Ed Wood

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 D. Wood Jr.
File:Ed Wood photo.jpg
Born	Edward Davis Wood Jr. (1924-10-10)October 10, 1924 Poughkeepsie, New York, U.S.
Died	December 10, 1978(1978-12-10) (aged 54) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Heart attack
Other names	Daniel Davis, Ann Gora
Occupation(s)	Screenwriter, film director, film producer, actor, author, and editor
Years active	1947–1978
Spouse(s)	Norma McCarty ​ (m. 1955⁠–⁠1956)​ (annulled) Kathy O'Hara ​ (m. 1959⁠–⁠1978)​
Military career
Allegiance	United States
Service / branch	United States Marine Corps
Years of service	1942–46
Rank	Corporal
Battles / wars	World War II: Guadalcanal Campaign Battle of Tarawa

Edward Davis "Ed" Wood Jr. (October 10, 1924 – December 10, 1978) was an American screenwriter, director, producer, actor, author and film editor.

In the 1950s, Wood made a number of low-budget science fiction, horror and cowboy genre films, intercutting stock footage. In the 1960s and 1970s, he made sexploitation movies and wrote over 80 pulp crime, horror and sex novels. In 1980, he was posthumously awarded a Golden Turkey Award as Worst Director of All Time, renewing public interest in his work. Wood's career and camp approach has earned him and his films a cult following.

Following the publication of Rudolph Grey's 1992 oral biography Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr., Wood's life and work have undergone a public rehabilitation of sorts, leading up to director Tim Burton's biopic of Wood's life, Ed Wood (1994), a critically acclaimed film starring Johnny Depp as Wood that earned two Academy Awards.

Early years

Wood's father, Edward Sr., worked for the U.S. Postal Service 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 Wood's 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. For the rest of his life, Wood was a heterosexual crossdresser, infatuated with the feel of angora on his skin.

During his childhood, Wood was interested in the performing arts and pulp fiction. He collected comics and pulp magazines, and adored movies, most notably Westerns, serials and anything involving the occult. Buck Jones and Bela Lugosi were two of his earliest childhood idols. He would often skip school in favor of watching pictures at the local movie theater, where stills from the day's movie would often be thrown in the trash by theater staff, allowing Wood to salvage them to add to his extensive collection.

On his 12th birthday, in 1936, Wood received as a gift his first movie camera, a Kodak "Cine Special". 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 famous fiery demise at Lakehurst, New Jersey. One of Wood's first paid jobs was as a cinema usher, and he also sang and played drums in a band. He later fronted a singing quartet called "Eddie Wood's Little Splinters", having learned to play a variety of string instruments.

Military service

In 1942, Wood enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, just months after the Attack on Pearl Harbor. Assigned to the 2nd Defense Battalions, he reached the rank of Corporal before he was discharged. He was involved in the Battle of Tarawa, among others, and during the war, he lost his two front teeth to a Japanese soldier's rifle butt and was shot several times in the leg by a machine gunner. Wood later claimed that he feared being wounded in battle more than he feared being killed because he wore a bra and panties under his uniform.

Career

Directing and screenwriting

In 1947, Wood moved to Hollywood, California, where he wrote scripts and directed television pilots, commercials and several forgotten micro-budget westerns with names such as Crossroads of Laredo and Crossroad Avenger: The Legend of the Tucson Kid. In 1948, Wood wrote, produced, directed, and starred in Casual Company, a play derived from his 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.

In 1952, Wood was introduced to actor Bela Lugosi by friend and fellow writer-producer Alex Gordon, Wood's roommate at the time, who went on to help create 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 refuse any work, while 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 depression and addiction. Lugosi had become dependent on morphine as a way of controlling his debilitating sciatica over the years, and was in a horrendous physical state.

Glen or Glenda

In 1953, Wood wrote and directed the exploitative semi-documentary Glen or Glenda (originally titled I Changed My Sex!) with producer George Weiss, which starred Wood (under the alias "Daniel Davis"), his girlfriend Dolores Fuller and Lugosi as a god-like narrator. The film was loosely based on trans woman Christine Jorgensen. While panned by critics then and now (being considered as one of Wood's worst films), though many praise the camp qualities, the film is notable for its groundbreaking empathetic portrayal of LGBT issues at a time when most media were very hostile.

Jail Bait

In 1954, Wood directed and produced a crime film, Jail Bait (originally titled The Hidden Face), along with co-writer Alex Gordon, which starred Lyle Talbot and Steve Reeves (one of his first acting jobs). Bela Lugosi was supposed to play the lead role of the plastic surgeon, but was busy when filming started and had to bow out.

