ACTOR
Michael Nesmith
- Known for
- The Monkees (1965)
25 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
Michael Nesmith is an actor best known for The Monkees.
All facts (25)
- #001
Michael Nesmith was the son of Bette Nesmith Graham (born Bette Clair McMurray) and Warren Audrey Nesmith. His mother was a legal secretary and typist in Houston, Texas. Her hobby of painting gave her the idea, and she invented the Liquid Paper typewriter correction fluid, making a huge fortune overnight.
- #002
Michael Nesmith invented the idea that would become MTV. He sold the concept to Time-Warner and created a proof of concept for 24-hour music television in the form of six half-hour programs called "Pop Clips." Time-Warner aired Popclips on the Nickelodeon Channel as a test, and it drew immediate strong interest. Nesmith moved on to other projects after the test phase because he did not want to be involved in running a television network.
- #003
In the 1980s, Michael Nesmith built Pacific Arts Corporation into the world's largest non-theatrical home video catalog. It held the rights to everything from Koyaanisqatsi (1982) to Jacques Cousteau's The Undersea World (1966) to Ken Burns's The Civil War (1990). Pacific Arts licensed the right to use the PBS logo on titles in its catalog broadcast on PBS and developed the PBS Home Video label. The venture led to a lawsuit against PBS that resulted in a six-week federal court trial. The jury unanimously found PBS liable for intentional misrepresentation, intentional concealment, negligent misrepresentation, intentional interference with Pac Arts' contractual relationships with program producers, and breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing. They awarded Pacific Arts and Nesmith more than $47,000,000 in actual and punitive damages combined. PBS and Nesmith later settled for an undisclosed amount.
- #004
For his first interview for The Monkees, Michael Nesmith arrived riding his motorcycle through the city wearing a wool hat to keep his hair out of his eyes (Nesmith was also carrying a bag of laundry to be washed at a nearby laundromat on his way home). Producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider remembered him as "Wool Hat" and wanted to give the Monkees character that name, but Nesmith refused.
- #005
Michael Nesmith spent fourteen months in the United States Air Force, where he flipped a general's plane while cleaning it.
- #006
Half of his mother's $35 million estate was inherited from the sale of Liquid Paper, while the rest funds a private think tank, the Ideas Council.
- #007
Michael Nesmith wrote the folk rock trio the Stone Poneys' hit single "Different Drum." Linda Ronstadt sang lead on it.
- #008
Michael Nesmith was the only Monkee who actually saw the first trade advertisement about the sitcom's cast.
- #009
Before signing their Monkees contracts, the members had released several songs through different companies; Nesmith's song "Mary, Mary" had already been a hit for the Butterfield Blues Band. Along with Nesmith's deal with Screen Gems as a songwriter, the company bought Nesmith's earlier releases so that his songs could be used for the Monkees.
- #010
Michael Nesmith attended San Antonio College, where he met John London and began a musical collaboration.
- #011
Michael Nesmith remained active in all media, including video games and online media distribution, and was an avid golfer.
- #012
Michael Nesmith died on December 10, 2021, only three weeks before his 79th birthday on December 30.
- #013
Michael Nesmith attended Thomas Jefferson High School but enlisted in the United States Air Force before graduating (1960).
- #014
Michael Nesmith had an online store called videoranch.com that allowed customers to buy his works directly from him. The products included CDs, DVDs and music downloads.
- #015
When The Monkees (1965) ended, Nesmith enrolled part-time at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he studied American history and music history.
- #016
Michael Nesmith shares his birthday with fellow Monkee Davy Jones.
- #017
The comedy film "Elephant Parts" (1981) won the first Grammy Award for video recording.
- #018
The Monkees were honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6675 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
- #019
Michael Nesmith had four children: Christian Nesmith (born 1965), Jonathan Nesmith (born 1968), Jason Nesmith (born 1968) and Jessica Nesmith (born 1970).
- #020
Michael Nesmith had actually been labelmates with Davy Jones earlier, since both were signed to the Colpix Records label (Nesmith recorded as "Michael Blessing"), but apparently they were never to meet. Jones released a modestly successful LP and single in 1965, while Nesmith's two singles had barely gotten past the promotional stage. The Colpix label (owned by Columbia Pictures and controlled by Screen Gems) was dissolved in 1966, making way for the new Colgems label with The Monkees at its center.
- #021
Michael Nesmith founded a small video game development company called Zoomo Productions in Monterey, California.
- #022
An exhibition of his career is on display at the Texas Musicians Museum in Las Colinas, Texas (near Irving).
- #023
In October 2016, he received the Dallas Video Festival's Ernie Kovacs Award for his contributions to the video industry.
- #024
He was the millionaire owner of a video company.
- #025
He won the First Video of the Year award at the 1982 Grammy Awards for his program Elephant Parts.
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