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Ed Wood

Edward Davis Wood Jr. (October 10, 1924 – December 10, 1978) was an American filmmaker, actor, and pulp novel author.

Ed Wood
Wood in Glen or Glenda (1953)
Born
Edward Davis Wood Jr.

(1924-10-10)October 10, 1924
DiedDecember 10, 1978(1978-12-10) (aged 54)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Other namesDaniel Davis
Ann Gora
Edward D. Wood Jr.
Akdov Telmig
Larry Lee
Dr. T.K. Peters
Peter LaRoche
Don Miller
Occupations
  • Filmmaker
  • author
  • actor
Years active1947–1978
Spouses
Norma McCarty
(m. 1956; sep. 1956)
Kathy O'Hara
(m. 1956⁠–⁠1978)
Children1 daughter
Military career
Service/branch United States Marine Corps
Years of service1942–1944
Battles/warsWorld War II

In the 1950s, Wood directed several low-budget science fiction, crime and horror films that later became cult classics, notably Glen or Glenda (1953), Jail Bait (1954), Bride of the Monster (1955), Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957)[1] and Night of the Ghouls (1959).[1] In the 1960s and 1970s, he moved towards sexploitation and pornographic films such as The Sinister Urge (1960), Orgy of the Dead (1965) and Necromania (1971), and wrote over 80 lurid pulp crime and sex novels.

Notable for their campy aesthetics, technical errors, unsophisticated special effects, use of poorly-matched stock footage, eccentric casts, idiosyncratic stories and non sequitur dialogue, Wood's films remained largely obscure until he was posthumously awarded a Golden Turkey Award for Worst Director of All Time in 1980, renewing public interest in his life and work.[2]

Following the publication of Rudolph Grey's 1992 oral biography Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood Jr., a biopic of his life, Ed Wood (1994), was directed by Tim Burton. Starring Johnny Depp as Wood and Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi, the film received critical acclaim and various awards, including two Academy Awards.

Early years edit

Wood's father, Edward Sr., worked for the United States Post Office Department as a custodian, and his family relocated numerous times around the United States. Eventually, they settled in Poughkeepsie, New York, where Ed Wood Jr. was born in 1924. According to his second wife, Kathy O'Hara, Wood's mother Lillian would dress him in girl's clothing when he was a child because she had always wanted a daughter (Wood had one brother, several years younger than himself).[3] For the rest of his life, Wood crossdressed, infatuated with the feel of angora on his skin.[4][5]

During his childhood, Wood was interested in the performing arts and pulp fiction. He collected comic books and pulp magazines, and adored movies, especially Westerns, serials, and the occult.[6] Buck Jones and Bela Lugosi were two of his earliest childhood idols. He often skipped school in order to watch motion pictures at the local movie theater, where stills from last week's films would often be thrown into the trash by theater staff, allowing Wood to salvage the images, and to add to his extensive collection.[3]

On his 12th birthday, in 1936, Wood received as a gift his first movie camera, a Kodak "Cine Special".[7] One of his first pieces of footage, and one that imbued him with pride, showed the airship Hindenburg passing over the Hudson River at Poughkeepsie, shortly before its disastrous crash at Lakehurst, New Jersey.[8] One of Wood's first paid jobs was as a cinema usher, and he also sang and played drums in a band. Subsequently, he formed a quartet called "Eddie Wood's Little Splinters" in which he sang and played multiple stringed instruments.[7]

Military service edit

In 1942, Wood enlisted at age 17 in the United States Marine Corps, just months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Assigned to the 2nd Defense Battalion, he reached the rank of corporal before he was discharged in 1946 at age 21.[9] Although Wood reportedly claimed to have faced strenuous combat, including having his front teeth knocked out by a Japanese soldier, his military records reveal that to be false; apart from recovering bodies on Betio following the Battle of Tarawa, and experiencing minor Japanese bombing raids on Betio and the Ellice Islands. A recurring filariasis infection left him performing clerical work for the remainder of his enlistment. His dental extractions were carried out over several months by Navy dentists, unconnected to any combat. Wood had false teeth that he would slip out from his mouth when he wanted to make his wife Kathy laugh, showing her a big toothless grin.[10][11] Wood later claimed that he feared being wounded in battle more than he feared being killed, mainly because he was afraid a combat medic would discover him wearing a pink bra and panties under his uniform during the Battle of Tarawa.[12]

Career edit

Directing and screenwriting edit

In 1947, Wood moved to Hollywood, California, where he wrote scripts and directed television pilots, commercials[13] and several forgotten micro-budget westerns, most of which failed to sell. Wood biographer Rudolph Grey states that Ed Wood made approximately 125 commercials for Story-Ad films and approximately 30 commercials for Play-Ad Films, in addition to a few commercials for "Pie-Quick".

In 1948, Wood wrote, produced, directed, and starred in The Casual Company, a play derived from his own unpublished novel which was based on his service in the United States Marine Corps. It opened at the Village Playhouse to negative reviews on October 25.[14] That same year, he wrote and directed a low-budget western called Crossroads of Laredo with the aid of a young producer he met named Crawford John Thomas. The film was shot silent and was not completed during Wood's lifetime.

In 1949, Wood and Thomas acted together in a play called The Blackguard Returns at the Gateway Theatre (Wood played the Sheriff and Thomas was the villain). Wood joined the Screen Actors Guild in 1951, and worked very briefly as a stuntman among other things.[15] When writing, Wood used a number of different pen names, including Ann Gora (in reference to Angora, his favorite textile) and Akdov Telmig (the backwards spelling of his favorite drink, the vodka gimlet).[16]

In 1952, Wood was introduced to actor Bela Lugosi by friend and fellow writer-producer Alex Gordon (Wood's roommate at the time who was later involved in creating American International Pictures). Lugosi's son, Bela Lugosi Jr., has been among those who felt Wood exploited the senior Lugosi's stardom, taking advantage of the fading actor when he could not afford to refuse any work.[17] However, most documents and interviews with other Wood associates in Nightmare of Ecstasy suggest that Wood and Lugosi were genuine friends and that Wood helped Lugosi through the worst days of his clinical depression and drug addiction. Lugosi had become dependent on morphine as a way of controlling his debilitating sciatica over the years, and was in a poor mental state caused by his recent divorce.[16]

Glen or Glenda edit

In 1953, Wood wrote and directed the semi-documentary film Glen or Glenda (originally titled I Changed My Sex!) with producer George Weiss.[18] The film starred Wood (under the alias "Daniel Davis") as a transvestite, his girlfriend Dolores Fuller, Timothy Farrell, Lyle Talbot, Conrad Brooks and Bela Lugosi as the god-like narrator/scientist. Fuller was shocked when she learned soon afterward that Wood actually was a transvestite.[19]

In 1953, Wood wrote and directed a stage show for Lugosi called The Bela Lugosi Review (a take-off on Dracula) that was put on at the Silver Slipper in Las Vegas. When Lugosi appeared on the TV show You Asked For It that same year, he announced that Ed Wood was producing a Dr. Acula TV show for him, but it never materialized. Wood acted as Lugosi's dialogue coach when he guest-starred on The Red Skelton Show in 1954, alongside Lon Chaney Jr. and Vampira (aka Maila Nurmi).[20]

Jail Bait edit

Wood co-produced and directed a crime film, Jail Bait (1954, originally titled The Hidden Face), along with his co-writer/roommate Alex Gordon, which starred Herbert Rawlinson (as the plastic surgeon), Lyle Talbot, Dolores Fuller, Timothy Farrell, Theodora Thurman and Steve Reeves (in one of his first acting jobs).[21] Bela Lugosi was supposed to play the lead role of the plastic surgeon, but was busy with another project when filming started and had to bow out. His replacement, Herbert Rawlinson, died the day after he filmed his scenes. Distributor Ron Ormond changed the title from The Hidden Face to Jail Bait just before releasing it.[22]

Bride of the Monster edit

Wood produced and directed the horror film Bride of the Monster (1955, originally titled Bride of the Atom or The Monster of the Marshes), based on an original story idea by Alex Gordon which he had originally called The Atomic Monster.[23] It starred Bela Lugosi as the mad scientist, Swedish wrestler Tor Johnson as mute manservant "Lobo", Paul Marco, Billy Benedict ("Whitey" of The Bowery Boys), Harvey B. Dunn and Loretta King. Soon after the film was completed, Bela Lugosi committed himself to the Norwalk State Hospital for three months, to be treated for drug addiction. The film premiered on May 11, 1955, at the Paramount theater in Hollywood while Lugosi was institutionalized, but a special screening was arranged for him upon his release, pleasing him greatly.

The Violent Years edit

In 1956, Wood wrote the screenplay (uncredited) for the film The Violent Years (originally titled Teenage Girl Gang), which was directed by William M. Morgan, starring Playboy model Jean Moorhead, Timothy Farrell, and serial star I. Stanford Jolley (as a judge).[24]

Wood began filming a juvenile delinquency film called Rock and Roll Hell (a.k.a. Hellborn) in 1956, but producer George Weiss pulled the plug on the project after only ten minutes of footage had been completed. Wood's friend Conrad Brooks purchased the footage from Weiss, and some scenes were later incorporated as stock footage into Wood's later Night of the Ghouls (1959). (The entire ten minutes of footage was later released complete on VHS in 1993, as Hellborn.)

Plan 9 from Outer Space edit

In late 1956, Wood co-produced, wrote, and directed his science fiction opus Plan 9 from Outer Space (his screenplay was originally titled Grave Robbers from Outer Space), which featured Bela Lugosi in a small role. (Lugosi actually died in August 1956 before production even began but Wood inserted some footage into the film that he had previously shot of Lugosi in 1955–1956). The film also starred Tor Johnson, Vampira (Maila Nurmi), Tom Mason (who doubled for Lugosi in some scenes), and the Amazing Criswell as the film's narrator. Plan 9 premiered on March 15, 1957, at the Carlton Theatre in Hollywood, and later went into general release in July 1959 (retitled Plan Nine from Outer Space) in Texas and a number of other Southern states. It was finally sold to late night television in 1961, thereby finding its audience over the years. It became Wood's best-known film and received a cult following in 1980 when Michael Medved declared this film "the worst film ever made" in his book The Golden Turkey Awards.[25]

Final Curtain edit

In 1957 Wood wrote and directed a pilot for a suspense-horror TV series to be called Portraits in Terror that ultimately failed to sell. The pilot, entitled Final Curtain, sees an old and world-weary actor wandering in an empty theatre, imagining ghosts and a living mannequin haunting the backstage area, until a la The Twilight Zone, he realizes that he himself is dead. The episode has no dialogue, and Dudley Manlove narrates the thoughts of Duke Moore as the actor. Bela Lugosi would've starred in this short film had he lived. Parts of the unsold pilot were later recycled for use in Wood's Night of the Ghouls (1959). The episode was thought to be lost until a complete print was located c. 2010. It was remastered and given its first ever cinema showing in a theater in February 2012. Today it is widely available online and on DVD.

Night of the Ghouls edit

In 1958, Wood wrote, produced, and directed Night of the Ghouls (originally titled Revenge of the Dead), starring Kenne Duncan, Tor Johnson (reprising his role as "Lobo" from Bride of the Monster), Criswell, Duke Moore, and Valda Hansen.[26] The film premiered at the Vista Theatre in Hollywood on a double bill with the Lana Turner movie "Imitation of Life" on March 17, 1959, and then promptly vanished from circulation.[27] For many years, it was thought to be a lost film, but distribution of the film was held up for 25 years because Wood hadn't paid the lab bill. Video producer Wade Williams paid the bill and released the film on videocassette in 1984, copyrighting the film in his own name.[28]

In 1958, Wood also wrote the screenplay for The Bride and the Beast (1958), which was directed by Adrian Weiss. Wood's screenplay was based on Adrian Weiss' plot.[29]

Wood also wrote the screenplay (as "Peter LaRoche") for a 1959 "nudie cutie" film called Revenge of the Virgins, which was directed by Peter Perry Jr.[30]

The Sinister Urge edit

Wood wrote and directed the exploitation film The Sinister Urge (1960),[25] starring Kenne Duncan, Duke Moore, Dino Fantini, Harvey B. Dunn and Carl Anthony. Filmed in just five days, this is the last mainstream film Wood directed, although it has grindhouse elements. The film contains an "eerily prescient"[31] scene, in which Carl Anthony's character states, "I look at this slush, and I try to remember, at one time, I made good movies". The scenes of the teenagers at the pizzeria had been previously shot in 1956 for Wood's unfinished juvenile delinquency film, Rock and Roll Hell (a.k.a. Hellborn).

Also in 1960, Wood wrote the screenplay for The Peeper, which he intended as a direct sequel to his 1960 film The Sinister Urge, but it was never produced.

Wood also contributed to the plot of Jane Mann's 1961 screenplay Anatomy of a Psycho. The film was directed by Mann's husband Boris Petroff.[32]

In 1963, Wood wrote the screenplay for Shotgun Wedding (an exploitation film directed by Boris Petroff about hillbillies marrying child brides in the Ozarks). Wood wrote the screenplay from a story idea by Jane Mann. Wood's friend, cameraman William C. Thompson, died around this time.

Orgy of the Dead edit

Wood's 1965 transitional film Orgy of the Dead (originally titled Nudie Ghoulies) combined the horror and grindhouse skin-flick genres. Wood handled various production details while Stephen C. Apostolof directed under the pseudonym A. C. Stephen. The film begins with a recreation of the opening scene from Night of the Ghouls. Criswell, wearing one of Lugosi's old capes, rises from his coffin to deliver an introduction taken almost word-for-word from the previous film. Set in a misty graveyard, the Lord of the Dead (Criswell) and his sexy consort, the Black Ghoul (a Vampira look-alike), preside over a series of macabre performances by topless dancers from beyond the grave (recruited by Wood from local strip clubs). The film also features a Wolf Man and a Mummy. Together, Wood and Apostolof went on to make a string of sexploitation films up to 1977. Wood co-wrote the screenplays with Apostolof and occasionally even acted in some of the films.

