Curtis Harrington Biography
Gene Curtis Harrington (September 17, 1926 – May 6, 2007) was an American film and television director whose work included experimental films and horror films. He is considered one of the forerunners of New Queer Cinema.
Life and career
Early life
Harrington was born on September 17, 1926, in Los Angeles, the son of Isabel (Dorum) and Raymond Stephen Harrington, and grew up in Beaumont, California. His first cinematic endeavors were amateur films he made while still a teenager. He attended Occidental College and the University of Southern California, then graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, with a degree in film studies.
Career beginnings
At age 16, in 1942, he directed and co-starred in a (9 minute) short version of Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher. He began his career as a film critic, writing a book on Josef von Sternberg in 1948. He directed several avant-garde short films in the 1940s and 1950s, including Fragment of Seeking, Picnic, and The Wormwood Star (a film study of the artwork of Marjorie Cameron which was filmed at the home of multi-millionaire art collector Edward James). Cameron also co-starred in his subsequent film Night Tide (1961) with Dennis Hopper. Harrington worked with Kenneth Anger, serving as a cinematographer on Anger's Puce Moment and acting in Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954) (he played Cesare, the somnambulist). Harrington had links to Thelema shared with his close *ociates Kenneth Anger and Marjorie Cameron who frequently acted in his films.
Harrington was the driving force in rediscovering the original James Whale version of The Old Dark House (1932, Universal Pictures). Although the rights to the original story had been sold to Columbia Pictures for a remake, he persuaded George Eastman House to preserve it. On the Kino International DVD, there is a filmed interview of Harrington's explaining why and how this came about (the contract stipulated that they were allowed to save the film only, not release it, essentially to prove that there was no profit motive). Harrington was an advisor on Bill Condon's Gods and Monsters (1998), about the last days of director James Whale, and Harrington had known Whale at the end of his life. Harrington also has a cameo in the film. Roger Corman *igned Harrington to direct two American films which used footage from Russian science fiction films, Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (1965) and Queen of Blood (1966). Harrington directed Games (1967), Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? (1971) with Shelley Winters, What's the Matter with Helen? (1971) with Winters and Debbie Reynolds, and Killer Bees (1974) with Gloria Swanson in one of her later roles. Harrington made two television movies based on screenplays by Robert Bloch: The Cat Creature (1973) and The Dead Don't Die (1975).
Later films
Harrington had a cameo in Orson Welles's unfinished The Other Side of the Wind (1970–1976). Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Harrington directed episodes of television series such as Baretta, Dynasty, Wonder Woman, The Twilight Zone and Charlie's Angels.
Harrington's final film, the short Usher, is a remake of Fall of the House of Usher, an unreleased film he did while in high school. He cast Nikolas and Zeena Schreck in his updated version of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher". Financing of the film was partly accomplished through the Shrecks' brokering of the sale of Harrington's signed copy of Crowley's The Book of Thoth.
The Academy Film Archive has preserved several of Curtis Harrington's films, including Night Tide, On the Edge, and Picnic.
Personal life
Harrington was *sexual. He wrote in his autobiography that he had his first sexual experience with another male (a football player) in high school.
Death
Curtis Harrington died on May 6, 2007, aged 80, of complications from a stroke he suffered two years earlier. His remains are interred in the Cathedral Mausoleum at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
House of Harrington, a short do*entary about the director's life, was released in 2008. It was directed by Jeffrey Schwarz and Tyler Hubby and filmed several years before Harrington's death. It includes footage of his high school film Fall of the House of Usher.
Harrington's memoir Nice Guys Don't Work in Hollywood was published in 2013 by Drag City.
Filmography
Short films
- Fall of the House of Usher (1942)
- Fragment of Seeking (1946)
- Picnic (1948)
- On the Edge (1949)
- The *ignation (1952)
- Dangerous Houses (1952), unreleased
- St. Tropaz (1952), unfinished
- The Wormwood Star (1956), do*entary about Marjorie Cameron
- The Four Elements (1966), industrial short
- Usher (2000)
Theatrical films
- Night Tide (1961, not released widely until 1963)
- Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (1965)
- Queen of Blood (1966)
- Games (1967)
- What's the Matter with Helen? (1971)
- Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? (1971)
- The Killing Kind (1973)
- Ruby (1977)
- Mata Hari (1985)
TV movies
- How Awful About Allan (1970)
- The Cat Creature (1973)
- Killer Bees (1974)
- The Dead Don't Die (1975)
- Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell (1978)
TV series
- The Legend of Jesse James (1966), 2 episodes
- Baretta (1975–76), 2 episodes
- Quinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected (1977), 1 episode ("A Hand For Sonny Blue")
- Logan's Run (1978), 1 episode
- Lucan (1978), 1 episode
- Sword of Justice (1978, 1 episode
- Vega$ (1978), 1 episode
- Charlie's Angels (1978–79), 2 episodes
- Wonder Woman (1979), 1 episode
- Darkroom (1981), 2 episodes and opening credits
- Hotel (1983–84), 2 episodes
- Dynasty (1983–85), 6 episodes
- Glitter (1984), 1 episode
- The Colbys (1985–87), 5 episodes
- The Twilight Zone (1987), 1 episode
Acting roles
- The Fall of the House of Usher (1942)
- Fragment of Seeking (1946)
- Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954)
- Ironside (1967), episode "Let My Brother Go"
- The Other Side of the Wind (1972)
- Gods and Monsters (1998)
- Usher (2000)
References
External links
- Curtis Harrington at IMDb
- Retrospective in Terror: An Interview with Curtis Harrington
- Terrortrap.com Gallery
- Curtis Harrington Facebook Page
- Variety obituary
- Curtis Harrington papers, Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
- The Wormwood Star (1955), a short film portrait of Marjorie Cameron by Harrington
