Orville H. Hampton (May 21, 1917 – August 8, 1997) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

screenwriter who worked mostly in

low-budget film A low-budget film or low-budget movie is a motion picture shot with little to no funding from a major film studio or private investor. Many independent films are made on low budgets, but films made on the mainstream circuit with inexperienced or ...

s, particularly for producers

Robert E. Kent Robert E. Kent (August 31, 1911 in Canal Zone, Panama – December 11, 1984 in Los Angeles) was an American film writer and film producer. Career Kent began as a rapid screenwriter for Sam Katzman at Columbia. For seven years he worked as a ...

and

Edward Small Edward Small (born Edward Schmalheiser, February 1, 1891, Brooklyn, New York – January 25, 1977, Los Angeles) was a film producer from the late 1920s through 1970, who was enormously prolific over a 50-year career. He is best known for the movi ...

. A screenplay that he and Raphael Hayes wrote for ''

One Potato, Two Potato "One potato, two potato" (sometimes "One potato, two potatoes") is a traditional children's counting-out rhyme with accompanying hand actions. It has a Roud number of 19230. Text The rhyme has been recorded in a large number of variants, bu ...

'' (1964) was nominated for an

Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Awards, Academy Award for the best screenplay not based upon previously published material. It was created in 1940 as a separate writing award from the Academy Award for Best Story. Be ...

Biography

Hampton was born in

Rockford, Illinois Rockford is a city in Winnebago County, Illinois, located in the far northern part of the state. Situated on the banks of the Rock River, Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County (a small portion of the city is located in Ogle County). ...

, and attended the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

, where he studied

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

and

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profes ...

. After college, he worked as a radio announcer before serving in the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

during World War II. Following the war, Hampton settled in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

, where from 1950 onward he became a prolific screenwriter, scripting or co-writing more than 100 films and television episodes, mainly

B-movies A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double featur ...

and genre films. In 1964, Hampton, along with co-writer Raphael Hayes, received an Academy Award nomination for

Best Original Screenplay The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best screenplay not based upon previously published material. It was created in 1940 as a separate writing award from the Academy Award for Best Story. Beginning with the ...

for ''

''. During his long career, Hampton worked on television programs including ''

The Lone Ranger The Lone Ranger is a fictional masked former Texas Ranger who fought outlaws in the American Old West with his Native American friend Tonto. The character has been called an enduring icon of American culture. He first appeared in 1933 in ...

'', ''

The Adventures of Champion ''The Adventures of Champion'' is an American adventure serial radio drama directed by William Burch about screen cowboy Gene Autry's horse Champion. Each 15-minute episode was broadcast weekday afternoons on the Mutual Broadcasting System in 194 ...

'', ''

Perry Mason Perry Mason is a fictional character, an American criminal defense lawyer who is the main character in works of detective fiction written by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason features in 82 novels and 4 short stories, all of which involve a cli ...

'' (and ''

The New Perry Mason ''The New Perry Mason'' is a CBS TV series that ran from 1973 to 1974. It was a revival of the 1957 ''Perry Mason'' television series about Erle Stanley Gardner's brilliant defense attorney. Plot All of the major characters of the original serie ...

''), ''

Hawaii Five-O Hawaii Five-O or Hawaii Five-0 may refer to: * ''Hawaii Five-0'' (2010 TV series), an American action police procedural television series * ''Hawaii Five-O'' (1968 TV series), an American police procedural drama series produced by CBS Productio ...

'', ''

Lassie Lassie is a fictional female Rough Collie dog and is featured in a short story by Eric Knight that was later expanded to a full-length novel called ''Lassie Come-Home''. Knight's portrayal of Lassie bears some features in common with another fic ...

'', ''

The Six Million Dollar Man ''The Six Million Dollar Man'' is an American science fiction and action television series, running from 1973 to 1978, about a former astronaut, USAF Colonel Steve Austin, portrayed by Lee Majors. After a NASA test flight accident, Austin is reb ...

'' and '' Mission: Impossible''. Though he wrote films and television shows in many genres—including

film noir Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ' ...

(''Motor Patrol''),

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

(''

The Atomic Submarine ''The Atomic Submarine'' is a 1959 independent film, independently made, American black-and-white science-fiction film directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet and starring Arthur Franz, Dick Foran, Brett Halsey, Joi Lansing and Jean Moorhead, with John ...

''),

crime fiction Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

(''

Detroit 9000 ''Detroit 9000'' is a 1973 American action film directed by Arthur Marks from a screenplay by Orville H. Hampton. Originally marketed as a blaxploitation film, it had a resurgence on video 25 years later. Plot Street-smart white detective Danny ...

