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1-18 of 18
- Actress
Helen Horton was born on 21 November 1923 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She was an actress, known for Alien (1979), Superman III (1983) and Phase IV (1974). She was married to Hamish Thomson. She died on 28 September 2007 in Vero Beach, Florida, USA.- Writer
- Actor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Legendary screenwriter Charles Byron Griffith was born in Chicago on September 23, 1930. His mother and grandmother starred in the famous radio show, "Myrt and Marge," which went on to New York and became a soap opera. After a hitch in the army, Griffith went to California to live with his grandmother, Myrtle Vail. Before he started writing scripts, Griffith and his cousin Ron Fellows were in a stage act called "Tsk, Tsk, Pare!", with famous movie and stage comedians Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson. Later, he tried his hand at writing, with his first attempt being a proposed television version of "Myrt and Marge". Griffith then met and became good friends with actor Jonathan Haze, who had just started working for prolific producer/director 'Roger Corman' on _Monster From The Ocean Floor (1954). Wanting to help his friend break into movies, Haze took several of Griffith's scripts and put them right down on Corman's desk. Corman liked the scripts and hired him. Corman took Griffith's third script and turned it into a western, Gunslinger (1956), starring Beverly Garland and John Ireland. Griffith's next movie for Corman became a sci-fi cult classic: It Conquered the World (1956). He not only wrote for Corman but also acted in some of them and was an assistant director for many. In "It Conquered the World" he was Dr. Pete Shelton. Later he wrote The Undead (1957) for Corman -- a fascinating journey into reincarnation. Originally written in iambic pentameter, the script was translated by Griffith back into English. It starred Pamela Duncan, Richard Garland and Allison Hayes -- who appeared in three of Griffith's films and later appeared as the title character in Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958), for which she achieved "cult-status" among sci-fi fans.
Griffith's next film was the sci-fi classic Not of This Earth (1957), an excellent venture concerning an alien vampire from outer space that he co-wrote with Mark Hanna. Paul Birch starred as Mr. Johnson, the "blood-seeking" vampire from the planet Davanna, whose very eyes can incinerate a person's brain. The film also starred the beautiful and highly talented Beverly Garland. This low-budget excursion is considered by some to be one of the best sci-fi films of the 1950s. The interesting plot concerns the Davannans traveling to Earth, via a teleportation-integrator, in order to obtain human blood because of a blood disease that their dying race has contracted. More films followed, ;including another "B" sci-fi classic: Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957), which he not only wrote but also acted in and served as assistant director/second-unit director. This starred Richard Garland, Russell Johnson, Pamela Duncan and Ed Nelson, along with two of Griffith's best friends: Jonathan Haze and Mel Welles. Ed Nelson was also good friends with Griffith and went on to appear in several films Griffith wrote, such as Rock All Night (1957), Teenage Doll (1957) and A Bucket of Blood (1959).
Both "It Conquered The World" and "Not of This Earth" had alien monsters created by the genius "monster-maker", Paul Blaisdell. For "It Conquered the World", Blaisdell created an innovative alien that was nicknamed "Beulah." In "Not of This Earth" Griffith's script called for a "protoplasmic" robotic dog, but because of budgetary restrictions Blaisdell made a different creation--a flying alien "umbrella bat" which would assimilate human brain tissue! For "Attack of the Crab Monsters" Blaisdell was asked to create a giant crab monster, but he turned it down because he thought he could not produce a realistic-looking monster due to the small amount of funds allocated to him.
