Thomas H. Brodek, an Emmy-nominated producer whose résumé ranged from Stephen King miniseries to Disney blockbusters, died June 15 at a hospice in Surprise, Ariz., after a battle with cancer, his family said. He was 86.
A third-generation Californian, Brodek discovered television while studying at the University of Southern California, where he helped operate campus station KUSC-TV between 1956 and 1960. He went on to oversee commercials for Young & Rubicam before co-founding Doric Productions, delivering titles such as “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids,” “The Principal,” “The Aviator” and “Transylvania 6-5000.” In 1990 he joined ABC Productions as senior vice-president of production and post-production, supervising more than half a billion dollars’ worth of movies and series for all four major U.S. networks.
Brodek’s collaboration with Stephen King defined his later career. He produced the six-hour network events “Storm of the Century,” “Rose Red,” “The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer” and “Kingdom Hospital,” earning a reputation for bringing logistical order to King’s supernatural chaos. “Tom was the guy who could make a haunted house breathe on schedule and under budget,” co-executive producer Mark Carliner recalled in 2002.
On location Brodek was known for candour. While producing Richard Alfieri’s “Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks,” he lamented that incentives forced most shooting to Budapest: “The big disappointment, of course, is that we didn’t shoot the whole movie here.” Years earlier he told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that spending $21 million of a $40 million budget in the Pacific Northwest proved local crew capacity.
Although comfortable on blockbuster sets, Brodek relished mentoring. Speaking to Grand Canyon University film students in 2018, he joked, “Being in production is not dull and boring. That’s it,” urging them to exploit a “flat” global industry but never to underestimate face-to-face persuasion.
Brodek served on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Producers Branch and the Directors Guild of America. He is survived by Lorraine Holnback Brodek, his wife of 63 years and frequent creative collaborator, and their two daughters.