Bride of the Monster

In 1955, Wood produced and directed the horror film Bride of the Monster (originally titled Bride of the Atom), based on an original story idea by Alex Gordon which he entitled The Atomic Monster. It starred Bela Lugosi, Swedish wrestler Tor Johnson and Loretta King.

Following the making of this film, Lugosi turned himself in to the state hospital for treatment for his drug addiction.

Plan 9 from Outer Space

In 1956, Wood produced, wrote and directed the science-fiction film Plan 9 from Outer Space (originally titled Grave Robbers from Outer Space), which starred Lugosi (in his final film), Tor Johnson, Vampira (Maila Nurmi), Tom Mason (who doubled for Lugosi in several scenes) and Criswell as the narrator. The film was premiered (as "Grave Robbers") at a small screening in 1957, was released theatrically (as "Plan Nine") in 1959, and was sold to late night television in 1961, thereby finding an audience.

It became his best-known film, and recieved a cult following in 1980, where Michael Medved declared this film "the worst film ever made", in his book The Golden Turkey Awards.

The Violent Years

In 1956, Wood wrote and produced the exploitation film The Violent Years (originally titled Teenage Girl Gang) with director William M. Morgan, starring Playboy model Jean Moorhead.

Night of the Ghouls

In 1958, Wood wrote, produced and directed Night of the Ghouls (originally titled Revenge of the Dead), starring Tor Johnson, Criswell, Valda Hansen and Kenne Duncan. The film was only released (marginally) in March 1959, and then promptly vanished from sight for nearly three decades, when it was resurrected on home video. For many years, it was thought to be a lost film. (Wood also wrote the screenplay for the 1958 film The Bride and the Beast, although someone else directed it.)

The Sinister Urge

In 1960, Wood wrote and directed the exploitation film The Sinister Urge (originally titled Racket Queen), starring Kenne Duncan, Duke Moore and Carl Anthony. Filmed in five days, this is the last mainstream film Wood directed, although it has grindhouse elements. Ironically, his career would soon spiral downward into a blur of "smut racket" nudie flicks, softcore pornography and end with X-rated novels and films. The scenes of teenagers at a pizza place were shot in 1956 for the unfinished juvenile delinquency film Rock and Roll Hell (a.k.a. Hellborn). This includes a fight scene performed by Ed Wood himself (uncredited) and Conrad Brooks.

Orgy of the Dead

In 1963, Wood wrote the screenplay for Shotgun Wedding, an exploitation film about hillbillies marrying child brides, and Wood's transitional film, once again combining two genres, horror and grindhouse skin-flick, was 1965's Orgy of the Dead, originally titled Nudie Ghoulies. Wood handled various production details while Stephen C. Apostolof directed under the pseudonym A. C. Stephen. The film begins with a re-creation of the opening scene from the then-unreleased 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 and occasionally acted. Venus Flytrap (1970), a US/Japan horror film, was based on an unproduced Wood screenplay from the 1950s.

Books and novels

Beginning in the early 1960s, Wood wrote at least eighty lurid crime and sex novels in addition to hundreds of short stories and non-fiction pieces for magazines. Thirty-two stories known to be by Wood (he sometimes wrote under pseudonyms such as "Ann Gora") are collected in Blood Splatters Quickly published by OR Books in 2014. Novels include Black Lace Drag (1963) (reissued in 1965 as Killer in Drag), Orgy of the Dead (1965), Devil Girls (1967), Death of a Transvestite (1967), The Sexecutives (1968), The Photographer (1969), Take It Out in Trade (1970), The Only House in Town (1970), Necromania (1971), The Undergraduate (1972), A Study of Fetishes and Fantasies (1973) and Fugitive Girls (1974).

(In Nightmare of Ecstasy, Maila Nurmi said she declined Wood's offer to do a nude scene sitting in a coffin for the film version of his Necromania, claiming she was recovering from a major stroke at the time.)

In 1965, Wood wrote the quasi-memoir Hollywood Rat Race, which was eventually published 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.

Personal life

Relationships and marriages

Wood had a long-term relationship with actress and songwriter Dolores Fuller, whom he met in late 1952. The two lived together for a time and Wood cast Fuller in three of his films: Glen or Glenda, Jail Bait and 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 in Glen or Glenda. The couple broke up in 1955 after Wood cast another actress in the lead role of Bride of the Monster (Wood originally wrote the part for Fuller) and because of Wood's excessive drinking.