In 1969, Wood appeared in The Photographer (a.k.a. Love Feast or Pretty Models All in a Row), the first of two films produced by a Marine buddy, Joseph F. Robertson, with Wood portraying a photographer using his position to engage in sexual antics with his models.

Wood had a smaller role in Robertson's second film, Mrs. Stone's Thing (1970), as a transvestite who spends his time at a party trying on lingerie in a bedroom.

In 1969, Wood adapted his own novel Mama's Diary written under the pseudonym Dick Trent into Operation Red Light for Jacques Descent Production. Over half the footage was destroyed in a film-processing accident and the film is considered lost. [33]

Venus Flytrap (1970) aka The Revenge of Dr. X, a US/Japanese co-production, was based on an unproduced Ed Wood screenplay from the 1950s.[34] The film was produced and directed by Sci-Fi pulp writer Norman Earl Thomson. The film involves a mad scientist who uses lightning to transform plants into man-eating monsters. Wood did not participate in the actual making of the movie.

Take It Out in Trade edit

In 1970, Wood wrote and directed his own pornographic film, Take It Out in Trade, starring Duke Moore and Nona Carver. Wood played a transvestite named Alecia in the film.

In 1970, Wood produced a 45 rpm record which featured Tor Johnson on one side, reading The Day The Mummy Returned, and Criswell reading The Final Curtain on the other. It has never been determined whether or not the record was actually released, but many of them were definitely produced.[35]

Necromania edit

In 1971, he produced, wrote and directed Necromania (subtitled A Tale of Weird Love) under the pseudonym "Don Miller". The film was an early entry to the new subgenre of hardcore pornographic films. Thought lost for years, it resurfaced in edited form on Mike Vraney's Something Weird imprint in the late 1980s, and was re-released later on DVD by Fleshbot Films in 2005. In the Rudolph Grey biography Nightmare of Ecstasy, Maila Nurmi ("Vampira") said she declined Wood's offer to do a nude scene sitting in a coffin for Necromania, claiming she was recovering from a stroke at the time.[36]

From 1971 to 1972, Wood directed an unknown number of short X-Rated films produced by the Swedish Erotica film company. These were short 12-minute loops that were silent films with subtitles. Wood was paid $100 for every ten loops he subtitled.

Wood's friends Kenne Duncan and Tor Johnson both passed away during this period. (Ed Wood was named executor of Kenne Duncan's estate, and following Duncan's death, Wood held a small memorial funeral for him with his wife and some friends in his backyard around the swimming pool where they eulogized the departed Western film star.) Wood's friend Duke Moore died in 1976.[37]

Throughout the 1970s, Wood worked with his friend Stephen C. Apostolof, usually co-writing scripts with him, but also serving as an assistant director and an associate producer. (Together they had made Wood's Orgy of the Dead back in 1965.) Wood's last known on-screen appearance (a dual role) was in Apostolof's 1974 film Fugitive Girls (a.k.a. Five Loose Women), in which he played both a gas station attendant called "Pops" and a sheriff on the fugitive women's trail.

At the time of his death, Wood was working on a biographical screenplay based on the last years of actor Bela Lugosi to be called Lugosi Post Mortem, which was supposed to star actor Peter Coe as Lugosi and Karl Johnson as his father Tor Johnson. The nearly completed script was left behind the last time Wood was evicted and is presumed to have been discarded in the trash. Wood was also working on a screenplay for a film called Venus De Milo, a mystery that would explain the famous statue's missing arms.[38]

Technically, Wood's last acting job was in the 1978 Stephen Apostolof film Hot Ice. Ed Wood played a janitor in the film, but his scene was cut out at the last minute due to his drunkenness on the set. Wood died soon after this film was made in 1978, at age 54. (Ironically his demise coincided with the end of the soft-core porn industry c. 1978. Apostolof himself stopped making films as well at this time.)

Books and novels edit

Beginning in 1963 up until his death, Wood wrote at least 80 lurid crime and sex novels in addition to hundreds of short stories and non-fiction pieces for magazines and daily newspapers.

His novels include Black Lace Drag (1963) (reissued in 1965 as Killer in Drag), Orgy of the Dead (1965), Parisian Passions (1966), Watts the Difference (1966), Side-Show Siren (1966), Drag Trade (1967), Watts After (1967), Devil Girls (1967), It Takes One to Know One (1967), Death of a Transvestite (1967), Suburbia Confidential (1967), Night Time Lez (1968), The Perverts (1968), Bye Bye Broadie (1968), Raped in the Grass (1968), Sex, Shrouds and Caskets (1968), Love of the Dead (1968), The Sexecutives (1968), Young, Black and Gay (1968), Hell Chicks (1968), The Gay Underworld (1968), Carnival Piece (1969), Toni, Black Tigress (1969), Mama's Diary (1969), To Make a Homo (1969), Mary-Go-Round (1969), The Sexual Woman (1971), The Only House (1972), A Study of Fetishes and Fantasies (1973), Tales for a Sexy Night Part 1 and 2 (1973), Sex Star (1973), Death of a Transvestite Hooker (1974). Forced Entry (1974), and TV Lust (1977).[39]

In 1965, Wood wrote the quasi-memoir Hollywood Rat Race, which was only published years later in 1998. In it, Wood advises new writers to "just keep on writing. Even if your story gets worse, you'll get better", and also recounts tales of dubious authenticity, such as how he and Bela Lugosi entered the world of nightclub cabaret.

Thirty-two short stories known to be written by Wood (he sometimes wrote under pseudonyms such as "Ann Gora" and "Dr. T.K. Peters") are collected in an anthology Blood Splatters Quickly, published by OR Books in 2014.[40]

Unrealized projects edit

  • Dr. Acula - Wood was supposed to write and direct this proposed 1953 TV series in which Bela Lugosi was supposed to play a mysterious investigator of the supernatural, to be produced by Ted Allan. (Lugosi mentioned it when he appeared that year on You Asked for It.)[41]
  • Sequel to Mother Riley Meets the Vampire - Lugosi was offered the lead role in a proposed 1953 sequel to the Mother Riley comedy film he made in England in 1951, provided he travel back to England to appear in it. This sequel was never made however as Lugosi was too ill at the time to travel. In 1953, Ed Wood's friend producer Alex Gordon proposed creating an extended version of the 1951 film to be called King Robot which would incorporate newly filmed footage of Lugosi. The project was abandoned since by that time, Lugosi appeared too ill to match the earlier footage.[42]
  • The Six Arms of Siva - This was a 1953 adventure novel written by Walter C. Brown which Wood and Lugosi were considering buying the film rights to, but the deal fell through.[43]
  • 3-D Remake of Dracula (1931) - Ed Wood and teenage Lugosi fan Richard Sheffield petitioned Universal Studios in 1953 to make a Color/ 3-D remake of the 1931 classic Dracula, starring Lugosi in the lead. Although they gathered hundreds of signatures, nothing came of their efforts.
  • The Vampire's Tomb - This was a planned July, 1954 horror film starring Bela Lugosi as the "Dr. Acula" character again. The cast would also have included Loretta King, Bobby Jordan (of The Bowery Boys), Dolores Fuller, Lyle Talbot, Duke Moore, Tom Keene and a Vampira-lookalike named "Devila". Wood's plot was very similar to that of Tod Browning's London After Midnight, only with a female vampire.[44] Wood shelved this project and filmed Bride of the Monster instead. Wood however did film some test footage of Lugosi wearing his Dracula cape in a local graveyard for this project which became part of the stock footage which was later incorporated into Wood's 1957 Plan 9 From Outer Space film.[45]
  • The Bowery Boys Meet The Monsters - Lugosi was initially considered for the role of the mad scientist in this 1954 horror-comedy, but he was replaced in the cast by John Dehner at the last minute.
  • Bela Lugosi Comics - In March 1954, Wood tried to interest a number of comic book publishers in a monthly Bela Lugosi title, to no avail. Among the companies he contacted were DC Comics, Dell, Fiction House, Ziff-Davis, Quality and Toby Press.
  • Doctor Voodoo (a.k.a. Voodoo Doctor) - A projected 1954 horror film (similar in plot to the 1934 Universal film The Black Cat) that was supposed to have starred both Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff, but Allied Artists rejected the script. It is said Karloff really wanted no part of the project anyway.[45]
  • The Terror Radio Program - Wood wrote a list of story ideas for this proposed 1954 15-minute radio program which was supposed to star Bela Lugosi, but it never materialized.
  • The Ghoul Goes West (or The Phantom Ghoul) - Wood worked on this script for two years, and had planned to produce it in Color/ Widescreen (and possibly 3-D). It was a proposed 1955 Western/Horror film that would have starred Gene Autry, Bela Lugosi, Tor Johnson, Lon Chaney Jr. and John Carradine, with Harold Daniels slated to direct. The plot was very similar to that of Bride of the Monster, only in a Western setting. Gene Autry dropped out, and Wood tried to replace him with either Bob Steele or Ken Maynard, to no avail. Lugosi was reading the script the whole time he was confined to the Norwalk State Hospital in 1955, where he was being treated for drug addiction. Coincidentally, Lugosi, Chaney, Tor Johnson and Carradine all appeared together the following year in The Black Sleep (a project that did not involve Ed Wood).[45]
  • Repeat Performance - This was a 1956 movie script that was written by Richard Sheffield, a Hollywood teenager who was a close personal friend of Bela Lugosi. He sold the script to Ed Wood for $1.00, but the film was never made since Wood was unable to interest financiers. The plot involved a "poor, retired actor of horror films" who is cast aside and rejected by the four film producers he once worked for, and he winds up murdering all four of them "in a gruesome manner similar to the way he was killed in many of his horror films". This may have been Wood's inspiration for his 1958 proposal to Sam Arkoff, which Wood claimed was stolen from him and later became AIP's How To Make A Monster. (see below under 1958).[46].
  • Rock and Rock Hell (or Hellborn) - Wood's version of Rebel Without a Cause, it was supposed to have starred Conrad Brooks, Duke Moore, Tom Mason and Wood himself, to be produced by George Weiss. It began shooting in June 1956, but Weiss decided to abandon the project and sold the ten minutes of footage they shot to Conrad Brooks. Footage from this film was later incorporated into Wood's 1959 Night of the Ghouls.[45]
  • The Dead Never Die - Criswell and Paul Marco came up with the story for this 1957 project, which Wood was slated to direct. It would've starred Criswell, Paul Marco, Bunny Breckinridge and Vampira (Maila Nurmi), but it never got off the ground.[45]
  • How To Make a Monster - Wood's widow Kathy claimed in a 1992 interview that her husband always felt that the idea for How to Make a Monster (1958 film) was stolen from him by AIP producer Sam Arkoff. She said "Eddie condemned Arkoff, he really hated him. Eddie gave them a script for approval, and they changed the characters a little bit around. Eddie had written it for Lugosi (circa 1956). It was about this old horror actor who couldn't get work any more, so he took his vengeance out on the studio. They changed it to a make-up man who takes revenge on a studio." Arkoff always denied Wood's claim was true, stating Herman Cohen originated the entire project.[47]
  • Ghouls of the Moon - Another attempt to build a horror film around a reel of unused silent footage that had been taken of Lugosi before he died in 1956, but nothing came of it since by 1958, Wood discovered the film in the can had degraded into an unusable sludge due to bad storage conditions.
  • Masquerade into Eternity - A 1959 Cold War political drama that Wood was supposed to write and direct, about a troupe of actors who get stranded in post-Revolution Cuba; it was to be produced by Ben Frommer, who was slated to play a Communist Colonel, but the project fell through.[48]
  • The Peeper (1960) Wood wrote the screenplay for The Peeper, intending it to be a direct sequel to his 1960 film The Sinister Urge (film), but it was never produced.
  • House of Horrors - Kenne Duncan and Tor Johnson were supposed to star in this 1960 film, which never materialized. Kenne Duncan was to play a mad artist who paints pictures of kidnapped women he confines in a dungeon, while Tor played a Lobo-like henchman.[48]
  • Portraits in Terror - A 1960 made-for-TV trilogy consisting of three episodes; it was to include The Final Curtain, The Night the Banshee Cried and Into My Grave (all written and directed by Wood), but the project fell through.[48]
  • Attack of the Giant Salami - A proposed 1964 horror film spoof that would've starred Boris Karloff, Joe E. Brown and Valda Hansen. Wood was inspired by the 1963 Brown/Karloff collaboration The Comedy of Terrors. The film was never made, probably due to Karloff's disinterest.
  • Tangier - A 1966 proposed action-adventure TV series that was supposed to be produced by Wood's friend Stephen Apostoloff. Wood wrote a sample screenplay for the series which was never produced.[48]
  • 69 Rue Pigalle - In 1966, Stephen Apostoloff was set to produce and direct a film called 69 Rue Pigalle, based on Ed Wood's novel Parisian Passions, but the financing never materialized. The plot was supposed to be about a transvestite who solves a series of murders in Paris, and Lon Chaney Jr. was supposed to have been in the cast.[49]
  • The Enchanted Isle - An unfilmed 1966 Ed Wood screenplay for a film that was supposed to feature Lon Chaney Jr., Dana Andrews and John Ireland, about a Mafia princess stranded on a South Sea island and a mystery involving black pearls. (Wood originally wrote the screenplay back in 1954 and had tried at that time to interest producer Ron Ormond in the project, unsuccessfully.)[48]
  • Devil Girls - An unrealized 1967 Crime Drama about a drug-smuggling teenage girl gang who hang out at a seedy hamburger joint. Tor Johnson was to have played the brutish "Chief", a goon who works for a retired race car driver named "Jockey". It was based on Wood's eponymous novel.[49]
  • The Life of Mickey Cohen - A 1967 proposed Crime Drama Wood was working on, in which Paul Marco was supposed to play the infamous gangster (a full decade after Marco appeared in Plan 9 From Outer Space).[49] (At this point, Wood's career became primarily focused on the pornographic industry.)
  • The Day the Mummies Danced - A 1976 unproduced Ed Wood script that was supposed to be Wood's long-awaited return to directing horror films; it was set to star John Agar (a long-time drinking buddy of Wood's), Aldo Ray and Dudley Manlove (who was also supposed to produce the film). The filming was set to take place in Guanajuato, Mexico at the famous Mexican mummies exhibit there, but it never happened.[49]

