Curtis Harrington(1926-2007)
- Director
- Writer
- Actor
Curtis Harrington was an excellent and shamefully underrated writer and
director who specialized in marvelously offbeat and atmospheric
low-budget independent horror pictures. Harrington was born on
September 17, 1926, in Los Angeles and grew up in Beaumont, California.
A hardcore film buff from a very young age, Harrington worked as a
movie theater usher, a messenger at Paramount and a stagehand during
his younger days. He made his first 8mm effort at age 14 and attended
UCLA. In the 1940s and 1950s Harrington made a string of experimental
avant-garde underground shorts, such as
Picnic (1949),
Fragment of Seeking (1946),
"The Assignation" and "Wormwood Star". He was the cinematographer on
Kenneth Anger's
Puce Moment (1949) and acted in
Anger's
Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954).
Harrington also was involved with fellow avant-garde filmmaker
Maya Deren. He began working for Jerry Wald
Productions at 20th Century-Fox in 1957 and served as a producer's
assistant on several big-budget pictures, including
Peyton Place (1957) and
The Long, Hot Summer (1958).
In 1961 he made a strong--and impressive--feature-film debut with the
nicely moody and quirky
Night Tide (1961)_. His follow-up
features were a pleasingly diverse, idiosyncratic and often
entertaining bunch, and included the nifty sci-fi/horror
Alien (1979) precursor
Queen of Blood (1966) and the
delightfully campy Shelley Winters
vehicles
Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? (1972)
and
What's the Matter with Helen? (1971)
(the latter was Harrington's personal favorite of all his films), the
perverse The Killing Kind (1973)
and the immensely fun Ruby (1977). Moreover,
Harrington directed a handful of solid and satisfying made-for-TV
offerings:
How Awful About Allan (1970),
The Cat Creature (1973),
Killer Bees (1974),
The Dead Don't Die (1975)
and the hilariously horrible
Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell (1978).
In addition, Harrington directed episodes of such popular TV shows as
Dynasty (1981),
The Twilight Zone (1959),
The Colbys (1985),
Hotel (1983).
Wonder Woman (1975) and
Charlie's Angels (1976).
Harrigton's final film was the typically oddball short
Usher (2000).
Curtis Harrington died at age 80 from complications following a stroke
on May 6th, 2007.
director who specialized in marvelously offbeat and atmospheric
low-budget independent horror pictures. Harrington was born on
September 17, 1926, in Los Angeles and grew up in Beaumont, California.
A hardcore film buff from a very young age, Harrington worked as a
movie theater usher, a messenger at Paramount and a stagehand during
his younger days. He made his first 8mm effort at age 14 and attended
UCLA. In the 1940s and 1950s Harrington made a string of experimental
avant-garde underground shorts, such as
Picnic (1949),
Fragment of Seeking (1946),
"The Assignation" and "Wormwood Star". He was the cinematographer on
Kenneth Anger's
Puce Moment (1949) and acted in
Anger's
Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954).
Harrington also was involved with fellow avant-garde filmmaker
Maya Deren. He began working for Jerry Wald
Productions at 20th Century-Fox in 1957 and served as a producer's
assistant on several big-budget pictures, including
Peyton Place (1957) and
The Long, Hot Summer (1958).
In 1961 he made a strong--and impressive--feature-film debut with the
nicely moody and quirky
Night Tide (1961)_. His follow-up
features were a pleasingly diverse, idiosyncratic and often
entertaining bunch, and included the nifty sci-fi/horror
Alien (1979) precursor
Queen of Blood (1966) and the
delightfully campy Shelley Winters
vehicles
Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? (1972)
and
What's the Matter with Helen? (1971)
(the latter was Harrington's personal favorite of all his films), the
perverse The Killing Kind (1973)
and the immensely fun Ruby (1977). Moreover,
Harrington directed a handful of solid and satisfying made-for-TV
offerings:
How Awful About Allan (1970),
The Cat Creature (1973),
Killer Bees (1974),
The Dead Don't Die (1975)
and the hilariously horrible
Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell (1978).
In addition, Harrington directed episodes of such popular TV shows as
Dynasty (1981),
The Twilight Zone (1959),
The Colbys (1985),
Hotel (1983).
Wonder Woman (1975) and
Charlie's Angels (1976).
Harrigton's final film was the typically oddball short
Usher (2000).
Curtis Harrington died at age 80 from complications following a stroke
on May 6th, 2007.