Tom Gries: Tom Gries. Director: Will Penny. Georgetown University-educated Thomas Stephen Gries was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Ruth Marie (Gluck), an advertising copywriter and actress, and Joseph Charles Gries. He returned from service with the US Marines in WW II and worked as a reporter for a Chicago newspaper. Traveling to Hollywood in 1947, he took a job as a talent agent, and eventually went to work for producer/director Stanley Kramer...