Wood's list of unrealized film projects also included scripts called Piranhas (1957), Trial by Terror (1958), The Peeper (a proposed 1960 sequel to The Sinister Urge), Silent Night (1961), Joaquin Murieta (a 1965 biopic about the infamous bandit of the Old West), Mice on a Cold Cellar Floor (1973), Epitaph for the Town Drunk (1973), To Kill a Saturday Night (1973, which was set to star John Carradine), The Teachers (1973), The Basketballers (1973), The Airline Hostesses (1973), I Awoke Early the Day I Died (1974, a rewrite of Wood's 1961 Silent Night), Heads, No Tails (1974, a take-off on Sweeney Todd), and Shoot Seven (1977, Wood's proposed musical based on the St. Valentine's Day Massacre).[50]

Personal life edit

Relationships and marriages edit

Wood was in a long term relationship with actress and songwriter Dolores Fuller, whom he met in late 1952. She was in the process of divorcing her first husband Donald Fuller, with whom she had had two sons. Wood and Fuller shared an apartment for three years, and Wood cast her in three of his films: Glen or Glenda, Jail Bait and, in a very brief cameo, in Bride of the Monster. Fuller later said she initially had no idea that Wood was a crossdresser and was mortified when she saw Wood dressed as a woman for the first time in Glen or Glenda. The couple broke up in 1955 after Wood cast another actress for the lead role in Bride of the Monster (Wood originally wrote the part for Fuller but later reduced her part to a brief cameo appearance) and because of Wood's excessive drinking. Fuller relocated to New York City where she embarked on a successful songwriting career, writing for famous singers like Elvis Presley and Nat King Cole.[51] Fuller died on May 9, 2011, at age 88.

In 1956, soon after his breakup with Fuller, Wood married actress Norma McCarty. McCarty appeared as Edie, the airplane stewardess, in Plan 9 from Outer Space, and was recently divorced with two sons, Mike and John McCarty, from her earlier marriage. The marriage took Wood’s friends by surprise; one night Wood called everyone to the sound stage for what they thought was a cast party, but when everyone was present, Wood brought out a huge wedding cake and a preacher, and announced he was getting married. The marriage ended approximately one month later after McCarty discovered that Wood was a crossdresser, and while it has been reported that their marriage was annulled,[52] according to film archivist Wade Williams, they neither annulled the marriage nor legally divorced. (McCarty died on June 27, 2014, at age 93.)[53][54][55]

Wood moved in with Paul Marco for a short while after McCarty left him. Later in 1956, Wood met Kathy O'Hara in a bar one night where he was drinking with Bela Lugosi. O’Hara fell in love with Wood immediately; they were married in Las Vegas a short while later, and Wood always considered O’Hara his legal wife despite the fact that his first marriage had not been legally annulled. Wood and O'Hara remained together until Wood's death in December 1978.[56] Kathy O’Hara never got along with his mother Lillian, calling her "a strict disciplinarian" who damaged Wood psychologically from early childhood. Wood occasionally sent money to his mom in the mail without O’Hara’s knowledge.[57]

Alleged daughter edit

Ed Wood was shocked to learn he had fathered a child out of wedlock after World War II with a young woman he had dated while he was in the Marines. According to Conrad Brooks, Wood and his wife Kathy only met the young woman (also named Kathy) in 1967 when she was already 21 years old. Born on May 23, 1946, the girl had been living in Lancaster, California and had managed to trace her father's whereabouts. Wood's mother Lillian said she had been contacted by the girl back in 1963 when she sent his mother a photo and introduced herself to Lillian as her granddaughter. Lillian said she sent the girl a watch for her graduation in 1964, but never heard back from her.

There is a photo of the young woman in Rudolph Grey's biography on Ed Wood.[37] She visited the Woods and stayed over at their house for a couple of days, but apparently the two Kathys did not get along well. In fact, Wood's wife physically threw her out of the house on the second day when she found her sleeping on their sofa.[37]

Wood's wife Kathy never believed that the girl was Wood's daughter, saying in an interview, "There was never any proof, only the woman's statement on a birth certificate." Wood told Kathy that the woman he had sex with in 1946 used to sleep around regularly "with 10 or 20 other Marines at the base", so he probably wasn't the girl's father. She said "She's not your daughter, that bitch lied to you! The father could have been anyone. There's only her accusation."[37]

Actress Valda Hansen said "I met Ed's daughter at his house in the Valley. She looked just like him. Beautiful, delicate. Green eyes, dark chocolate brown hair. She was very sweet." Art director Bob Derteno, who worked with Wood on Orgy of the Dead, said that Wood later travelled to attend his daughter's wedding in New York and was later told that he had become a grandfather.

Cross-dressing edit

In Rudolph Grey's 1992 biography Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood Jr., Wood's wife Kathy O’Hara recalls that Wood told her that his mother dressed him in girls' clothing as a child.[3] O’Hara stated that Wood's transvestitism was not a sexual inclination, but rather a neomaternal comfort derived mainly from angora fabric (angora is featured in many of Wood's films).[58] Even in his later years, Wood was not shy about going out in public dressed in drag as "Shirley", his female alter ego (a name that appeared in many of his screenplays and stories).[59] In his partly autobiographical film Glen or Glenda, the heterosexual Wood takes pains to emphasize that a male transvestite is not automatically also a homosexual. Wood directed many of his pornographic films in drag, but usually would not take the time to shave, which made for a bizarre sight, according to his friends. Wood always swore that he had never had a single homosexual relationship in his life, and was even considered quite a womanizer by many of his acquaintances. He once said that his greatest fantasy was to be reincarnated as a gorgeous blonde.[60]

Later years edit

During the last 15 years of his life, Wood depended almost entirely on writing pornography to earn a living, receiving about $1,000 per novel which he spent almost immediately on alcohol at the local liquor store. Friends have stated how, in his final years, he eventually stopped bathing, and that his apartment became so filthy that he eventually would not allow friends to come over and visit because he knew they would be horrified to see how unkempt it had become. Paul Marco said Wood was constantly moaning, "My God, I've given everything away. I should be a millionaire. I should have a million bucks right now!"[61]

Actor John Agar, an alcoholic himself, was drinking at Wood's apartment one day in the late 1960s when the afternoon news program erroneously announced Agar's obituary. Wood called the studio and told them that Agar was not dead. He told them "He's alive... he's sitting right here with me now!". The story was corrected shortly thereafter.[62]

Ed Wood and his wife were routinely evicted from their apartments for non-payment of rent. Each time they moved, Wood would immediately establish credit with the liquor store nearest his new address. Their last apartment was in a high-crime ghetto area "at the corner of Yucca and Cahuenga" in Hollywood inhabited by drug addicts, gamblers and prostitutes. Wood, who regularly pawned his typewriters for cash, was mugged regularly when he would stumble down to the liquor store. Eventually he had his publisher send his paychecks directly to the various liquor store owners so that he would not have to carry cash when he went there.

The Woods’ apartment was always in danger of being burglarized. One night, a transvestite was beaten to death in the hallway just outside Wood's apartment door and the sound of gunshots outside the building was a nightly occurrence.[63]

According to friends, Wood and his wife often became violent when they drank. Stories abound of the two beating each other; Wood sometimes knocked Kathy unconscious.[64] Criswell commented once, "I always had the feeling that one would kill the other. And if you were there, the killer would say you did it!" Nonetheless, years after Wood's death, his wife always professed to love him dearly.[63]

Bela Lugosi biographer Robert Cremer interviewed Wood once in his Yucca apartment for his 1976 book Lugosi: The Man Behind the Cape two years before Wood died. Cremer said Wood began the interview sober, but quickly became intoxicated as the interview proceeded. Cremer said, "He started getting really angry at me because he felt he was the person who should be writing (the book)... He went out in the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of Wild Turkey... He smashed the bottle on the kitchen counter and then came after me with it. He lunged at me but he was so drunk, I just pushed him against the wall and he collapsed. I just walked out the door and said "Okay Ed, I guess that was our last interview. I'll see you."[65]

Death edit

By 1978, Wood's depression had worsened as he and his wife Kathy O'Hara had both succumbed to alcoholism. They were evicted from their Hollywood apartment on Yucca Street on Thursday, December 7, 1978, in total poverty by two sheriff's deputies called by their landlord for failure to pay their overdue rent and had to leave behind all of his scrapbooks and unfinished screenplays, which the landlord allegedly threw into a garbage dumpster. Wood's large collection of his early commercials were also thrown out following his eviction. The couple moved into the small North Hollywood apartment of their friend, actor Peter Coe, located at 5635 Laurel Canyon Boulevard. Wood spent the weekend drinking vodka and desperately calling old friends for money, but to no avail.

Around noon on Sunday, December 10, Wood felt ill and went to lie down in Coe's bedroom while Coe, O’Hara and a few friends were watching a football game on TV. From the bedroom, he asked O’Hara to bring him a drink, which she refused to do. A few minutes later he yelled out, "Kathy, I can't breathe!", a plea O’Hara ignored as she later said she was tired of Wood bossing her around. After hearing no movement in the bedroom for twenty minutes, O’Hara sent a female friend to check on Wood, who discovered him dead on the bed from a heart attack. O’Hara later said, "I still remember when I went into that room that afternoon and he was dead, his eyes and mouth were wide open. I'll never forget the look in his eyes. He clutched at the sheets. It looked like he'd seen Hell."[66]

Wood was cremated at the Utter-McKinley mortuary, and his ashes were scattered at sea.[67] Paul Marco, Kathy O'Hara, David DeMering and Criswell attended Wood's makeshift memorial service which was held at Peter Coe's apartment following the cremation. Marco recalled how devastated Kathy was at the time.[68]

Legacy and homages edit

At the time of his death, Wood's name and career had become so obscure that most local Los Angeles newspapers, including the entertainment magazine Variety, did not run an obituary about him.

The 1982 film It Came from Hollywood featured a "Tribute to Ed Wood" segment.

In 1986 in an essay paying homage to Wood in Incredibly Strange Films, Jim Morton wrote: "Eccentric and individualistic, Edward D. Wood Jr. was a man born to film. [...] Lesser men, if forced to make movies under the conditions Wood faced, would have thrown up their hands in defeat".[69]

In 1994, director Tim Burton released the biopic Ed Wood, starring Johnny Depp in the title role and Martin Landau, who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Bela Lugosi. It also won an Academy Award for Best Makeup for Rick Baker. Conrad Brooks appeared in the movie in a cameo role as "Barman", along with Gregory Walcott in the role of a potential backer. The film premiered on September 30, 1994, just ten days before what would have been Wood's 70th birthday. Despite receiving mass critical acclaim, the movie did poorly at the box office; however, it has since developed a cult following.

In 1996, Reverend Steve Galindo of Seminole, Oklahoma, created a legally recognized religion with Wood as its official savior.[70] Founded as a joke, the Church of Ed Wood now boasts more than 3,500 baptized followers. Woodites, as Galindo's followers are called, celebrate "Woodmas" on October 10, which was Wood's birthday. Numerous parties and concerts are held worldwide to celebrate Woodmas. On October 4[71]–5, 2003,[72] horror host Mr. Lobo was canonized as the "Patron Saint of late night movie hosts and insomniacs" in the Church of Ed Wood.[71][72]

In 1997 the University of Southern California began holding an annual Ed Wood Film Festival, in which student teams are challenged to write, film, and edit an Ed Wood-inspired short film based on a preassigned theme. Past themes have included Rebel Without a Bra (2004), What's That in Your Pocket? (2005), and Slippery When Wet (2006).[73]

Documentaries edit

  • The Incredibly Strange Film Show (Season 2, Episode 4), presented by Jonathan Ross. It was first broadcast Oct. 13, 1989. Guests interviewed included actors Vampira (aka Maila Nurmi), Norma McCarty, Paul Marco, Dolores Fuller, biographer Rudolph Grey and critic Harry Medved.
  • Flying Saucers Over Hollywood: The Plan 9 Companion, was released in 1992. This exhaustive two-hour documentary by Mark Patrick Carducci chronicles the making of Plan 9 from Outer Space and features interviews with Vampira, Paul Marco, Conrad Brooks, Joe Dante, Valda Hansen, artist Drew Friedman, Forrest J. Ackerman, Gary Gerani, Sam Raimi, Kathy Wood, Carl Anthony, Harry Thomas, Gregory Walcott, Stephen Apostolof, Martha Mason, Norma McCarty, Dolores Fuller, et al. In 2000, Image Entertainment included the documentary on the DVD reissue of Plan 9 from Outer Space (in a two-disc set with Robot Monster).
  • The Haunted World of Edward D. Wood Jr., written and directed by Brett Thompson, came out in 1995.[74] This 90-minute documentary - about the life and films of Ed Wood - features interviews with Wood's friends and co-workers, and closely resembles Wood's own style albeit with slightly better miniatures. People interviewed included Vampira, Bela Lugosi Jr., Dolores Fuller, Paul Marco, Conrad Brooks, Loretta King, Lyn Lemon, Norma McCarty and her son Mike, Mona McKinnon, Lyle Talbot, Gregory Walcott, Crawford John Thomas, makeup man Harry Thomas and Ed Wood himself.
  • Dad Made Dirty Movies (2011) Wood biographer Rudolph Grey produced this one-hour documentary about the life and career of 1960s porn film producer Stephen Apostolof, detailing his x-rated co-productions with Wood.[75]

Lost films edit

Wood's 1972 film The Undergraduate was a lost film, as was his 1970 film Take It Out in Trade, but they both eventually turned up years later. (Both films in their entirety are now available on DVD.)

