Fred Olen Ray
Fred Olen Ray (born September 10, 1954) is an American Emmy winning film producer, director, and screenwriter of more than 200 low-to-medium-quality feature films in many genres,[1] including horror, science fiction, action/adventure, erotic thrillers, crime dramas, and holiday films.[2]
Fred Olen Ray
September 10, 1954
Film producer, director, screenwriter, actor
1971–present
- Dawn Wildsmith
Ray is the head of Retromedia, which releases DVDs of both his own productions and archival films.[3] He has also worked for other well-known independent studios and on a few occasions for major Hollywood studios. He has been cited as an inspiration for many independent filmmakers. He loaned a 16 mm camera to Quentin Tarantino so he could make My Best Friend's Birthday.[4]
Aside from his work in the film industry, Ray was also a professional wrestler. His wrestling name was Fabulous Freddie Valentine.[5]
Early life[edit]
Ray was born September 10, 1954, in Wellston, Ohio, to a family originally from West Virginia. As a teenager, he regularly read Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine. Being a fan of horror and science fiction films such as Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein and the AIP movies of the 1950s and 1960s, Ray started making his own movies at the age of fourteen.[6] At age seventeen, he self-published three issues of the amateur fantasy-film fanzine, Dagon in 1972.
Career[edit]
Early work and The Brain Leeches (1970s)[edit]
After serving in the United States Navy, Ray began working at a local television station in Orlando, Florida. He first appeared in a small role in the 1975 film Shock Waves, which starred Peter Cushing and John Carradine.[7] Ray then began directing independent films during his free time using station equipment, starting with The Brain Leeches (1978) produced on a budget of $298.[8][9] Ray also co-wrote the screenplay with political essayist Brad Linaweaver, and the two later collaborated on additional films.[10]
1980s[edit]
Ray's next film was shot on a budget of $15,000. Lessons learned from The Brain Leeches allowed Ray to keep production cost to a minimum, while using the bulk of the budget to attract a recognized Hollywood name to the project. Alien Dead was shot featuring an elderly Buster Crabbe, cinema action hero of the 1930s and 1940s, and star of three Flash Gordon serials from 1936 to 1940. With the success of that film, Ray decided to move to Hollywood to be close to the film industry. He was interested in working in make-up and special effects, "probably from all of those years of reading Famous Monsters magazine", he later said. He found out "it soon became apparent that you would always be between jobs and I was looking for something that would actually earn me a living. I think I became a director because that was the fastest way to get a film made on the independent side of things."[6]
Ray succeeded in raising money for a low-budget horror film, Scalps (1983), which featured cameos from Carroll Borland and Forrest J. Ackerman. The Tomb (1986) starred Cameron Mitchell and John Carradine. Ray switched to action films with Armed Response (1986), which starred David Carradine and Lee Van Cleef. Ray had affection for this movie because "it had a great cast and was one of the first times I had more than two nickels to rub together."[6] He then turned to science fiction: Deep Space (1987) and Cyclone (1987). Beverly Hills Vamp (1988) was a horror comedy with Eddie Deezen. Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers (1988) was made in only a few days and turned out to be a big hit.[5] Less popular was The Phantom Empire (1988).