Albert Victor Adamson Jr. (July 25, 1929 – June 21, 1995) was an American
filmmaker and
actor
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), lit ...
known as a prolific director of
B-grade horror and
exploitation films throughout the 1960s and 1970s.
The son of silent film stars
Victor Adamson
Albert Victor Adamson (January 4, 1890 – November 9, 1972) was a New Zealand director, producer, screenwriter, and actor most famous for directing and starring in B and Z grade westerns in the early days of motion pictures. Adamson often ...
and Dolores Booth, Adamson began his career in the film industry at a young age and began directing in the early 1960s, helming a total of 33 feature films.
[McCarty, John (1995). ''The Sleaze Merchants''. St. Martin's Griffin Press. . Page 91][Sherman, Sam (2001). ''Blood of Ghastly Horror'' (DVD liner notes). Troma Entertainment. #9026.] Many of his films, such as ''
Psycho A-Go-Go'', ''
Blood of Ghastly Horror
''Blood of Ghastly Horror'' is a 1971 horror film directed by Al Adamson and starring John Carradine, Tommy Kirk, Kent Taylor, and Regina Carrol.
Plot
Dr. Howard Vanard (John Carradine) implants a strange electronic component into the brain of ...
,'' and ''
Dracula vs. Frankenstein
''Dracula vs. Frankenstein'' is a 1971 American science fiction horror film directed and co-produced by Al Adamson. The film stars J. Carrol Naish as Dr. Durea, a descendant of Dr. Frankenstein who is working on a blood serum for his assistant ...
,'' went on to gain
cult status.
He cast his wife, actress and singer
Regina Carrol
Regina Carrol (May 2, 1943 – November 4, 1992) was an American performer, born as Regina Carol Gelfan, mostly remembered for her roles in films directed by her husband, Al Adamson.
After several stage roles, she entered film through a fam ...
, in many of his films.
Adamson retired from filmmaking in the early 1980s to pursue a career in
real estate
Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more genera ...
. In 1995, he was murdered by a live-in contractor whom he had hired to work on his house, and he was subsequently buried beneath his floor.
Adamson's death and the subsequent trial led to renewed publicity, and was the subject of several
true crime television documentaries.
Early life
Albert Victor Adamson Jr. was born in
Hollywood, California
Hollywood is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the U.S. film industry and the people associated with it. Many notable film studios, such as Columbia Picture ...
. His father was silent-film star and producer
Victor Adamson
Albert Victor Adamson (January 4, 1890 – November 9, 1972) was a New Zealand director, producer, screenwriter, and actor most famous for directing and starring in B and Z grade westerns in the early days of motion pictures. Adamson often ...
, and his mother was actress Dolores Booth. Adamson was involved in the film industry from an early age, appearing in the 1935 film ''
Desert Mesa'', directed by his father.
Film career
After assisting his father in making the 1961 western ''Halfway to Hell'', where he served as an uncredited co-director,
[Ray, Fred Olen (1991). ''The New Poverty Row''. McFarland and Co. Inc. . Page 105] Adamson decided to work in the motion-picture industry himself full time. His father introduced him to a young aspiring film distributor named Sam Sherman in September 1962, and they worked together on various film projects during the 1960s. In 1969, Adamson and Sherman founded Independent-International Pictures (in partnership with Dan Kennis),
which became the distributor for the many movies he directed, such as ''
Blood of Ghastly Horror
''Blood of Ghastly Horror'' is a 1971 horror film directed by Al Adamson and starring John Carradine, Tommy Kirk, Kent Taylor, and Regina Carrol.
Plot
Dr. Howard Vanard (John Carradine) implants a strange electronic component into the brain of ...
'', ''
Satan's Sadists
''Satan's Sadists'' is a 1969 American outlaw biker film directed by Al Adamson and starring Russ Tamblyn.
Plot
The plot centers around an outlaw motorcycle gang called the "Satans", who roam the deserts of the American Southwest. The gang's le ...