An 80-minute print of Take It Out in Trade was discovered and publicly exhibited at Anthology Film Archives in New York City in September 2014.[76][77] Silent outtakes from the film were released by Something Weird Video.[2]

Wood's 1971 film Necromania was also believed lost for years, until an edited version resurfaced at a yard sale in 1992, followed in 2001 by a complete, unedited print.

A complete print of Wood's lost 1972 pornographic film, The Young Marrieds was discovered in 2004. It was released by Alpha Blue Archives in July 2014 as a part of the four-DVD set The Lost Sex Films of Ed Wood Jr..[77]

Wood is said to have filmed some scenes of Lon Chaney Jr. in a werewolf costume in Hollywood in 1964 that were said to have been later incorporated into Jerry Warren's film Face of the Screaming Werewolf (1965). Chaney biographer Don G. Smith however has stated that this story was never substantiated.[78]

Collaborations edit

Actors edit

Glen or
Glenda
Crossroad
Avenger
Jail Bait Bride of
the Monster
Final
Curtain
Plan 9 from
Outer Space
Night of
the Ghouls
The
Sinister
Urge
Take It Out
in Trade
Crossroads of
Laredo
Total
Criswell
 N
 N
2
Carl Anthony
 N
 N
2
Conrad Brooks
 N
 N
 N
 N
 N
 N
6
Kenne Duncan
 N
 N
 N
3
Harvey B. Dunn
 N
 N
 N
 N
4
Timothy Farrell
 N
 N
2
Dolores Fuller
 N
 N
 N
 N
4
Tor Johnson
 N
 N
 N
3
Tom Keene
 N
 N
2
Bela Lugosi
 N
 N
 N
3
Dudley Manlove
 N
 N
2
Paul Marco
 N
 N
 N
3
Tom Mason
 N
 N
2
Duke Moore
 N
 N
 N
 N
 N
 N
6
Bud Osborne
 N
 N
 N
 N
4
Lyle Talbot
 N
 N
 N
 N
4
Ed Wood
 N
 N
 N
 N
 N
 N
6

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b Rudolph Grey, Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr. (1992). pg. 197. ISBN 978-0-922915-24-8.
  2. ^ a b Craig 2009, p. 276.
  3. ^ a b c Grey 1994, p. 16.
  4. ^ Benshoff 1997, p. 157.
  5. ^ Weaver 2004, p. 358.
  6. ^ Georgievska, Marija (March 29, 2017). "Ed Wood: Known as the "Worst Director of All Time," is today celebrated by many, including the movie director Tim Burton". The Vintage News. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
  7. ^ a b Bendix III, Pablo. Dreaming In Angora: The Life and Films of Ed Wood. Lulu Press, 2015.
  8. ^ Meredith, Jason C.A. (2020) Lost to Bias: Gender fluidity, queer themes, and challenges to heteronormativity in the work of Edward D. Wood, Jr. [Unpublished master's thesis, Stockholm University]. DiVA Portal.
  9. ^ Dunn, Brad (January 1, 2009). When They Were 22: 100 Famous People at the Turning Point in Their Lives. Andrews McMeel Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7407-8681-5.
  10. ^ Pontolillo 2017, p. 25.
  11. ^ Pontolillo 2017, p. 30-37.
  12. ^ Rudolph Grey, Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr. (1992). pg. 117. ISBN 978-0-922915-24-8.
  13. ^ http://www.edwoodonline.com/thehunt/COMMERCIALS.html
  14. ^ Grey 1994, pp. 23–24.
  15. ^ Rudolph Grey, Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr. (1992). pg. 171. ISBN 978-0-922915-24-8.
  16. ^ a b Patrick, Colin (October 11, 2010). "10 Absurd Facts About the Worst Director of All Time". Retrieved August 14, 2016.
  17. ^ Thompson, Brett (1996). The Haunted World of Edward D. Wood Jr (Documentary). Wood-Thomas Pictures.
  18. ^ Rhodes, Gary D. (1997). Lugosi: His Life in Films, on Stage, and in the Hearts of Horror Lovers. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. pp. 141–142. ISBN 0-7864-0257-1.
  19. ^ Benshoff 1997, pp. 160–1.
  20. ^ Rudolph Grey, Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr. (1992). pg. 172. ISBN 978-0-922915-24-8.
  21. ^ Newman, Adam (May 4, 2000). "Muscleman Steve Reeves Dies". The Washington Post. Washington, DC: Washington Post Company. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
  22. ^ Rhodes, Gary Don (2015). Lugosi: His Life in Films, on Stage, and in the Hearts of Horror Lovers. McFarland. p. 225. ISBN 978-0-7864-2765-9.
  23. ^ "Alex Gordon". Autry.com. Retrieved November 9, 2013.
  24. ^ "The Violent Years". publicdomainmovie.net. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
  25. ^ a b Craig, Rob (2009), "The Sinister Urge (1960)", Ed Wood, Mad Genius: A Critical Study of the Films, McFarland & Company, ISBN 978-0786454235
  26. ^ . BFI. Archived from the original on October 26, 2020. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
  27. ^ Rudolph Grey, Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr. (1992). pg. 206. ISBN 978-0-922915-24-8.
  28. ^ Rudolph Grey, Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr. (1992). pg. 206. ISBN 978-0-922915-24-8.
  29. ^ "AFI|Catalog".
  30. ^ Rudolph Grey, Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr. (1992) ISBN 978-0-922915-24-8.
  31. ^ Craig 2009, p. 208.
  32. ^ Rudolph Grey, Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr. (1992) ISBN 978-0-922915-24-8.
  33. ^ "Dead 2 Rights: Ed Wood Wednesdays: Greg Dziawer on 'Operation Redlight' (1969)". November 11, 2015.
  34. ^ Weldon 1996, p. 464.
  35. ^ Rudolph Grey, Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr. (1992). pg. 173. ISBN 978-0-922915-24-8.
  36. ^ Grey 1994, p. 135.
  37. ^ a b c d Rudolph Grey, Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr. (1992). pg. 115. ISBN 978-0-922915-24-8.
  38. ^ Rudolph Grey, Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr. (1992). pg. 220. ISBN 978-0-922915-24-8.
  39. ^ Rudolph Grey, Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr. (1992). pg. 175 - 194. ISBN 978-0-922915-24-8.
  40. ^ "Blood Splatters Quickly".
  41. ^ Rudolph Grey, Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr. (1992). p. 215. ISBN 978-0-922915-24-8.
  42. ^ Lugosi: His Life on Film, Stage, and in the Hearts of Horror Lovers by Gary D. Rhodes (2006) McFarland & Company, ISBN 978-0786427659
  43. ^ Bela Lugosi: Dreams and Nightmares by Gary D. Rhodes, with Richard Sheffield, (2007) Collectables/Alpha Video Publishers, ISBN 0-9773798-1-7
  44. ^ Bela Lugosi: Dreams and Nightmares by Gary D. Rhodes, with Richard Sheffield, (2007) Collectables/Alpha Video Publishers. pg. 176. ISBN 0-9773798-1-7
  45. ^ a b c d e Rudolph Grey, Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr. (1992). pg. 216. ISBN 978-0-922915-24-8.
  46. ^ Bela Lugosi: Dreams and Nightmares by Gary D. Rhodes, with Richard Sheffield, (2007) Collectables/Alpha Video Publishers, pg. 209, ISBN 0-9773798-1-7
  47. ^ Rudolph Grey, Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr. (1992). pg. 62. ISBN 978-0-922915-24-8.
  48. ^ a b c d e Rudolph Grey, Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr. (1992). pg. 217. ISBN 978-0-922915-24-8.
  49. ^ a b c d Rudolph Grey, Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr. (1992). pg. 218. ISBN 978-0-922915-24-8.
  50. ^ Rudolph Grey, Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr. (1992). pg. 57. ISBN 978-0-922915-24-8.
  51. ^ McLellan, Dennis (May 11, 2011). "Dolores Fuller dies at 88; actress dated director Ed Wood". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 4, 2013.
  52. ^ Grey 1994, p. 57.
  53. ^ Rudolph Grey, Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr. (1992). pg. 57. ISBN 978-0-922915-24-8.
  54. ^ Barnes, Mike (August 18, 2014). "Actress Norma McCarty, Ed Wood's Wife, Dies at 93". The Hollywood Reporter. But film archivist Wade Williams, who told THR that he now owns the copyright to five Wood films, said he had close ties to all three and that McCarty legally remained Wood's wife until the filmmaker's death in December 1978.
  55. ^ Holman, Jordyn (August 18, 2014). "Norma McCarty, Actress and Wife of Ed Wood, Dies at 93". variety.com. Retrieved March 3, 2015.
  56. ^ "Kathy Wood". Variety. July 16, 2006. Retrieved September 25, 2011.
  57. ^ Rudolph Grey, Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr. (1992). pg. 116. ISBN 978-0-922915-24-8.
  58. ^ Grey 1994, p. 141.
  59. ^ Craig 2009, p. 108.
  60. ^ Rudolph Grey, Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr. (1992). ISBN 978-0-922915-24-8.
  61. ^ Rudolph Grey, Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr. (1992). pp. 144–145. ISBN 978-0-922915-24-8.
  62. ^ Rudolph Grey, Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr. (1992). pp. 144–145. ISBN 978-0-922915-24-8.
  63. ^ a b Rudolph Grey, Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr. (1992). p. 145. ISBN 978-0-922915-24-8.
  64. ^ Rudolph Grey, Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr. (1992). p. 145. ISBN 978-0-922915-24-8.
  65. ^ Rudolph Grey, Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr. (1992). p. 122. ISBN 978-0-922915-24-8.
  66. ^ Ford 1999, p. 81.
  67. ^ Grey 1994, p. 160.
  68. ^ Rudolph Grey, Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr. (1992). pg. 160. ISBN 978-0-922915-24-8.
  69. ^ Morton 1986, p. 158.
  70. ^ "Oh My God?: God Is the Producer of Our Lives But We Are the Directors". Huffpost Entertainment. November 18, 2009.
  71. ^ a b . Cinema Insomnia. Archived from the original on March 28, 2010. Retrieved July 20, 2010.
  72. ^ a b Reverend Steve Galindo (December 23, 2003). "Lesson 19: The First Saints of Woodism". Church of Ed Wood. Retrieved July 20, 2010.
  73. ^ "USC Events Calendar". Web-app.usc.edu. Archived from the original on December 15, 2012. Retrieved November 9, 2013.
  74. ^ Young, Deborah (August 7, 1995). "The Haunted World of Edward D. Wood Jr". Variety. Retrieved May 24, 2021.
  75. ^ [1], Elliott, Tim (2011-09-09). "Review: Dad Made Dirty Movies. smh.com.au.
  76. ^ "Film Screenings/Film Calendar (September 2014)". anthologyfilmarchives.org.
  77. ^ a b Piepenburg, Erik (August 28, 2014). "Wild Rides to Inner Space". nytimes.com. Retrieved March 3, 2015.
  78. ^ Smith, Don G. (1996). Lon Chaney Jr. McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-0120-6.
  79. ^ "Remembering Jesus Franco, the Spanish Master of 1970s Softcore Horror". October 30, 2014.
  80. ^ "Obsession: The Films of Jess Franco (First Edition) by Lucas and Peter Blumenstock Balbo (Editors); Howard Vernon (Foreword); Carlos Aguilar, Jack Taylor, William Berger, Monica Swinn, Jess Franco (Contributors) | Search for rare books | ABAA".

Other references edit

  • Benshoff, Harry M. (1997). Monsters in the Closet: Homosexuality and the Horror Film. Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-7190-4473-1.
  • Craig, Rob (2009). Ed Wood, Mad Genius: A Critical Study of the Films. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-5423-5.
  • Ford, Luke (1999). A History of X: 100 Years of Sex in Film. Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-61592-631-3.
  • Gerstner, David A., ed. (2006). Routledge International Encyclopedia of Queer Culture. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-30651-5.
  • Grey, Rudolph (1994). Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood Jr. Feral House. ISBN 0-922915-24-5.
  • Hoberman, J.; Rosenbaum, Jonathan (2009). Midnight Movies. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-7867-4700-9.
  • Morton, Jim (1986). Juno, Andrea; Vale, V. (eds.). Incredibly Strange Films (1 ed.). San Francisco, California: RE/Search. ISBN 0-940642-09-3.
  • Pontolillo, James (2017). The Unknown War of Edward D. Wood, Jr.: 1942 - 1946. Self-published. ISBN 978-1-5488-6947-2.
  • Weaver, Tom, ed. (2004). It Came From Horrorwood: Interviews With Moviemakers In The Science Fiction And Horror Tradition. McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-2069-3.
  • Weldon, Michael (1996). The Psychotronic Video Guide. Titan Books. ISBN 1-85286-770-1.

