Jonathan Haze
Encyclopedia
Roger Corman
Roger William Corman is an American film producer, director and actor. He has mostly worked on low-budget B movies. Some of Corman's work has an established critical reputation, such as his cycle of films adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe, and in 2009 he won an Honorary Academy Award for...
films, and especially for the black comedy
Black comedy
A black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...
cult classic
Cult film
A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...
, The Little Shop of Horrors
The Little Shop of Horrors
The Little Shop of Horrors is a 1960 American comedy film directed by Roger Corman. Written by Charles B. Griffith, the film is a farce about an inadequate young florist's assistant who cultivates a plant that feeds on human flesh and blood. The film's concept is thought to be based on a 1932...
.
Early years
Haze was working at a gas station in CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
when he was discovered by Wyott Ordung. Ordung was directing the movie Monster from the Ocean Floor
Monster from the Ocean Floor
Monster from the Ocean Floor is a science fiction film about a sea monster that terrorizes Mexico. The film was directed by Wyott Ordung and starred Anne Kimbell and Stuart Wade. Wade also starred in other low-budget films during the decade including Tarantula , and Teenage Monster . Producer...
, which was being produced by Corman, and offered a small part to Haze. Corman was impressed by Haze, and included him in many of his films over the next ten years.
Later work
Haze later branched into other aspects of film making. He wrote the 1962 science fiction/comedy film Invasion of the Star CreaturesInvasion of the Star Creatures
Invasion of the Star Creatures is a May 3, 1962, science fiction/comedy film directed by Bruno VeSota and starring Bob Ball and Frankie Ray. It was released theatrically by American International Pictures. It was released as a double feature with The Brain That Wouldn't Die.-Plot:The film opens...
. He also worked in production for such films as Premature Burial
Premature burial
Premature burial, also known as live burial, burial alive, or vivisepulture, means to be buried while still alive. Animals or humans may be buried alive accidentally or intentionally...
(1962), The Terror
The Terror (1963 film)
The Terror is an American horror film produced by Roger Corman, and famous for being filmed on leftover film sets from other AIP productions, including The Haunted Palace...
(1963), Medium Cool
Medium Cool
Medium Cool is an American film written and directed by Haskell Wexler and starring Robert Forster, Verna Bloom, Peter Bonerz, Marianna Hill and Harold Blankenship. It takes place in Chicago in the summer of 1968...
(1969), Another Nice Mess
Another Nice Mess
Another Nice Mess is a 1972 comedy film written and directed by Bob Einstein, a former writer for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. The film starred Rich Little as Richard Nixon and Herb Voland as Spiro Agnew. The film is presented in the style of a Laurel and Hardy comedy, with Nixon in the...
(1972), and Corman's own The Born Losers
The Born Losers
This article is about the film. You may be looking for the song http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_LosersBorn Losers is a 1967 action film and the first of the Billy Jack movies. The film introduced Tom Laughlin as the half-Indian Green Beret Vietnam veteran Billy Jack...
(1967).
Further reading
- Names You Never Remember, With Faces You Never Forget, by Justin Humphreys. BearManor Media, Albany, 2006. ISBN 1-59393-041-0.
- Scary Monsters Magazine, June, 2010 no.75. "An Interview With Jonathan Haze", massive 29 page interview with Jonathan Haze by writers/interviewers, Paul Parla and Lawrence Fultz Jr.