Donald Thompson

Donald Thompson is a supporting character featured in the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. He was played by actor John Saxon and was first introduced in the original 1984 film A Nightmare on Elm Street. He also appeared in the second sequel in the series, 1987's A Nightmare on Elm Street. John Saxon also appeared as himself in the 1994 non-canon sequel New Nightmare. In one scene, actress Heather Langenkamp (deliberately) refers to Saxon by his character's name from the previous films.

A Nightmare on Elm Street
Lieutenant Donald Thompson was a police officer living in the suburban Ohio town known as Springwood. In the late 1960s, he was married to a woman named Marge and had a daughter named Nancy Thompson. Many years ago, a boiler room maintenance man named Fred Krueger was arrested for abducting and killing several children from the neighborhood. Unfortunately, a clerical error led to a mis-filed search warrant and Krueger got off on a technicality. Thompson, and many of the other parents living in the Elm Street district were astonished and felt that Krueger's release was completely intolerable. Several of the town's people grouped together and tracked Krueger down to the boiler room where he took his captives. They sealed him inside and set the entire facility on fire. Krueger burned to death while the Elm Street residents watched with resignation. Donald Thompson took Freddy's remains and buried them in an old junk yard. His wife took possession of Freddy's signature weapon - a custom-designed razor glove. At some point following this incident, Donald and Marge's marriage fell apart. Donald moved out leaving Marge to raise their daughter. Despite this however, Nancy maintained a very close relationship with her father.

What no one had yet to realize was that Freddy was able to exact his revenge from beyond the grave. Though no longer possessing a corporeal form, Freddy now existed as a demonic entity that lived inside the realm of dreams. He decided to take his vengeance by striking at the children of those who murdered him. He used his mastery of the dream dimension to slaughter people in their dreams. His first victim was Tina Gray, a fifteen-year-old girl and best friend of Thompson's daughter. Due to the bizarre and grisly nature behind her demise, Thompson immediately suspected Tina's boyfriend Rod Lane of committing the crime. Donald knew that Nancy was close with Rod as well and he sent his deputies to follow Nancy home from school in the hopes that she might inadvertently draw Rod out of hiding. The strategy worked and Thompson's team managed to apprehend Lane. Nancy was furious at the notion that her father had used her to capture a friend.

The following evening, Freddy Krueger struck again. He attacked Rod while he was asleep in his jail cell. Nancy began to suspect that Rod's life might be in danger and rushed to the police station to warn him. Lieutenant Thompson and a deputy named Garcia went to Lane's cell, but they were too late. Krueger had killed Rod and made his death appear as if he committed suicide.

Freddy began stalking Nancy Thompson as well, though Donald was largely unaware of what was truly going on and could not even begin to imagine that the deeds of his past had come back to haunt him in such a gruesome way. Though Nancy managed to survive Freddy's persistent assaults against her, her boyfriend Glen Lantz was not so fortunate. Lieutenant Thompson received a call originating from 1419 Elm Street and when he arrived on the scene, his deputies and he found that Glen's body had been utterly destroyed. The boy's bedroom was a veritable ocean of blood.

Nancy telephoned her father and tried to explain that it was Freddy Krueger who was responsible for killing her friends. Donald naturally didn't believe her and felt that she was simply imagining things due to trauma and lack of sleep. Nancy told him that she was going to set a trap for Krueger and asked him to come to her house in twenty minutes to arrest him. Donald agreed, but mostly for the sake of humoring his tormented daughter.

Thompson soon learned the truth however when Nancy succeeded in pulling Freddy Krueger out of her dream into the real world. Freddy murdered Donald's ex-wife Marge in her bed. Nancy was able to dispel Freddy back into the dream dimension, but the experience left Donald a broken man.