Further reading edit

  • Conway, Rob (2009). Ed Wood, Mad Genius: A Critical Study of the Films. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-3955-3.
  • Medved, Harry and Michael (1980). The Golden Turkey Awards. Perigree Books. ISBN 0-399-50463-X. pp. 168, 169, 176–181, 204–208, 211, 217

External links edit

  • Ed Wood at IMDb
  • The Hunt for Edward D. Wood Jr. Exhaustive guide to Wood's films and their commercial releases.
  • (Includes adult images)
  • Ed Wood's TV pilot Final Curtain
  • Ed Wood's lost TV pilot, "Final Curtain"
  • Book page for Blood Splatthharvers Quickly: The Collected Stories

wood, this, article, about, film, director, film, about, life, film, other, people, named, edward, wood, edward, wood, disambiguation, edward, davis, wood, october, 1924, december, 1978, american, filmmaker, actor, pulp, novel, author, wood, glen, glenda, 1953. This article is about the film director For the film about his life see Ed Wood film For other people named Edward Wood see Edward Wood disambiguation Edward Davis Wood Jr October 10 1924 December 10 1978 was an American filmmaker actor and pulp novel author Ed WoodWood in Glen or Glenda 1953 BornEdward Davis Wood Jr 1924 10 10 October 10 1924Poughkeepsie New York U S DiedDecember 10 1978 1978 12 10 aged 54 Los Angeles California U S Other namesDaniel DavisAnn GoraEdward D Wood Jr Akdov TelmigLarry LeeDr T K PetersPeter LaRocheDon MillerOccupationsFilmmaker author actorYears active1947 1978SpousesNorma McCarty m 1956 sep 1956 wbr Kathy O Hara m 1956 1978 wbr Children1 daughterMilitary careerService wbr branch United States Marine CorpsYears of service1942 1944Battles warsWorld War II Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaignIn the 1950s Wood directed several low budget science fiction crime and horror films that later became cult classics notably Glen or Glenda 1953 Jail Bait 1954 Bride of the Monster 1955 Plan 9 from Outer Space 1957 1 and Night of the Ghouls 1959 1 In the 1960s and 1970s he moved towards sexploitation and pornographic films such as The Sinister Urge 1960 Orgy of the Dead 1965 and Necromania 1971 and wrote over 80 lurid pulp crime and sex novels Notable for their campy aesthetics technical errors unsophisticated special effects use of poorly matched stock footage eccentric casts idiosyncratic stories and non sequitur dialogue Wood s films remained largely obscure until he was posthumously awarded a Golden Turkey Award for Worst Director of All Time in 1980 renewing public interest in his life and work 2 Following the publication of Rudolph Grey s 1992 oral biography Nightmare of Ecstasy The Life and Art of Edward D Wood Jr a biopic of his life Ed Wood 1994 was directed by Tim Burton Starring Johnny Depp as Wood and Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi the film received critical acclaim and various awards including two Academy Awards Contents 1 Early years 1 1 Military service 2 Career 2 1 Directing and screenwriting 2 1 1 Glen or Glenda 2 1 2 Jail Bait 2 1 3 Bride of the Monster 2 1 4 The Violent Years 2 1 5 Plan 9 from Outer Space 2 1 6 Final Curtain 2 1 7 Night of the Ghouls 2 1 8 The Sinister Urge 2 1 9 Orgy of the Dead 2 1 10 Take It Out in Trade 2 1 11 Necromania 2 2 Books and novels 2 3 Unrealized projects 3 Personal life 3 1 Relationships and marriages 3 2 Alleged daughter 3 3 Cross dressing 4 Later years 5 Death 6 Legacy and homages 6 1 Documentaries 6 2 Lost films 6 3 Collaborations 6 4 Actors 7 See also 8 References 9 Other references 10 Further reading 11 External linksEarly years editWood s father Edward Sr worked for the United States Post Office Department as a custodian and his family relocated numerous times around the United States Eventually they settled in Poughkeepsie New York where Ed Wood Jr was born in 1924 According to his second wife Kathy O Hara Wood s mother Lillian would dress him in girl s clothing when he was a child because she had always wanted a daughter Wood had one brother several years younger than himself 3 For the rest of his life Wood crossdressed infatuated with the feel of angora on his skin 4 5 During his childhood Wood was interested in the performing arts and pulp fiction He collected comic books and pulp magazines and adored movies especially Westerns serials and the occult 6 Buck Jones and Bela Lugosi were two of his earliest childhood idols He often skipped school in order to watch motion pictures at the local movie theater where stills from last week s films would often be thrown into the trash by theater staff allowing Wood to salvage the images and to add to his extensive collection 3 On his 12th birthday in 1936 Wood received as a gift his first movie camera a Kodak Cine Special 7 One of his first pieces of footage and one that imbued him with pride showed the airship Hindenburg passing over the Hudson River at Poughkeepsie shortly before its disastrous crash at Lakehurst New Jersey 8 One of Wood s first paid jobs was as a cinema usher and he also sang and played drums in a band Subsequently he formed a quartet called Eddie Wood s Little Splinters in which he sang and played multiple stringed instruments 7 Military service edit In 1942 Wood enlisted at age 17 in the United States Marine Corps just months after the attack on Pearl Harbor Assigned to the 2nd Defense Battalion he reached the rank of corporal before he was discharged in 1946 at age 21 9 Although Wood reportedly claimed to have faced strenuous combat including having his front teeth knocked out by a Japanese soldier his military records reveal that to be false apart from recovering bodies on Betio following the Battle of Tarawa and experiencing minor Japanese bombing raids on Betio and the Ellice Islands A recurring filariasis infection left him performing clerical work for the remainder of his enlistment His dental extractions were carried out over several months by Navy dentists unconnected to any combat Wood had false teeth that he would slip out from his mouth when he wanted to make his wife Kathy laugh showing her a big toothless grin 10 11 Wood later claimed that he feared being wounded in battle more than he feared being killed mainly because he was afraid a combat medic would discover him wearing a pink bra and panties under his uniform during the Battle of Tarawa 12 Career editMain article Ed Wood filmography Directing and screenwriting edit In 1947 Wood moved to Hollywood California where he wrote scripts and directed television pilots commercials 13 and several forgotten micro budget westerns most of which failed to sell Wood biographer Rudolph Grey states that Ed Wood made approximately 125 commercials for Story Ad films and approximately 30 commercials for Play Ad Films in addition to a few commercials for Pie Quick In 1948 Wood wrote produced directed and starred in The Casual Company a play derived from his own unpublished novel which was based on his service in the United States Marine Corps It opened at the Village Playhouse to negative reviews on October 25 14 That same year he wrote and directed a low budget western called Crossroads of Laredo with the aid of a young producer he met named Crawford John Thomas The film was shot silent and was not completed during Wood s lifetime In 1949 Wood and Thomas acted together in a play called The Blackguard Returns at the Gateway Theatre Wood played the Sheriff and Thomas was the villain Wood joined the Screen Actors Guild in 1951 and worked very briefly as a stuntman among other things 15 When writing Wood used a number of different pen names including Ann Gora in reference to Angora his favorite textile and Akdov Telmig the backwards spelling of his favorite drink the vodka gimlet 16 In 1952 Wood was introduced to actor Bela Lugosi by friend and fellow writer producer Alex Gordon Wood s roommate at the time who was later involved in creating American International Pictures Lugosi s son Bela Lugosi Jr has been among those who felt Wood exploited the senior Lugosi s stardom taking advantage of the fading actor when he could not afford to refuse any work 17 However most documents and interviews with other Wood associates in Nightmare of Ecstasy suggest that Wood and Lugosi were genuine friends and that Wood helped Lugosi through the worst days of his clinical depression and drug addiction Lugosi had become dependent on morphine as a way of controlling his debilitating sciatica over the years and was in a poor mental state caused by his recent divorce 16 Glen or Glenda edit In 1953 Wood wrote and directed the semi documentary film Glen or Glenda originally titled I Changed My Sex with producer George Weiss 18 The film starred Wood under the alias Daniel Davis as a transvestite his girlfriend Dolores Fuller Timothy Farrell Lyle Talbot Conrad Brooks and Bela Lugosi as the god like narrator scientist Fuller was shocked when she learned soon afterward that Wood actually was a transvestite 19 In 1953 Wood wrote and directed a stage show for Lugosi called The Bela Lugosi Review a take off on Dracula that was put on at the Silver Slipper in Las Vegas When Lugosi appeared on the TV show You Asked For It that same year he announced that Ed Wood was producing a Dr Acula TV show for him but it never materialized Wood acted as Lugosi s dialogue coach when he guest starred on The Red Skelton Show in 1954 alongside Lon Chaney Jr and Vampira aka Maila Nurmi 20 Jail Bait edit Wood co produced and directed a crime film Jail Bait 1954 originally titled The Hidden Face along with his co writer roommate Alex Gordon which starred Herbert Rawlinson as the plastic surgeon Lyle Talbot Dolores Fuller Timothy Farrell Theodora Thurman and Steve Reeves in one of his first acting jobs 21 Bela Lugosi was supposed to play the lead role of the plastic surgeon but was busy with another project when filming started and had to bow out His replacement Herbert Rawlinson died the day after he filmed his scenes Distributor Ron Ormond changed the title from The Hidden Face to Jail Bait just before releasing it 22 Bride of the Monster edit Wood produced and directed the horror film Bride of the Monster 1955 originally titled Bride of the Atom or The Monster of the Marshes based on an original story idea by Alex Gordon which he had originally called The Atomic Monster 23 It starred Bela Lugosi as the mad scientist Swedish wrestler Tor Johnson as mute manservant Lobo Paul Marco Billy Benedict Whitey of The Bowery Boys Harvey B Dunn and Loretta King Soon after the film was completed Bela Lugosi committed himself to the Norwalk State Hospital for three months to be treated for drug addiction The film premiered on May 11 1955 at the Paramount theater in Hollywood while Lugosi was institutionalized but a special screening was arranged for him upon his release pleasing him greatly The Violent Years edit Main article The Violent Years In 1956 Wood wrote the screenplay uncredited for the film The Violent Years originally titled Teenage Girl Gang which was directed by William M Morgan starring Playboy model Jean Moorhead Timothy Farrell and serial star I Stanford Jolley as a judge 24 Wood began filming a juvenile delinquency film called Rock and Roll Hell a k a Hellborn in 1956 but producer George Weiss pulled the plug on the project after only ten minutes of footage had been completed Wood s friend Conrad Brooks purchased the footage from Weiss and some scenes were later incorporated as stock footage into Wood s later Night of the Ghouls 1959 The entire ten minutes of footage was later released complete on VHS in 1993 as Hellborn Plan 9 from Outer Space edit Main article Plan 9 from Outer Space In late 1956 Wood co produced wrote and directed his science fiction opus Plan 9 from Outer Space his screenplay was originally titled Grave Robbers from Outer Space which featured Bela Lugosi in a small role Lugosi actually died in August 1956 before production even began but Wood inserted some footage into the film that he had previously shot of Lugosi in 1955 1956 The film also starred Tor Johnson Vampira Maila Nurmi Tom Mason who doubled for Lugosi in some scenes and the Amazing Criswell as the film s narrator Plan 9 premiered on March 15 1957 at the Carlton Theatre in Hollywood and later went into general release in July 1959 retitled Plan Nine from Outer Space in Texas and a number of other Southern states It was finally sold to late night television in 1961 thereby finding its audience over the years It became Wood s best known film and received a cult following in 1980 when Michael Medved declared this film the worst film ever made in his book The Golden Turkey Awards 25 Final Curtain edit In 1957 Wood wrote and directed a pilot for a suspense horror TV series to be called Portraits in Terror that ultimately failed to sell The pilot entitled Final Curtain sees an old and world weary actor wandering in an empty theatre imagining ghosts and a living mannequin haunting the backstage area until a la The Twilight Zone he realizes that he himself is dead The episode has no dialogue and Dudley Manlove narrates the thoughts of Duke Moore as the actor Bela Lugosi would ve starred in this short film had he lived Parts of the unsold pilot were later recycled for use in Wood s Night of the Ghouls 1959 The episode was thought to be lost until a complete print was located c 2010 It was remastered and given its first ever cinema showing in a theater in February 2012 Today it is widely available online and on DVD Night of the Ghouls edit In 1958 Wood wrote produced and directed Night of the Ghouls originally titled Revenge of the Dead starring Kenne Duncan Tor Johnson reprising his role as Lobo from Bride of the Monster Criswell Duke Moore and Valda Hansen 26 The film premiered at the Vista Theatre in Hollywood on a double bill with the Lana Turner movie Imitation of Life on March 17 1959 and then promptly vanished from circulation 27 For many years it was thought to be a lost film but distribution of the film was held up for 25 years because Wood hadn t paid the lab bill Video producer Wade Williams paid the bill and released the film on videocassette in 1984 copyrighting the film in his own name 28 In 1958 Wood also wrote the screenplay for The Bride and the Beast 1958 which was directed by Adrian Weiss