'' and ''
Dracula vs. Frankenstein
''Dracula vs. Frankenstein'' is a 1971 American science fiction horror film directed and co-produced by Al Adamson. The film stars J. Carrol Naish as Dr. Durea, a descendant of Dr. Frankenstein who is working on a blood serum for his assistant ...
''.
Adamson and Sherman were early collaborators of cinematographers
Vilmos Zsigmond
Vilmos Zsigmond ASC (; June 16, 1930 – January 1, 2016) was a Hungarian-American cinematographer. His work in cinematography helped shape the look of American movies in the 1970s, making him one of the leading figures in the American New Wav ...
and
László Kovács, who would later find widespread mainstream success and acclaim as figureheads of the
New Hollywood film movement.
Adamson and Sherman hired Zsigmond, whom they nicknamed "Ziggy", because the young filmmaker owned his own equipment, including an 35mm
Arriflex
The Arri Group () is a German manufacturer of motion picture film equipment. Based in Munich, the company was founded in 1917. It produces professional motion picture cameras, lenses, lighting and post-production equipment. Hermann Simon menti ...
film camera and a
Techniscope lens, which he carried around in a van. Zsigmond had an arrangement with his close friend Kovács where the two would recommend each other to directors, both claiming the other was the superior cinematographer. Their collaboration continued until 1971, when Zsigmond was nominated for a
BAFTA Award for Best Cinematography
This is a list of winners and nominees for the BAFTA Award for Best Cinematography, which is presented to cinematographers, given out by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts since 1963.
Winners and nominees 1960s
; Best Cinematography ...
for
Robert Altman
Robert Bernard Altman ( ; February 20, 1925 – November 20, 2006) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He was a five-time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director and is considered an enduring figure from the New ...
's ''
McCabe & Mrs. Miller''.
Victor Adamson also introduced Sam Sherman to producer Irwin Pizor, and Pizor, in turn, introduced Sherman to
Kane W. Lynn
Kane W. Lynn (1919–1975) was an American film producer who made a number of movies in the Philippines with producer Irwin Pizor and Filipino director Eddie Romero as Hemisphere Pictures, or the ''House of Horror'' as they often referred to the ...
and
Eddie Romero of ''Hemisphere Pictures'', and working together over the years, they all achieved successful careers in film production and distribution.
Al Adamson developed a repertory company as the years rolled on, with a lot of the same actors turning up repeatedly in his films, such as
Scott Brady,
Kent Taylor,
Robert Dix
Robert Warren Brimmer (May 8, 1935 – August 6, 2018), known professionally as Robert Dix, was an American film actor. He appeared in 50 films between 1954 and 1974.
Biographic data
Dix was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of actor R ...
,
John Cardos,
Gary Kent,
John Carradine, and
Russ Tamblyn, among others.
When a friend in the business sold Sherman the rights to an unfinished Filipino horror movie, he let Adamson shoot additional footage which was inserted into the film and starred Robert Dix, Vicki Volante, and John Carradine to pad out the running time. The film was re-titled ''Horror of the Blood Monsters'', and noted comic book artist
Neal Adams
Neal Adams (June 15, 1941 – April 28, 2022) was an American comic book artist. He was the co-founder of the graphic design studio Continuity Associates, and was a Creator ownership, creators-rights advocate who helped secure a pension and re ...
designed a lurid poster for it, which helped sell the film to drive-in theaters. Since the original film was in black-and-white, Adamson had the whole film tinted in various colors and advertised the film as being made in a new process called ''Spectrum X''.
[McCarty, John (1995). ''The Sleaze Merchants''. St. Martin's Griffin Press. . Page 93] Sherman also hired artist Gray Morrow to design a number of their horror film posters, all of which were very graphic and "over the top".
Adamson even created a western-horror hybrid film with his ''Five Bloody Graves'' (1969), which starred Robert Dix, John Carradine and Scott Brady, and inserted a number of ultra-violent scenes (savage Indian attacks, rapes, shootings and torture) into what would have just been a mediocre western, and even included narration scenes, with actor Gene Raymond playing "Death".