While making Bride of the Monster in late 1955, Wood married Norma McCarty. McCarty appeared as Edie, a stewardess in Plan 9 from Outer Space. McCarty had the marriage annulled after six months when she discovered that Wood was a crossdresser.

Wood married his second wife, Kathy O'Hara, in 1959. They remained married until Wood's death in 1978.

Cross-dressing

In Wood's 1992 biography Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr., Wood's wife Kathy recalls that Wood told her that his mother dressed him in girls' clothing as a child. Kathy stated that Wood's transvestism was not a sexual inclination, but rather a neomaternal comfort derived mainly from angora fabric (angora is featured in many of Wood's films, and "Ann Gora" also happened to be one of Wood's pen names). Even in his later years, Wood was not shy about going out in public dressed in drag as Shirley, his alter ego—female character (who also appeared in many of his screenplays and stories).

Later career

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, portraying a photographer using his position to engage in sexual antics with models. He had a smaller role in Robertson's second film, Mrs. Stone's Thing, as a transvestite who spends his time at a party trying on lingerie in a bedroom.

In 1970, Wood made his own pornographic film, Take It Out in Trade, a softcore take on Philip Marlowe detective films, and Necromania the following year. In the 1970s, Wood worked with friend Stephen C. Apostolof, usually co-writing scripts, but also serving as an assistant director and associate producer. Together they made Wood's Orgy of the Dead in 1965. His last known on-screen appearance was in Apostolof's Fugitive Girls (a.k.a. Five Loose Women), where he played both a gas station attendant called "Pops" and a sheriff on the women's trail.

Death

By 1978, Wood's depression had worsened, and with it a serious drinking problem. He and Kathy were evicted from their Hollywood apartment on Yucca Street on Thursday December 7, 1978. The couple moved into the North Hollywood apartment of their friend actor Peter Coe. Wood spent the weekend drinking vodka. Around noon on Sunday December 10, Wood felt ill and went to lie down in Coe's bedroom. From the bedroom, he asked Kathy to bring him a drink which she refused to do. A few minutes later he yelled out, "Kathy, I can't breathe!", a plea Kathy ignored as she later said she was tired of Wood bossing her around. After hearing no movement from the bedroom for 20 minutes, Kathy sent a friend to check on Wood, who discovered him dead from a heart attack. Kathy 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."

Wood was cremated, and his ashes were scattered at sea. Wood's widow Kathy died on June 26, 2006, having not remarried.

Legacy and homages

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."

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. The film received mass critical acclaim, but did poorly at the box office. 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. Originally founded as a joke, the Church of Ed Wood now boasts over 3,500 baptized followers. Woodites, as Steve's followers are called, celebrate Woodmas on October 10, which is Ed's birthday. Numerous parties and concerts are held worldwide to celebrate Woodmas. On October 4–5, 2003, horror host Mr. Lobo was canonized as the "Patron Saint of late night movie hosts and insomniacs" in the Church of Ed Wood.

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).

In popular culture

From 1993 to 1994, three of Wood's films (Bride of the Monster, The Violent Years, and The Sinister Urge) were featured on the television series Mystery Science Theater 3000, which gave those works wider exposure. Producers of MST3K considered including Plan 9, but found it had too much dialogue for the show's format.

In 1998, Wood's previously unfilmed script I Woke Up Early the Day I Died was finally produced, starring Billy Zane and Christina Ricci, with appearances by Tippi Hedren, Bud Cort, Sandra Bernhard, Karen Black, John Ritter and many others. Outside of a brief New York theatrical engagement, the film did not receive a commercial release in the United States, and was only available on video in Germany due to contractual difficulties.

In 2001, horror film director and heavy metal musician Rob Zombie released The Sinister Urge, which is named after Wood's film.

In 2002, American horror-punk supergroup Murderdolls released the album Beyond the Valley of the Murderdolls, which features the single "Dead in Hollywood" which makes a reference to Wood with the lyrics, "You can knock on Ed Wood, but it won't do you no good/Cause all of my heroes are dead in Hollywood."

In 2005, the Plan 9 cast were lampooned in an episode of the television series, Deadly Cinema; the following year, clips of this episode were featured in the documentary, Vampira: The Movie.

In 2006, MST3K head writer and host Michael J. Nelson recorded an audio commentary track for a DVD release of a colorized version of Plan 9 from Outer Space. In 2009, Nelson and fellow MST3K alums Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett mocked Plan 9 again in their very first RiffTrax Live event, coinciding with the film's 50th anniversary.