Wood s screenplay was based on Adrian Weiss plot 29 Wood also wrote the screenplay as Peter LaRoche for a 1959 nudie cutie film called Revenge of the Virgins which was directed by Peter Perry Jr 30 The Sinister Urge edit Wood wrote and directed the exploitation film The Sinister Urge 1960 25 starring Kenne Duncan Duke Moore Dino Fantini Harvey B Dunn and Carl Anthony Filmed in just five days this is the last mainstream film Wood directed although it has grindhouse elements The film contains an eerily prescient 31 scene in which Carl Anthony s character states I look at this slush and I try to remember at one time I made good movies The scenes of the teenagers at the pizzeria had been previously shot in 1956 for Wood s unfinished juvenile delinquency film Rock and Roll Hell a k a Hellborn Also in 1960 Wood wrote the screenplay for The Peeper which he intended as a direct sequel to his 1960 film The Sinister Urge but it was never produced Wood also contributed to the plot of Jane Mann s 1961 screenplay Anatomy of a Psycho The film was directed by Mann s husband Boris Petroff 32 In 1963 Wood wrote the screenplay for Shotgun Wedding an exploitation film directed by Boris Petroff about hillbillies marrying child brides in the Ozarks Wood wrote the screenplay from a story idea by Jane Mann Wood s friend cameraman William C Thompson died around this time Orgy of the Dead edit Wood s 1965 transitional film Orgy of the Dead originally titled Nudie Ghoulies combined the horror and grindhouse skin flick genres Wood handled various production details while Stephen C Apostolof directed under the pseudonym A C Stephen The film begins with a recreation of the opening scene from Night of the Ghouls Criswell wearing one of Lugosi s old capes rises from his coffin to deliver an introduction taken almost word for word from the previous film Set in a misty graveyard the Lord of the Dead Criswell and his sexy consort the Black Ghoul a Vampira look alike preside over a series of macabre performances by topless dancers from beyond the grave recruited by Wood from local strip clubs The film also features a Wolf Man and a Mummy Together Wood and Apostolof went on to make a string of sexploitation films up to 1977 Wood co wrote the screenplays with Apostolof and occasionally even acted in some of the films In 1969 Wood appeared in The Photographer a k a Love Feast or Pretty Models All in a Row the first of two films produced by a Marine buddy Joseph F Robertson with Wood portraying a photographer using his position to engage in sexual antics with his models Wood had a smaller role in Robertson s second film Mrs Stone s Thing 1970 as a transvestite who spends his time at a party trying on lingerie in a bedroom In 1969 Wood adapted his own novel Mama s Diary written under the pseudonym Dick Trent into Operation Red Light for Jacques Descent Production Over half the footage was destroyed in a film processing accident and the film is considered lost 33 Venus Flytrap 1970 aka The Revenge of Dr X a US Japanese co production was based on an unproduced Ed Wood screenplay from the 1950s 34 The film was produced and directed by Sci Fi pulp writer Norman Earl Thomson The film involves a mad scientist who uses lightning to transform plants into man eating monsters Wood did not participate in the actual making of the movie Take It Out in Trade edit In 1970 Wood wrote and directed his own pornographic film Take It Out in Trade starring Duke Moore and Nona Carver Wood played a transvestite named Alecia in the film In 1970 Wood produced a 45 rpm record which featured Tor Johnson on one side reading The Day The Mummy Returned and Criswell reading The Final Curtain on the other It has never been determined whether or not the record was actually released but many of them were definitely produced 35 Necromania edit In 1971 he produced wrote and directed Necromania subtitled A Tale of Weird Love under the pseudonym Don Miller The film was an early entry to the new subgenre of hardcore pornographic films Thought lost for years it resurfaced in edited form on Mike Vraney s Something Weird imprint in the late 1980s and was re released later on DVD by Fleshbot Films in 2005 In the Rudolph Grey biography Nightmare of Ecstasy Maila Nurmi Vampira said she declined Wood s offer to do a nude scene sitting in a coffin for Necromania claiming she was recovering from a stroke at the time 36 From 1971 to 1972 Wood directed an unknown number of short X Rated films produced by the Swedish Erotica film company These were short 12 minute loops that were silent films with subtitles Wood was paid 100 for every ten loops he subtitled Wood s friends Kenne Duncan and Tor Johnson both passed away during this period Ed Wood was named executor of Kenne Duncan s estate and following Duncan s death Wood held a small memorial funeral for him with his wife and some friends in his backyard around the swimming pool where they eulogized the departed Western film star Wood s friend Duke Moore died in 1976 37 Throughout the 1970s Wood worked with his friend Stephen C Apostolof usually co writing scripts with him but also serving as an assistant director and an associate producer Together they had made Wood s Orgy of the Dead back in 1965 Wood s last known on screen appearance a dual role was in Apostolof s 1974 film Fugitive Girls a k a Five Loose Women in which he played both a gas station attendant called Pops and a sheriff on the fugitive women s trail At the time of his death Wood was working on a biographical screenplay based on the last years of actor Bela Lugosi to be called Lugosi Post Mortem which was supposed to star actor Peter Coe as Lugosi and Karl Johnson as his father Tor Johnson The nearly completed script was left behind the last time Wood was evicted and is presumed to have been discarded in the trash Wood was also working on a screenplay for a film called Venus De Milo a mystery that would explain the famous statue s missing arms 38 Technically Wood s last acting job was in the 1978 Stephen Apostolof film Hot Ice Ed Wood played a janitor in the film but his scene was cut out at the last minute due to his drunkenness on the set Wood died soon after this film was made in 1978 at age 54 Ironically his demise coincided with the end of the soft core porn industry c 1978 Apostolof himself stopped making films as well at this time Books and novels edit Main article Ed Wood bibliography Beginning in 1963 up until his death Wood wrote at least 80 lurid crime and sex novels in addition to hundreds of short stories and non fiction pieces for magazines and daily newspapers His novels include Black Lace Drag 1963 reissued in 1965 as Killer in Drag Orgy of the Dead 1965 Parisian Passions 1966 Watts the Difference 1966 Side Show Siren 1966 Drag Trade 1967 Watts After 1967 Devil Girls 1967 It Takes One to Know One 1967 Death of a Transvestite 1967 Suburbia Confidential 1967 Night Time Lez 1968 The Perverts 1968 Bye Bye Broadie 1968 Raped in the Grass 1968 Sex Shrouds and Caskets 1968 Love of the Dead 1968 The Sexecutives 1968 Young Black and Gay 1968 Hell Chicks 1968 The Gay Underworld 1968 Carnival Piece 1969 Toni Black Tigress 1969 Mama s Diary 1969 To Make a Homo 1969 Mary Go Round 1969 The Sexual Woman 1971 The Only House 1972 A Study of Fetishes and Fantasies 1973 Tales for a Sexy Night Part 1 and 2 1973 Sex Star 1973 Death of a Transvestite Hooker 1974 Forced Entry 1974 and TV Lust 1977 39 In 1965 Wood wrote the quasi memoir Hollywood Rat Race which was only published years later in 1998 In it Wood advises new writers to just keep on writing Even if your story gets worse you ll get better and also recounts tales of dubious authenticity such as how he and Bela Lugosi entered the world of nightclub cabaret Thirty two short stories known to be written by Wood he sometimes wrote under pseudonyms such as Ann Gora and Dr T K Peters are collected in an anthology Blood Splatters Quickly published by OR Books in 2014 40 Unrealized projects edit Dr Acula Wood was supposed to write and direct this proposed 1953 TV series in which Bela Lugosi was supposed to play a mysterious investigator of the supernatural to be produced by Ted Allan Lugosi mentioned it when he appeared that year on You Asked for It 41 Sequel toMother Riley Meets the Vampire Lugosi was offered the lead role in a proposed 1953 sequel to the Mother Riley comedy film he made in England in 1951 provided he travel back to England to appear in it This sequel was never made however as Lugosi was too ill at the time to travel In 1953 Ed Wood s friend producer Alex Gordon proposed creating an extended version of the 1951 film to be called King Robot which would incorporate newly filmed footage of Lugosi The project was abandoned since by that time Lugosi appeared too ill to match the earlier footage 42 The Six Arms of Siva This was a 1953 adventure novel written by Walter C Brown which Wood and Lugosi were considering buying the film rights to but the deal fell through 43 3 D Remake ofDracula 1931 Ed Wood and teenage Lugosi fan Richard Sheffield petitioned Universal Studios in 1953 to make a Color 3 D remake of the 1931 classic Dracula starring Lugosi in the lead Although they gathered hundreds of signatures nothing came of their efforts The Vampire s Tomb This was a planned July 1954 horror film starring Bela Lugosi as the Dr Acula character again The cast would also have included Loretta King Bobby Jordan of The Bowery Boys Dolores Fuller Lyle Talbot Duke Moore Tom Keene and a Vampira lookalike named Devila Wood s plot was very similar to that of Tod Browning s London After Midnight only with a female vampire 44 Wood shelved this project and filmed Bride of the Monster instead Wood however did film some test footage of Lugosi wearing his Dracula cape in a local graveyard for this project which became part of the stock footage which was later incorporated into Wood s 1957 Plan 9 From Outer Space film 45 The Bowery Boys Meet The Monsters Lugosi was initially considered for the role of the mad scientist in this 1954 horror comedy but he was replaced in the cast by John Dehner at the last minute Bela Lugosi Comics In March 1954 Wood tried to interest a number of comic book publishers in a monthly Bela Lugosi title to no avail Among the companies he contacted were DC Comics Dell Fiction House Ziff Davis Quality and Toby Press Doctor Voodoo a k a Voodoo Doctor A projected 1954 horror film similar in plot to the 1934 Universal film The Black Cat that was supposed to have starred both Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff but Allied Artists rejected the script It is said Karloff really wanted no part of the project anyway 45 The Terror Radio Program Wood wrote a list of story ideas for this proposed 1954 15 minute radio program which was supposed to star Bela Lugosi but it never materialized The Ghoul Goes West or The Phantom Ghoul Wood worked on this script for two years and had planned to produce it in Color Widescreen and possibly 3 D It was a proposed 1955 Western Horror film that would have starred Gene Autry Bela Lugosi Tor Johnson Lon Chaney Jr and John Carradine with Harold Daniels slated to direct The plot was very similar to that of Bride of the Monster only in a Western setting Gene Autry dropped out and Wood tried to replace him with either Bob Steele or Ken Maynard to no avail Lugosi was reading the script the whole time he was confined to the Norwalk State Hospital in 1955 where he was being treated for drug addiction Coincidentally Lugosi Chaney Tor Johnson and Carradine all appeared together the following year in The Black Sleep a project that did not involve Ed Wood 45 Repeat Performance This was a 1956 movie script that was written by Richard Sheffield a Hollywood teenager who was a close personal friend of Bela Lugosi He sold the script to Ed Wood for 1 00 but the film was never made since Wood was unable to interest financiers The plot involved a poor retired actor of horror films who is cast aside and rejected by the four film producers he once worked for and he winds up murdering all four of them in a gruesome manner similar to the way he was killed in many of his horror films This may have been Wood s inspiration for his 1958 proposal to Sam Arkoff which Wood claimed was stolen from him and later became AIP s How To Make A Monster see below under 1958 46 Rock and Rock Hell or Hellborn Wood s version of Rebel Without a Cause it was supposed to have starred Conrad Brooks Duke Moore Tom Mason and Wood himself to be produced by George Weiss It began shooting in June 1956 but Weiss decided to abandon the project and sold the ten minutes of footage they shot to Conrad Brooks Footage from this film was later incorporated into Wood s 1959 Night of the Ghouls 45 The Dead Never Die Criswell and Paul Marco came up with the story for this 1957 project which Wood was slated to direct It would ve starred Criswell Paul Marco Bunny Breckinridge and Vampira Maila Nurmi but it never got off the ground 45 How To Make a Monster Wood s widow Kathy claimed in a 1992 interview that her husband always felt that the idea for How to Make a Monster 1958 film was stolen from him by AIP producer Sam Arkoff She said Eddie condemned Arkoff he really hated him Eddie gave them a script for approval and they changed the characters a little bit around Eddie had written it for Lugosi circa 1956 It was about this old horror actor who couldn t get work any more so he took his vengeance out on the studio They changed it to a make up man who takes revenge on a studio Arkoff always denied Wood s claim was true stating Herman Cohen originated the entire project 47 Ghouls of the Moon Another attempt to build a horror film around a reel of unused silent footage that had been taken of Lugosi before he died in 1956 but nothing came of it since by 1958 Wood discovered the film in the can had degraded into an unusable sludge due to bad storage conditions Masquerade into Eternity A 1959 Cold War political drama that Wood was supposed to write and direct about a troupe of actors who get stranded in post Revolution Cuba it was to be produced by Ben Frommer who was slated to play a Communist Colonel but the project fell through 48 The Peeper 1960 Wood wrote the