[McCarty, John (1995). ''The Sleaze Merchants''. St. Martin's Griffin Press. . Page 96] Adamson even filmed some of his movies at the ''Spahn Ranch'' in California (the adopted home of the notorious Charles Manson cult) such as ''
The Female Bunch'' (1969) and ''
Angels' Wild Women
''Angels' Wild Women'' (originally titled ''Screaming Angels'') is a 1972 biker film written and directed by cult director Al Adamson. Preceded by ''Satan's Sadists'' (1969) and ''Hell's Bloody Devils'' (1970), it is the last in a trio of (unrelat ...
'' (1972).
Later career
In 1975, with the biker film genre fizzling out, Sam Sherman talked Adamson into directing some softcore porn films to cash in on the then-popular stewardess film craze, ''The Naughty Stewardesses'', followed by ''
Blazing Stewardesses
''Blazing Stewardesses'' is a 1975 American sex comedy film directed by Al Adamson. Its title derives from the 1975 film ''The Naughty Stewardesses'' and the 1974 film ''Blazing Saddles''.
Producer Sam Sherman intended the film to be a fond thro ...
'' the same year. They hired old-time western stars Bob Livingston and
Don "Red" Barry to star. Material was written for the
Three Stooges
The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical farce and slapstick. Six Stooges appeare ...
, but they had to pass due to poor health. Adamson considered their 1974 film ''Girls For Rent'' (a.k.a. ''
I Spit on Your Corpse'') a low point in their association, featuring porn actress
Georgina Spelvin
Shelley Bob Graham (born March 1, 1936), known professionally as Georgina Spelvin, is a former American actress and pornographic performer who is best known as the star of the classic 1973 pornographic film ''The Devil in Miss Jones'', release ...
raping, and then killing, a mentally disabled man in one scene. ''Jessie's Girls'' was Adamson's take on the then-successful Raquel Welch film ''Hannie Caulder''. His last major film was the 1978 film ''Nurse Sherri'', a horror film about a nurse who is possessed by the ghost of a woman who died during a surgical procedure, and is driven to avenge the dead woman by killing all of the doctors who were involved in her death.
Adamson largely retired from filmmaking in the early 1980s, focusing with his wife on a career in
real estate
Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more genera ...
. Adamson continued to write scripts however, including one whose premise involved a man being murdered and buried beneath his own house over a financial dispute. This very scenario would be eerily reflected in his own death years later.
Personal life
Adamson's wife, the actress
Regina Carrol
Regina Carrol (May 2, 1943 – November 4, 1992) was an American performer, born as Regina Carol Gelfan, mostly remembered for her roles in films directed by her husband, Al Adamson.
After several stage roles, she entered film through a fam ...
, performed in many of his films.
She met him in 1969 when he was casting ''
Satan's Sadists
''Satan's Sadists'' is a 1969 American outlaw biker film directed by Al Adamson and starring Russ Tamblyn.
Plot
The plot centers around an outlaw motorcycle gang called the "Satans", who roam the deserts of the American Southwest. The gang's le ...
'', in which she starred, and they were married in 1972.
Adamson said Regina was a waitress in a cafe at which he was having lunch, and hearing he was a movie director, she spilled a cup of coffee in his lap to get his attention.
She died in 1992 from cancer at age 49.
[ Adamson had spent several years trying desperately to save her from the disease, to no avail. He himself was murdered three years after his wife died.]
Murder
Adamson was reported missing in 1995. Five weeks later, after law enforcement officials discovered his remains beneath the concrete and tile-covered floor where his hot tub once sat at his home in Indio, California
Indio ( Spanish for "Indian") is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, in the Coachella Valley of Southern California's Colorado Desert region. It lies east of Palm Springs, east of Riverside, east of Los Angeles, 148 mil ...
, his live-in contractor Fred Fulford was arrested at the Coral Reef Hotel in Saint Petersburg, Florida.
