Tom Boutross on AllMovie

Producer, director, and editor of low-budget features and television programs, Tom Boutross is perhaps best-remembered for writing and editing those heavily anthropomorphized wildlife documentaries that frequently aired on Disney's enduring television show The Wonderful World of Color in the 1960s. Before entering the entertainment industry, Boutross obtained a Master's degree in communications from the U.S.C. School of Cinema. There he became friends with aspiring actor Robert Clarke and together the two made the low-budget sci-fi favorite The Hideous Sun Demon (1959). On television, Boutross also edited the series Gunsmoke. As a feature film editor, Clarke spent most of his time working on low-budget features such as Fever Heat (1978) and Shadow of Chikara (1977). While working on location in South America for the filming of High Jungle, Boutross contracted a tropical fever that significantly weakened his heart and was ultimately responsible for the heart attack that killed him in 1998.