The spatial light modulator drive system of the present invention permits useful light modulation, such as employed in a projection display device, with a minimum of required data input. A plurality of charge storage cells with associated charge dependent light modulator cells are disposed at the intersection of row and column conductors. The drive system alternately refreshes the data stored in a particular row and responds to external commands. The automatic refresh involves selecting a particular row via a dedicated refresh counter, reading the column data in that row, storing this data in a column latch and rewriting this data to the same row. The generation of a new display is achieved in a number of steps. A particular row is selected by externally applied data. The data type, such as number of bits and variations in shade, is also specified. The starting column for application of new display data enables this new data to be entered into the desired portion of the column latch for application to the desired light modulator cells.