In 2012, director John Johnson announced plans to film a remake of Plan 9 From Outer Space, released straight-to-DVD in 2015.

Documentaries

• Flying Saucers Over Hollywood: The Plan 9 Companion, was released in 1992. This exhaustive two-hour documentary by Mark Carducci chronicles the making of Plan 9 from Outer Space and features interviews with Maila Nurmi (Vampira), Paul Marco, Conrad Brooks, 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).
• Ed Wood: Look Back in Angora, released in 1994 by Rhino Home Video, is a one-hour documentary on Wood's life and films. This includes rare outtakes and interviews with Dolores Fuller, Kathy Wood, Stephen Apostolof, and Conrad Brooks. Gary Owens narrates; Ted Newsom wrote and directed.
• The Haunted World of Edward D. Wood Jr., written and directed by Brett Thompson, came out in 1995. This 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.
• The Incredibly Strange Film Show presented by Jonathan Ross.

Lost films

Wood's 1972 film The Undergraduate is considered to be a lost film, as was his 1970 film Take It Out in Trade. An 80-minute print of Take It Out In Trade was later discovered and publicly exhibited at Anthology Film Archives in New York City in September 2014. Silent outtakes from the film were released by Something Weird Video.

Wood's 1971 film Necromania was also believed lost for years until an edited version resurfaced at a yard sale in 1992, followed by a complete unedited print in 2001. A complete print of the previously lost Wood pornographic film The Young Marrieds was discovered in 2004. It was released as a part of the four DVD set, The Lost Sex Films of Ed Wood Jr., by Alpha Blue Archives in July 2014.

Collaborations

Acting

	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
Criswell						N	N
Carl Anthony						N		N
Conrad Brooks	N		N	N		N	N	N
Kenne Duncan		N					N	N
Harvey B. Dunn		N		N			N	N
Timothy Farrell	N		N
Dolores Fuller	N		N	N						N
Tor Johnson				N		N	N
Tom Keene		N				N
Bela Lugosi	N			N		N
Dudley Manlove					N	N
Paul Marco				N		N	N
Tom Mason						N	N
Duke Moore					N	N	N	N	N	N
Bud Osborne		N	N	N			N
Lyle Talbot	N	N	N			N
Ed Wood	N	N				N	N	N	N

Other

• William C. Thompson was Wood's cinematographer for all but Take It Out in Trade.
• Frank Worth composed music for Bride of the Monster and Plan 9 from Outer Space.

See also

• List of films considered the worst
• B movie
• Z movie

References

• Benshoff, Harry M. (1997). Monsters in the Closet: Homosexuality and the Horror Film. Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-719-04473-1. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Craig, Rob (2009). Ed Wood, Mad Genius: A Critical Study of the Films. McFarland. ISBN 0-786-45423-7. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Ford, Luke (1999). A History of X: 100 Years of Sex in Film. Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-615-92631-3. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Gerstner, David A., ed. (2006). Routledge International Encyclopedia of Queer Culture. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-30651-5. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Grey, Rudolph (1994). Nightmare Of Ecstasy: The Life and Art Of Edward D. Wood, Jr. Feral House. ISBN 0-922-91524-5. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Hoberman, J.; Rosenbaum, Jonathan (2009). Midnight Movies. Basic Books. ISBN 0-786-74700-5. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Morton, Jim (1986). Juno, Andrea; Vale, V. (ed.). Incredibly Strange Films (1 ed.). San Francisco, California: RE/Search. ISBN 0-940642-09-3. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)
• Weaver, Tom, ed. (2004). It Came From Horrorwood: Interviews With Moviemakers In The Science Fiction And Horror Tradition. McFarland. ISBN 0-786-42069-3. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Weldon, Michael (1996). The Psychotronic Video Guide. Titan Books. ISBN 1-852-86770-1. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

Further reading

• Conway, Rob (2009). Ed Wood, Mad Genius: A Critical Study of the Films. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-3955-3.

External links

• Ed Wood at IMDb
• The Hunt for Edward D. Wood, Jr. Exhaustive guide to Wood's films and their commercial releases.
• A good website for him
• Ed Wood, Jr.'s magazine work (Includes adult images)
• Ed Wood: A Neighbor on the Boulevard of Broken Dreams
• The Church of Ed Wood
• Ed Wood's lost TV pilot, "Final Curtain"
• Book page for Blood Splatters Quickly: The Collected Stories
• Ed Wood at Find a Grave