"A Bucket of Blood" was a dark horror comedy about an artist who murders people to make art works out of them. Dick Miller starred in this film, one of Corman's most popular. Probably Griffith's best-known film was the low-budget classic The Little Shop of Horrors (1960). Shot in three days, this horror comedy starred Jonathan Haze as nerdish Seymour Krelboin and 'Jackie Joseph' as pretty but somewhat air-headed Audrey, Seymour's love. Haze delivered a magnificent performance in his role. This was such a popular cult movie that it later became a Broadway musical which was eventually made into a film (The Little Shop of Horrors (1960). Griffith had four parts in the original film: he was the voice of the plant Audrey 2 ("Feed meeee!"), a shadow on the wall in an alley, a man running out of the dentist's office and the burglar who breaks into the flower shop of Gravis Mushnik (Mel Welles) only to be eaten alive by Audrey 2. Griffith and Welles shot exterior locations for this film in the "Skid Row" section of Los Angeles. Griffith wrote many more films, including another cult-classic, Death Race 2000 (1975), which he adapted from a story by Ib Melchior. Griffith also appeared at a number of movie memorabilia shows on the West Coast, but only appeared at one show in the East (in March 2007 in Ohio). He was a guest celebrity at the show for a "Little Shop of Horrors Reunion" along with his good friends Jonathan Haze, Jackie Joseph and writers Lawrence Fultz Jr. and Stephen Knepp.- Producer
- Additional Crew
Martin Manulis was born on 30 May 1915 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a producer, known for Chiefs (1983), Climax! (1954) and The Best of Broadway (1954). He was married to Katharine Bard. He died on 28 September 2007 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Peter Kuiper was born on 30 March 1929 in Langsa, Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, Dutch East Indies [now Langsa, Aceh, Indonesia]. He was an actor, known for Holly - The Movie (1984), Liebling Kreuzberg (1986) and Troilus und Cressida (1969). He died on 28 September 2007 in Berlin, Germany.
- Soundtrack
Evelyn Knight was born on 31 December 1917 in Reedville, Virginia, USA. She was married to Johnny Lehmann and Andrew B. Knight. She died on 28 September 2007 in San Jose, California, USA.- Elmer Soderstrom was born on 3 August 1923. He was an actor, known for Children of the Corn (1984), The Bear (1984) and The Tragedy of King Lear (1982). He died on 28 September 2007.
- Art Director
- Writer
Jacques Hélleu was born on 30 June 1938 in Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France. He was an art director and writer, known for Chanel No. 5: L'orchestre (1996), Chanel No. 5: Tomorrow's Woman (1966) and Chanel No. 5: Sentiment troublant (1993). He died on 28 September 2007 in Paris, France.- Katarzyna Skawina was born on 17 July 1954 in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland. She was an actress, known for Lata dwudzieste... lata trzydzieste... (1984), Zanim nadejdzie dzien (1977) and Zmiennicy (1986). She died on 28 September 2007 in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland.
- Dorothy Puder was born on 1 July 1915 in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. She was married to Glenn D. Puder. She died on 28 September 2007 in Napa, California, USA.
- David Hans Schmidt was born on 27 May 1960 in Rochester, Minnesota, USA. He died on 28 September 2007 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
- Andrzej Bieniasz was born on 14 November 1948 in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland. He was an actor, known for Teddy Bear (1981), Gry uliczne (1996) and Tulipan (1986). He died on 28 September 2007 in Radom, Mazowieckie, Poland.
- Actor
- Transportation Department
Jim Turner was born on 2 July 1957. He was an actor, known for Hot Rod Horror (2008). He died on 28 September 2007 in Hanford, California, USA.- Kazuko Oshima was born on 4 January 1942 in Tokyo, Japan. She was an actress, known for Candy Mountain (1987), Tokyo Revelation (1995) and Hiroshima Nagasaki August, 1945 (1946). She died on 28 September 2007 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.
- Director
- Actor
- Writer
Savel Stiopul was born on 15 May 1926 in Cluj, Cluj, Romania [now Cluj-Napoca, Cluj, Romania]. He was a director and actor, known for Aproape de soare (1961), Aventuri la Marea Neagra (1972) and The Last Night of Childhood (1968). He died on 28 September 2007 in Bucharest, Romania.- Art Department
- Additional Crew
- Visual Effects
Sue Klabunde was born on 4 May 1964 in London, Ontario, Canada. Sue is known for K-19: The Widowmaker (2002), The River King (2005) and WiseGirls (2002). Sue died on 28 September 2007 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.- Pierre Dauzier was born on 31 January 1939 in Périgueux, Dordogne, France. He died on 28 September 2007 in Paris, France.
- Actress
Marjorie Leibbrandt was born on 16 July 1912 in Santa Cruz, California, USA. She was an actress. She was married to J Frank Murphy. She died on 28 September 2007 in Santa Cruz, California, USA.- W. David Lewis was born on 24 June 1931 in Towanda, Pennsylvania, USA. He died on 28 September 2007 in Auburn, Alabama, USA.