screenplay for The Peeper intending it to be a direct sequel to his 1960 film The Sinister Urge film but it was never produced House of Horrors Kenne Duncan and Tor Johnson were supposed to star in this 1960 film which never materialized Kenne Duncan was to play a mad artist who paints pictures of kidnapped women he confines in a dungeon while Tor played a Lobo like henchman 48 Portraits in Terror A 1960 made for TV trilogy consisting of three episodes it was to include The Final Curtain The Night the Banshee Cried and Into My Grave all written and directed by Wood but the project fell through 48 Attack of the Giant Salami A proposed 1964 horror film spoof that would ve starred Boris Karloff Joe E Brown and Valda Hansen Wood was inspired by the 1963 Brown Karloff collaboration The Comedy of Terrors The film was never made probably due to Karloff s disinterest Tangier A 1966 proposed action adventure TV series that was supposed to be produced by Wood s friend Stephen Apostoloff Wood wrote a sample screenplay for the series which was never produced 48 69 Rue Pigalle In 1966 Stephen Apostoloff was set to produce and direct a film called 69 Rue Pigalle based on Ed Wood s novel Parisian Passions but the financing never materialized The plot was supposed to be about a transvestite who solves a series of murders in Paris and Lon Chaney Jr was supposed to have been in the cast 49 The Enchanted Isle An unfilmed 1966 Ed Wood screenplay for a film that was supposed to feature Lon Chaney Jr Dana Andrews and John Ireland about a Mafia princess stranded on a South Sea island and a mystery involving black pearls Wood originally wrote the screenplay back in 1954 and had tried at that time to interest producer Ron Ormond in the project unsuccessfully 48 Devil Girls An unrealized 1967 Crime Drama about a drug smuggling teenage girl gang who hang out at a seedy hamburger joint Tor Johnson was to have played the brutish Chief a goon who works for a retired race car driver named Jockey It was based on Wood s eponymous novel 49 The Life of Mickey Cohen A 1967 proposed Crime Drama Wood was working on in which Paul Marco was supposed to play the infamous gangster a full decade after Marco appeared in Plan 9 From Outer Space 49 At this point Wood s career became primarily focused on the pornographic industry The Day the Mummies Danced A 1976 unproduced Ed Wood script that was supposed to be Wood s long awaited return to directing horror films it was set to star John Agar a long time drinking buddy of Wood s Aldo Ray and Dudley Manlove who was also supposed to produce the film The filming was set to take place in Guanajuato Mexico at the famous Mexican mummies exhibit there but it never happened 49 Wood s list of unrealized film projects also included scripts called Piranhas 1957 Trial by Terror 1958 The Peeper a proposed 1960 sequel to The Sinister Urge Silent Night 1961 Joaquin Murieta a 1965 biopic about the infamous bandit of the Old West Mice on a Cold Cellar Floor 1973 Epitaph for the Town Drunk 1973 To Kill a Saturday Night 1973 which was set to star John Carradine The Teachers 1973 The Basketballers 1973 The Airline Hostesses 1973 I Awoke Early the Day I Died 1974 a rewrite of Wood s 1961 Silent Night Heads No Tails 1974 a take off on Sweeney Todd and Shoot Seven 1977 Wood s proposed musical based on the St Valentine s Day Massacre 50 Personal life editRelationships and marriages edit Wood was in a long term relationship with actress and songwriter Dolores Fuller whom he met in late 1952 She was in the process of divorcing her first husband Donald Fuller with whom she had had two sons Wood and Fuller shared an apartment for three years and Wood cast her in three of his films Glen or Glenda Jail Bait and in a very brief cameo in Bride of the Monster Fuller later said she initially had no idea that Wood was a crossdresser and was mortified when she saw Wood dressed as a woman for the first time in Glen or Glenda The couple broke up in 1955 after Wood cast another actress for the lead role in Bride of the Monster Wood originally wrote the part for Fuller but later reduced her part to a brief cameo appearance and because of Wood s excessive drinking Fuller relocated to New York City where she embarked on a successful songwriting career writing for famous singers like Elvis Presley and Nat King Cole 51 Fuller died on May 9 2011 at age 88 In 1956 soon after his breakup with Fuller Wood married actress Norma McCarty McCarty appeared as Edie the airplane stewardess in Plan 9 from Outer Space and was recently divorced with two sons Mike and John McCarty from her earlier marriage The marriage took Wood s friends by surprise one night Wood called everyone to the sound stage for what they thought was a cast party but when everyone was present Wood brought out a huge wedding cake and a preacher and announced he was getting married The marriage ended approximately one month later after McCarty discovered that Wood was a crossdresser and while it has been reported that their marriage was annulled 52 according to film archivist Wade Williams they neither annulled the marriage nor legally divorced McCarty died on June 27 2014 at age 93 53 54 55 Wood moved in with Paul Marco for a short while after McCarty left him Later in 1956 Wood met Kathy O Hara in a bar one night where he was drinking with Bela Lugosi O Hara fell in love with Wood immediately they were married in Las Vegas a short while later and Wood always considered O Hara his legal wife despite the fact that his first marriage had not been legally annulled Wood and O Hara remained together until Wood s death in December 1978 56 Kathy O Hara never got along with his mother Lillian calling her a strict disciplinarian who damaged Wood psychologically from early childhood Wood occasionally sent money to his mom in the mail without O Hara s knowledge 57 Alleged daughter edit Ed Wood was shocked to learn he had fathered a child out of wedlock after World War II with a young woman he had dated while he was in the Marines According to Conrad Brooks Wood and his wife Kathy only met the young woman also named Kathy in 1967 when she was already 21 years old Born on May 23 1946 the girl had been living in Lancaster California and had managed to trace her father s whereabouts Wood s mother Lillian said she had been contacted by the girl back in 1963 when she sent his mother a photo and introduced herself to Lillian as her granddaughter Lillian said she sent the girl a watch for her graduation in 1964 but never heard back from her There is a photo of the young woman in Rudolph Grey s biography on Ed Wood 37 She visited the Woods and stayed over at their house for a couple of days but apparently the two Kathys did not get along well In fact Wood s wife physically threw her out of the house on the second day when she found her sleeping on their sofa 37 Wood s wife Kathy never believed that the girl was Wood s daughter saying in an interview There was never any proof only the woman s statement on a birth certificate Wood told Kathy that the woman he had sex with in 1946 used to sleep around regularly with 10 or 20 other Marines at the base so he probably wasn t the girl s father She said She s not your daughter that bitch lied to you The father could have been anyone There s only her accusation 37 Actress Valda Hansen said I met Ed s daughter at his house in the Valley She looked just like him Beautiful delicate Green eyes dark chocolate brown hair She was very sweet Art director Bob Derteno who worked with Wood on Orgy of the Dead said that Wood later travelled to attend his daughter s wedding in New York and was later told that he had become a grandfather Cross dressing edit In Rudolph Grey s 1992 biography Nightmare of Ecstasy The Life and Art of Edward D Wood Jr Wood s wife Kathy O Hara recalls that Wood told her that his mother dressed him in girls clothing as a child 3 O Hara stated that Wood s transvestitism was not a sexual inclination but rather a neomaternal comfort derived mainly from angora fabric angora is featured in many of Wood s films 58 Even in his later years Wood was not shy about going out in public dressed in drag as Shirley his female alter ego a name that appeared in many of his screenplays and stories 59 In his partly autobiographical film Glen or Glenda the heterosexual Wood takes pains to emphasize that a male transvestite is not automatically also a homosexual Wood directed many of his pornographic films in drag but usually would not take the time to shave which made for a bizarre sight according to his friends Wood always swore that he had never had a single homosexual relationship in his life and was even considered quite a womanizer by many of his acquaintances He once said that his greatest fantasy was to be reincarnated as a gorgeous blonde 60 Later years editDuring the last 15 years of his life Wood depended almost entirely on writing pornography to earn a living receiving about 1 000 per novel which he spent almost immediately on alcohol at the local liquor store Friends have stated how in his final years he eventually stopped bathing and that his apartment became so filthy that he eventually would not allow friends to come over and visit because he knew they would be horrified to see how unkempt it had become Paul Marco said Wood was constantly moaning My God I ve given everything away I should be a millionaire I should have a million bucks right now 61 Actor John Agar an alcoholic himself was drinking at Wood s apartment one day in the late 1960s when the afternoon news program erroneously announced Agar s obituary Wood called the studio and told them that Agar was not dead He told them He s alive he s sitting right here with me now The story was corrected shortly thereafter 62 Ed Wood and his wife were routinely evicted from their apartments for non payment of rent Each time they moved Wood would immediately establish credit with the liquor store nearest his new address Their last apartment was in a high crime ghetto area at the corner of Yucca and Cahuenga in Hollywood inhabited by drug addicts gamblers and prostitutes Wood who regularly pawned his typewriters for cash was mugged regularly when he would stumble down to the liquor store Eventually he had his publisher send his paychecks directly to the various liquor store owners so that he would not have to carry cash when he went there The Woods apartment was always in danger of being burglarized One night a transvestite was beaten to death in the hallway just outside Wood s apartment door and the sound of gunshots outside the building was a nightly occurrence 63 According to friends Wood and his wife often became violent when they drank Stories abound of the two beating each other Wood sometimes knocked Kathy unconscious 64 Criswell commented once I always had the feeling that one would kill the other And if you were there the killer would say you did it Nonetheless years after Wood s death his wife always professed to love him dearly 63 Bela Lugosi biographer Robert Cremer interviewed Wood once in his Yucca apartment for his 1976 book Lugosi The Man Behind the Cape two years before Wood died Cremer said Wood began the interview sober but quickly became intoxicated as the interview proceeded Cremer said He started getting really angry at me because he felt he was the person who should be writing the book He went out in the kitchen grabbed a bottle of Wild Turkey He smashed the bottle on the kitchen counter and then came after me with it He lunged at me but he was so drunk I just pushed him against the wall and he collapsed I just walked out the door and said Okay Ed I guess that was our last interview I ll see you 65 Death editBy 1978 Wood s depression had worsened as he and his wife Kathy O Hara had both succumbed to alcoholism They were evicted from their Hollywood apartment on Yucca Street on Thursday December 7 1978 in total poverty by two sheriff s deputies called by their landlord for failure to pay their overdue rent and had to leave behind all of his scrapbooks and unfinished screenplays which the landlord allegedly threw into a garbage dumpster Wood s large collection of his early commercials were also thrown out following his eviction The couple moved into the small North Hollywood apartment of their friend actor Peter Coe located at 5635 Laurel Canyon Boulevard Wood spent the weekend drinking vodka and desperately calling old friends for money but to no avail Around noon on Sunday December 10 Wood felt ill and went to lie down in Coe s bedroom while Coe O Hara and a few friends were watching a football game on TV From the bedroom he asked O Hara to bring him a drink which she refused to do A few minutes later he yelled out Kathy I can t breathe a plea O Hara ignored as she later said she was tired of Wood bossing her around After hearing no movement in the bedroom for twenty minutes O Hara sent a female friend to check on Wood who discovered him dead on the bed from a heart attack O Hara later said I still remember when I went into that room that afternoon and he was dead his eyes and mouth were wide open I ll never forget the look in his eyes He clutched at the sheets It looked like he d seen Hell 66 Wood was cremated at the Utter McKinley mortuary and his ashes were scattered at sea 67 Paul Marco Kathy O Hara David DeMering and Criswell attended Wood s makeshift memorial service which was held at Peter Coe s apartment following the cremation Marco recalled how devastated Kathy was at the time 68 Legacy and homages editAt the time of his death Wood s name and career had become so obscure that most local Los Angeles newspapers including the entertainment magazine Variety did not run an obituary about him The 1982 film It Came from Hollywood featured a Tribute to Ed Wood segment In 1986 in an essay paying homage to Wood in Incredibly Strange Films Jim Morton wrote Eccentric and individualistic Edward D Wood Jr was a man born to film Lesser men if forced to make movies under the conditions Wood faced would have thrown up their hands in defeat 69 In 1994 director Tim Burton released the biopic Ed Wood starring Johnny Depp in the title role and Martin Landau who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Bela Lugosi