentary filmmaker from Montreal. The couple quickly married – becoming a blended family with Vivienne’s two sons, Derek and Jon. For the rest of their lives, they were creative partners as well as parents to three sons. Together they made Ralph’s first feature film, Ticket to Heaven, co-written and directed by Ralph and produced by Vivienne. The film – a riveting drama about cults and fundamentalism-was a popular and critical success in Canada and internationally.Nominated for 14 Genie Awards (the Canadian “Oscars”), the film won four, including for Best Movie of 1981. The film won the Grand Prize at the Taormina Film Festival with jury chair, Marguerite Duras, the acclaimed French writer, writing that “Ticket to Heaven exposes the core of modern Nazism.”
Two years later, Ralph directed the ground breaking Terry Fox Story for HBO. It would be the first movie ever made for the US cable television market, and went on to win the Canadian Genie Award for Best Movie of the Year in 1983 and the ACE Cable Award for Best Directing.
In the 1980s, Ralph and Vivienne moved to Los Angeles, where Ralph continued his career in Hollywood – writing and directing television and films for HBO, CBS, and others until the late 1990s.
Ten years later, they moved to Montecito, where Ralph and Vivienne quickly became a social hub for a community of filmmakers, writers, and activists, forging numerous deep and enduring friendships. For many years, Ralph mentored students in screenwriting as part of the SB Film Festival programs.
Ralph died peacefully with his family at his side on January 4 th from complications of heart disease. He was 86.
He will be remembered for his integrity, intelligence, breadth of knowledge, and his singular commitment to his craft. He leaves behind a body of articles and films that endure, a family he loved, and a reminder that cinema must be predicated upon ethics as well as entertainment.
Most of all, Ralph will be remembered for his love of Vivienne, his partner for more than 50 years.
Ralph is survived by his wife Vivienne, son Nye, stepsons Jon and Derek, brothers Paul and Ivor, and grandchildren Mei, Eli and Nate.