Adamson had hired Fulford to repair his house, which he intended to flip. He had given Fulford a credit card
A credit card is a payment card issued to users (cardholders) to enable the cardholder to pay a merchant for goods and services based on the cardholder's accrued debt (i.e., promise to the card issuer to pay them for the amounts plus the ...
to use to purchase supplies, which Fulford quickly overspent and abused. Adamson had several confrontations with Fulford, the last of which ended violently in Adamson's death. Fulford subsequently buried his body and covered it with concrete and tile. Adamson's housekeeper became suspicious over his disappearance and the removal of the hot tub, which led investigators to Fulford and Adamson's body.
Fulford was charged with and convicted of murder, and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. Regular Adamson actor and stuntman Gary Kent testified in the trial as the last person to speak to the director prior to the murder. The case of Al Adamson's murder is documented in the Investigation Discovery television series' '' Forensic Detectives'' (ep. "Buried Secrets"), '' The New Detectives'' (season 07, episode 11), and ''A Stranger in My Home'' (season 02, episode 06, "Death's Final Cut"). ''Blood & Flesh: The Reel Life and Ghastly Death of Al Adamson'', a full-length documentary released by Severin Films, covers the entirety of Adamson's life, film career, and untimely death. The documentary is included in Severin's blu-ray boxed set career retrospective of Adamson's work.
Adamson was cremated and his ashes scattered in the Pacific Ocean.
Filmography
* '' Desert Mesa'' (1935) actor in a film from his father Denver Dixon.
* ''Mormon Conquest'' (1939) actor in another, lost, film from his father
* ''Half Way to Hell'' (1960) co-direction with his father, also actor
* '' Psycho A-Go-Go'' (1965) later reworked into ''The Fiend with the Electronic Brain''[Ray, Fred Olen (1991). ''The New Poverty Row''. McFarland and Co. Inc. . Page 66]
* ''Blood of Dracula's Castle
''Blood of Dracula's Castle'' is a 1969 American horror cult B-movie directed by Al Adamson and starring John Carradine, Alexander D'Arcy, Paula Raymond, Robert Dix, Vicki Volante, and John Cardos. It was released by exploitation film special ...
'' (1967)[O'Neill, James (1994). ''Terror on Tape''. Billboard Books. . Page 39][McCarty, John (1995). ''The Sleaze Merchants''. St. Martin's Griffin Press. . Page 103]
* ''Lash of Lust'' (1968/72) (Lost Film, direction under alias name George Sheaffer)
* '' The Fiend with the Electronic Brain'' (1969)[Weldon, Michael (1983). ''The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film''. Ballantine Books. . Page 73] later reworked into ''Blood of Ghastly Horror
''Blood of Ghastly Horror'' is a 1971 horror film directed by Al Adamson and starring John Carradine, Tommy Kirk, Kent Taylor, and Regina Carrol.
Plot
Dr. Howard Vanard (John Carradine) implants a strange electronic component into the brain of ...
''
* '' The Female Bunch'' (1969) a.k.a. ''A Time To Run''
* ''Five Bloody Graves
''Five Bloody Graves'' is an American western film directed by Al Adamson and starring Robert Dix, Scott Brady, Jim Davis, John Carradine, Paula Raymond. Fruita, Utah was used as a setting for the film.
Cast
*Robert Dix as Ben Thompson
*Scott B ...
'' (1969)
* ''Satan's Sadists
''Satan's Sadists'' is a 1969 American outlaw biker film directed by Al Adamson and starring Russ Tamblyn.
Plot
The plot centers around an outlaw motorcycle gang called the "Satans", who roam the deserts of the American Southwest. The gang's le ...
'' (1969)
* ''Doomsday Voyage'' (1969/72) producer only
* ''Hell's Bloody Devils
''Hell's Bloody Devils'' (also known as ''The Fakers'' and ''Operation M'') is a 1970 American film directed by Al Adamson and written by Jerry Evans.
Plot
FBI agent Mark Adams (John Gabriel) poses as a member of a Las Vegas crime syndicate in ord ...
'' (1970)
* ''Horror of the Blood Monsters'' (1970) a.k.a. ''Vampire Men of the Lost Planet''
* ''Dracula vs. Frankenstein
''Dracula vs. Frankenstein'' is a 1971 American science fiction horror film directed and co-produced by Al Adamson. The film stars J. Carrol Naish as Dr. Durea, a descendant of Dr. Frankenstein who is working on a blood serum for his assistant ...