It also won an Academy Award for Best Makeup for Rick Baker Conrad Brooks appeared in the movie in a cameo role as Barman along with Gregory Walcott in the role of a potential backer The film premiered on September 30 1994 just ten days before what would have been Wood s 70th birthday Despite receiving mass critical acclaim the movie did poorly at the box office however it has since developed a cult following In 1996 Reverend Steve Galindo of Seminole Oklahoma created a legally recognized religion with Wood as its official savior 70 Founded as a joke the Church of Ed Wood now boasts more than 3 500 baptized followers Woodites as Galindo s followers are called celebrate Woodmas on October 10 which was Wood s birthday Numerous parties and concerts are held worldwide to celebrate Woodmas On October 4 71 5 2003 72 horror host Mr Lobo was canonized as the Patron Saint of late night movie hosts and insomniacs in the Church of Ed Wood 71 72 In 1997 the University of Southern California began holding an annual Ed Wood Film Festival in which student teams are challenged to write film and edit an Ed Wood inspired short film based on a preassigned theme Past themes have included Rebel Without a Bra 2004 What s That in Your Pocket 2005 and Slippery When Wet 2006 73 Documentaries edit The Incredibly Strange Film Show Season 2 Episode 4 presented by Jonathan Ross It was first broadcast Oct 13 1989 Guests interviewed included actors Vampira aka Maila Nurmi Norma McCarty Paul Marco Dolores Fuller biographer Rudolph Grey and critic Harry Medved Flying Saucers Over Hollywood The Plan 9 Companion was released in 1992 This exhaustive two hour documentary by Mark Patrick Carducci chronicles the making of Plan 9 from Outer Space and features interviews with Vampira Paul Marco Conrad Brooks Joe Dante Valda Hansen artist Drew Friedman Forrest J Ackerman Gary Gerani Sam Raimi Kathy Wood Carl Anthony Harry Thomas Gregory Walcott Stephen Apostolof Martha Mason Norma McCarty Dolores Fuller et al In 2000 Image Entertainment included the documentary on the DVD reissue of Plan 9 from Outer Space in a two disc set with Robot Monster The Haunted World of Edward D Wood Jr written and directed by Brett Thompson came out in 1995 74 This 90 minute documentary about the life and films of Ed Wood features interviews with Wood s friends and co workers and closely resembles Wood s own style albeit with slightly better miniatures People interviewed included Vampira Bela Lugosi Jr Dolores Fuller Paul Marco Conrad Brooks Loretta King Lyn Lemon Norma McCarty and her son Mike Mona McKinnon Lyle Talbot Gregory Walcott Crawford John Thomas makeup man Harry Thomas and Ed Wood himself Dad Made Dirty Movies 2011 Wood biographer Rudolph Grey produced this one hour documentary about the life and career of 1960s porn film producer Stephen Apostolof detailing his x rated co productions with Wood 75 Lost films edit Wood s 1972 film The Undergraduate was a lost film as was his 1970 film Take It Out in Trade but they both eventually turned up years later Both films in their entirety are now available on DVD An 80 minute print of Take It Out in Trade was discovered and publicly exhibited at Anthology Film Archives in New York City in September 2014 76 77 Silent outtakes from the film were released by Something Weird Video 2 Wood s 1971 film Necromania was also believed lost for years until an edited version resurfaced at a yard sale in 1992 followed in 2001 by a complete unedited print A complete print of Wood s lost 1972 pornographic film The Young Marrieds was discovered in 2004 It was released by Alpha Blue Archives in July 2014 as a part of the four DVD set The Lost Sex Films of Ed Wood Jr 77 Wood is said to have filmed some scenes of Lon Chaney Jr in a werewolf costume in Hollywood in 1964 that were said to have been later incorporated into Jerry Warren s film Face of the Screaming Werewolf 1965 Chaney biographer Don G Smith however has stated that this story was never substantiated 78 Collaborations edit Actors edit Glen orGlenda CrossroadAvenger Jail Bait Bride ofthe Monster FinalCurtain Plan 9 fromOuter Space Night ofthe Ghouls TheSinisterUrge Take It Outin Trade Crossroads ofLaredo TotalCriswell nbsp N nbsp N 2Carl Anthony nbsp N nbsp N 2Conrad Brooks nbsp N nbsp N nbsp N nbsp N nbsp N nbsp N 6Kenne Duncan nbsp N nbsp N nbsp N 3Harvey B Dunn nbsp N nbsp N nbsp N nbsp N 4Timothy Farrell nbsp N nbsp N 2Dolores Fuller nbsp N nbsp N nbsp N nbsp N 4Tor Johnson nbsp N nbsp N nbsp N 3Tom Keene nbsp N nbsp N 2Bela Lugosi nbsp N nbsp N nbsp N 3Dudley Manlove nbsp N nbsp N 2Paul Marco nbsp N nbsp N nbsp N 3Tom Mason nbsp N nbsp N 2Duke Moore nbsp N nbsp N nbsp N nbsp N nbsp N nbsp N 6Bud Osborne nbsp N nbsp N nbsp N nbsp N 4Lyle Talbot nbsp N nbsp N nbsp N nbsp N 4Ed Wood nbsp N nbsp N nbsp N nbsp N nbsp N nbsp N 6See also editList of films considered the worst B movie Z movie Tanio Boccia nicknamed the Italian Ed Wood Jesus Franco nicknamed the European Ed Wood 79 80 Sam Singer nicknamed the Ed Wood of Animation John Waters William C Thompson was Wood s cinematographer for all but Take It Out in Trade References edit a b Rudolph Grey Nightmare of Ecstasy The Life and Art of Edward D Wood Jr 1992 pg 197 ISBN 978 0 922915 24 8 a b Craig 2009 p 276 a b c Grey 1994 p 16 Benshoff 1997 p 157 Weaver 2004 p 358 Georgievska Marija March 29 2017 Ed Wood Known as the Worst Director of All Time is today celebrated by many including the movie director Tim Burton The Vintage News Retrieved May 18 2020 a b Bendix III Pablo Dreaming In Angora The Life and Films of Ed Wood Lulu Press 2015 Meredith Jason C A 2020 Lost to Bias Gender fluidity queer themes and challenges to heteronormativity in the work of Edward D Wood Jr Unpublished master s thesis Stockholm University DiVA Portal Dunn Brad January 1 2009 When They Were 22 100 Famous People at the Turning Point in Their Lives Andrews McMeel Publishing ISBN 978 0 7407 8681 5 Pontolillo 2017 p 25 Pontolillo 2017 p 30 37 Rudolph Grey Nightmare of Ecstasy The Life and Art of Edward D Wood Jr 1992 pg 117 ISBN 978 0 922915 24 8 http www edwoodonline com thehunt COMMERCIALS html Grey 1994 pp 23 24 Rudolph Grey Nightmare of Ecstasy The Life and Art of Edward D Wood Jr 1992 pg 171 ISBN 978 0 922915 24 8 a b Patrick Colin October 11 2010 10 Absurd Facts About the Worst Director of All Time Retrieved August 14 2016 Thompson Brett 1996 The Haunted World of Edward D Wood Jr Documentary Wood Thomas Pictures Rhodes Gary D 1997 Lugosi His Life in Films on Stage and in the Hearts of Horror Lovers Jefferson North Carolina McFarland pp 141 142 ISBN 0 7864 0257 1 Benshoff 1997 pp 160 1 Rudolph Grey Nightmare of Ecstasy The Life and Art of Edward D Wood Jr 1992 pg 172 ISBN 978 0 922915 24 8 Newman Adam May 4 2000 Muscleman Steve Reeves Dies The Washington Post Washington DC Washington Post Company Retrieved May 18 2020 Rhodes Gary Don 2015 Lugosi His Life in Films on Stage and in the Hearts of Horror Lovers McFarland p 225 ISBN 978 0 7864 2765 9 Alex Gordon Autry com Retrieved November 9 2013 The Violent Years publicdomainmovie net Retrieved June 19 2020 a b Craig Rob 2009 The Sinister Urge 1960 Ed Wood Mad Genius A Critical Study of the Films McFarland amp Company ISBN 978 0786454235 Night of the Ghouls 1959 BFI Archived from the original on October 26 2020 Retrieved May 18 2020 Rudolph Grey Nightmare of Ecstasy The Life and Art of Edward D Wood Jr 1992 pg 206 ISBN 978 0 922915 24 8 Rudolph Grey Nightmare of Ecstasy The Life and Art of Edward D Wood Jr 1992 pg 206 ISBN 978 0 922915 24 8 AFI Catalog Rudolph Grey Nightmare of Ecstasy The Life and Art of Edward D Wood Jr 1992 ISBN 978 0 922915 24 8 Craig 2009 p 208 Rudolph Grey Nightmare of Ecstasy The Life and Art of Edward D Wood Jr 1992 ISBN 978 0 922915 24 8 Dead 2 Rights Ed Wood Wednesdays Greg Dziawer on Operation Redlight 1969 November 11 2015 Weldon 1996 p 464 Rudolph Grey Nightmare of Ecstasy The Life and Art of Edward D Wood Jr 1992 pg 173 ISBN 978 0 922915 24 8 Grey 1994 p 135 a b c d Rudolph Grey Nightmare of Ecstasy The Life and Art of Edward D Wood Jr 1992 pg 115 ISBN 978 0 922915 24 8 Rudolph Grey Nightmare of Ecstasy The Life and Art of Edward D Wood Jr 1992 pg 220 ISBN 978 0 922915 24 8 Rudolph Grey Nightmare of Ecstasy The Life and Art of Edward D Wood Jr 1992 pg 175 194 ISBN 978 0 922915 24 8 Blood Splatters Quickly Rudolph Grey Nightmare of Ecstasy The Life and Art of Edward D Wood Jr 1992 p 215 ISBN 978 0 922915 24 8 Lugosi His Life on Film Stage and in the Hearts of Horror Lovers by Gary D Rhodes 2006 McFarland amp Company ISBN 978 0786427659 Bela Lugosi Dreams and Nightmares by Gary D Rhodes with Richard Sheffield 2007 Collectables Alpha Video Publishers ISBN 0 9773798 1 7 Bela Lugosi Dreams and Nightmares by Gary D Rhodes with Richard Sheffield 2007 Collectables Alpha Video Publishers pg 176 ISBN 0 9773798 1 7 a b c d e Rudolph Grey Nightmare of Ecstasy The Life and Art of Edward D Wood Jr 1992 pg 216 ISBN 978 0 922915 24 8 Bela Lugosi Dreams and Nightmares by Gary D Rhodes with Richard Sheffield 2007 Collectables Alpha Video Publishers pg 209 ISBN 0 9773798 1 7 Rudolph Grey Nightmare of Ecstasy The Life and Art of Edward D Wood Jr 1992 pg 62 ISBN 978 0 922915 24 8 a b c d e Rudolph Grey Nightmare of Ecstasy The Life and Art of Edward D Wood Jr 1992 pg 217 ISBN 978 0 922915 24 8 a b c d Rudolph Grey Nightmare of Ecstasy The Life and Art of Edward D Wood Jr 1992 pg 218 ISBN 978 0 922915 24 8 Rudolph Grey Nightmare of Ecstasy The Life and Art of Edward D Wood Jr 1992 pg 57 ISBN 978 0 922915 24 8 McLellan Dennis May 11 2011 Dolores Fuller dies at 88 actress dated director Ed Wood Los Angeles Times Retrieved June 4 2013 Grey 1994 p 57 Rudolph Grey Nightmare of Ecstasy The Life and Art of Edward D Wood Jr 1992 pg 57 ISBN 978 0 922915 24 8 Barnes Mike August 18 2014 Actress Norma McCarty Ed Wood s Wife Dies at 93 The Hollywood Reporter But film archivist Wade Williams who told THR that he now owns the copyright to five Wood films said he had close ties to all three and that McCarty legally remained Wood s wife until the filmmaker s death in December 1978 Holman Jordyn August 18 2014 Norma McCarty Actress and Wife of Ed Wood Dies at 93 variety com Retrieved March 3 2015 Kathy Wood Variety July 16 2006 Retrieved September 25 2011 Rudolph Grey Nightmare of Ecstasy The Life and Art of Edward D Wood Jr 1992 pg 116 ISBN 978 0 922915 24 8 Grey 1994 p 141 Craig 2009 p 108 Rudolph Grey Nightmare of Ecstasy The Life and Art of Edward D Wood Jr 1992 ISBN 978 0 922915 24 8 Rudolph Grey Nightmare of Ecstasy The Life and Art of Edward D Wood Jr 1992 pp 144 145 ISBN 978 0 922915 24 8 Rudolph Grey Nightmare of Ecstasy The Life and Art of Edward D Wood Jr 1992 pp 144 145 ISBN 978 0 922915 24 8 a b Rudolph Grey Nightmare of Ecstasy The Life and Art of Edward D Wood Jr 1992 p 145 ISBN 978 0 922915 24 8 Rudolph Grey Nightmare of Ecstasy The Life and Art of Edward D Wood Jr 1992 p 145 ISBN 978 0 922915 24 8 Rudolph Grey Nightmare of Ecstasy The Life and Art of Edward D Wood Jr 1992 p 122 ISBN 978 0 922915 24 8 Ford 1999 p 81 Grey 1994 p 160 Rudolph Grey Nightmare of Ecstasy The Life and Art of Edward D Wood Jr 1992 pg 160 ISBN 978 0 922915 24 8 Morton 1986 p 158 Oh My God God Is the Producer of Our Lives But We Are the Directors Huffpost Entertainment November 18 2009 a b ABOUT MR LOBO Cinema Insomnia Archived from the original on March 28 2010 Retrieved July 20 2010 a b Reverend Steve Galindo December 23 2003 Lesson 19 The First Saints of Woodism Church of Ed Wood Retrieved July 20 2010 USC Events Calendar Web app usc edu Archived from the original on December 15 2012 Retrieved November 9 2013 Young Deborah August 7 1995 The Haunted World of Edward D Wood Jr Variety Retrieved May 24 2021 1 Elliott Tim 2011 09 09 Review Dad Made Dirty Movies smh com au Film Screenings Film Calendar September 2014 anthologyfilmarchives org a b Piepenburg Erik August 28 2014 Wild Rides to Inner Space nytimes com Retrieved March 3 2015 Smith Don G 1996 Lon Chaney Jr McFarland ISBN 0 7864 0120 6 Remembering Jesus Franco the Spanish Master of 1970s Softcore Horror October 30 2014 Obsession The Films of Jess Franco First Edition by Lucas and Peter Blumenstock Balbo Editors Howard Vernon Foreword Carlos Aguilar Jack Taylor William Berger Monica Swinn Jess Franco Contributors Search for rare books ABAA Other references editBenshoff Harry M 1997 Monsters in the Closet Homosexuality and the Horror Film Manchester University Press ISBN 0 7190 4473 1 Craig Rob 2009 Ed Wood Mad Genius A Critical Study of the Films McFarland ISBN 978 0 7864 5423 5 Ford Luke 1999 A History of X 100 Years of Sex in Film Prometheus Books ISBN 1 61592 631 3 Gerstner David A ed 2006 Routledge International Encyclopedia of Queer Culture Routledge ISBN 0 415 30651 5 Grey Rudolph 1994 Nightmare of Ecstasy The Life and Art of Edward D Wood Jr Feral House ISBN 0 922915 24 5 Hoberman J Rosenbaum Jonathan 2009 Midnight Movies Basic Books ISBN 978 0 7867 4700 9 Morton Jim 1986 Juno Andrea Vale V eds Incredibly Strange Films 1 ed San Francisco California RE Search ISBN 0 940642 09 3 Pontolillo James 2017 The Unknown War of Edward D Wood Jr 1942 1946 Self published ISBN 978 1 5488 6947 2 Weaver Tom ed 2004 It Came From Horrorwood Interviews With Moviemakers In The Science Fiction And Horror Tradition McFarland ISBN 0 7864 2069 3 Weldon Michael 1996 The Psychotronic Video Guide Titan Books ISBN 1 85286 770 1 Further reading editConway Rob 2009 Ed Wood Mad Genius A Critical Study of the Films McFarland ISBN 978 0 7864 3955 3 Medved Harry and Michael 1980 The Golden Turkey Awards Perigree Books ISBN 0 399 50463 X pp 168 169 176 181 204 208 211 217External links editEd Wood at IMDb The Hunt for Edward D Wood Jr Exhaustive guide to Wood s films and their commercial releases Ed Wood Jr s magazine work Includes adult images Ed Wood A Neighbor on the Boulevard of Broken Dreams Ed Wood s TV pilot Final Curtain Ed Wood s lost TV pilot Final Curtain Book page for Blood Splatthharvers Quickly The Collected Stories Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Ed Wood amp oldid 1180207699, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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