'' (1971)
* ''Brain of Blood
''Brain of Blood'' (also known as ''The Creature's Revenge'', ''The Oozing Skull'', and ''The Undying Brain'') is a 1971 American horror film directed by Al Adamson and starring Grant Williams, Kent Taylor and Reed Hadley. Angelo Rossitto and Jo ...
'' (1971)
* ''Blood of Ghastly Horror
''Blood of Ghastly Horror'' is a 1971 horror film directed by Al Adamson and starring John Carradine, Tommy Kirk, Kent Taylor, and Regina Carrol.
Plot
Dr. Howard Vanard (John Carradine) implants a strange electronic component into the brain of ...
'' (1971)
* ''Angels' Wild Women
''Angels' Wild Women'' (originally titled ''Screaming Angels'') is a 1972 biker film written and directed by cult director Al Adamson. Preceded by ''Satan's Sadists'' (1969) and ''Hell's Bloody Devils'' (1970), it is the last in a trio of (unrelat ...
'' (1972) a.k.a. ''Screaming Angels''[McCarty, John (1995). ''The Sleaze Merchants''. St. Martin's Griffin Press. . Page 98]
* ''Hammer'' (1972) producer only
* ''Cry Rape'' (1973) (TV movie, producer only)
* ''The Naughty Stewardesses'' (1973)
* '' Dynamite Brothers'' (1974) a.k.a. ''Stud Brown''
* '' I Spit on Your Corpse'' (1974) originally released as ''Girls for Rent''
* ''Jessie's Girls'' (1975)
* ''Blazing Stewardesses
''Blazing Stewardesses'' is a 1975 American sex comedy film directed by Al Adamson. Its title derives from the 1975 film ''The Naughty Stewardesses'' and the 1974 film ''Blazing Saddles''.
Producer Sam Sherman intended the film to be a fond thro ...
'' (1975)
* ''Females for Hire'' (1976) - edited reissure of 1969 German film '' On the Reeperbahn at Half Past Midnight''
* '' Black Heat'' (1976) a.k.a. ''Girls' Hotel''
* '' Uncle Tom's Cabin'' (1977) - edited reissue of 1965 German film ''Onkel Tom's Hütte''
* ''Nurses for Sale'' (1977) - edited reissue of 1971 German film ''Captain Roughneck from St. Pauli''
* ''Black Samurai
''Black Samurai'' is a 1977 American blaxploitation martial arts spy action adventure film directed by Al Adamson and starring Jim Kelly. Produced by BJLJ International, with Executive Producer Laurence Joachim and screenplay credited to B. Readick ...
'' (1977)
* ''Cinderella 2000'' (1977)
* '' Death Dimension'' (1978) a.k.a. ''The Kill Factor'' or ''Death Dogs''
* ''Sunset Cove'' (1978)
* '' Nurse Sherri'' (1978)
* ''Bedroom Stewardesses'' (1978) - edited reissue of 1968 German film '' The Doctor of St. Pauli''
* ''Chuck Connors Great Western Theatre'' (1980/82) TV Series
* '' Doctor Dracula'' (1980/83) - edited reissue of 1974 film ''Lucifer's Women''
* '' Carnival Magic'' (1983)
* ''Lost
Lost may refer to getting lost, or to:
Geography
* Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland
*Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US
History
*Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...
'' (1983)
* ''Beyond This Earth'' (1992-1994) segment director (unreleased film)
* ''From Other Worlds'' (1992-1994) segment director (unreleased film, sequel from ''Beyond This Earth'')
* ''The Happy Hobo - Presentation Reel'' (1994/2020) (short, last film direction)
* ''Al Adamson - Drive in Monster'' (1995) (short documentary portrait with last interview)
References
Further reading
* ''Quinlan's Film Directors'' (Sterling, 1999)
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adamson, Al
American murder victims
1929 births
1995 deaths
People murdered in California
Horror film directors
People from Hollywood, Los Angeles
People from Indio, California
Film directors from Los Angeles
1995 murders in the United States