''), horror (''

The Alligator People ''The Alligator People'' is a 1959 CinemaScope science-fiction horror film directed by Roy Del Ruth.''Midnight Marquee Actors Series: Lon Chaney, Jr.'' by Gary Svehla It stars Beverly Garland, Bruce Bennett, and Lon Chaney Jr. This film was th ...

''),

blaxploitation Blaxploitation is an ethnic subgenre of the exploitation film that emerged in the United States during the early 1970s. The term, a portmanteau of the words "black" and "exploitation", was coined in August 1972 by Junius Griffin, the president o ...

(''

Friday Foster ''Friday Foster'' is an American newspaper comic strip, created and written by Jim Lawrence and illustrated by Jorge Longarón. It ran from January 18, 1970, to February 17, 1974 and was notable for featuring one of the first African-American w ...

''),

mystery Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange'' Films * ''Mystery'' (2012 film), a 2012 Chinese drama film * ''Mystery'' ( ...

(''

Lady in the Fog ''Lady in the Fog'' is a 1952 British mystery film directed by Sam Newfield and starring Cesar Romero, Lois Maxwell and Bernadette O'Farrell. It is based on a BBC serial by Lester Powell as scripted by Orville H. Hampton, . It was made by Lipper ...

'' aka ''Scotland Yard Inspector''), and

westerns The Western is a genre set in the American frontier and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. It is commonly referred ...

(''

Gunfighters of Abilene ''Gunfighters of Abilene'' is a 1960 American Western film directed by Edward L. Cahn and starring Buster Crabbe, Barton MacLane and Judith Ames.

'')--, Hampton is probably best remembered for his scripts which addressed race relations, particularly ''One Potato, Two Potato'' (which depicts an

interracial marriage Interracial marriage is a marriage involving spouses who belong to different races or racialized ethnicities. In the past, such marriages were outlawed in the United States, Nazi Germany and apartheid-era South Africa as miscegenation. In 19 ...

in the 1960s) and his two films with director

Arthur Marks Arthur Ronald Marks (August 2, 1927 – November 13, 2019) was an American film and television director, writer, producer and distributor best known for his work in the blaxploitation genre, directing films such as ''Bonnie's Kids'', ''Detroit 90 ...

, ''Detroit 9000'' and ''Friday Foster'' (which starred

Pam Grier Pamela Suzette Grier (born May 26, 1949) is an American actress and singer. Described by Quentin Tarantino as cinema's first female action star (although, there are some who dispute that claim and believe Cheng Pei-pei actually holds that distin ...

Yaphet Kotto Yaphet Frederick Kotto (born Frederick Samuel Kotto; November 15, 1939 – March 15, 2021) was an American actor known for numerous film roles, as well as starring in the NBC television series '' Homicide: Life on the Street'' (1993–1999) as ...

Eartha Kitt Eartha Kitt (born Eartha Mae Keith; January 17, 1927 – December 25, 2008) was an American singer and actress known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 recordings of "C'est si bon" and the Christmas novelty song "Santa Ba ...

Scatman Crothers Benjamin Sherman Crothers (May 23, 1910 – November 22, 1986), known professionally as Scatman Crothers, was an American actor and musician. He is known for playing Louie the Garbage Man on the TV show ''Chico and the Man'', and Dick Hallo ...

and

Carl Weathers Carl Weathers (born January 14, 1948) is an American actor and former professional football player. He is known for his roles as boxer Apollo Creed in the first four ''Rocky'' films (1976–85), George Dillon in ''Predator'' (1987), Action Jac ...

). Fellow screenwriter C. Jack Lewis recalled in his 2002 book ''White Horse, Black Hat'', that Hampton used the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

"Owen Harris" in his later career—when he was a regular writer for

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

—in an effort to distance himself from his days a "

Poverty Row Poverty Row is a slang term used to refer to Hollywood films produced from the 1920s to the 1950s by small (and mostly short-lived) B movie studios. Although many of them were based on (or near) today's Gower Street in Hollywood, the term did n ...

screenwriter." He remembered Hampton as a writer who "wasn't too proud to work at something else, when necessary", pointing to Hampton's credits as dialogue supervisor, additional dialogue writer, and dialogue director in the 1950s. Hampton died on August 8, 1997, in

Malibu, California Malibu ( ; es, Malibú; Chumash: ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, situated about west of Downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate and its strip of the Malibu ...

Select Credits

*''

Rocketship X-M ''Rocketship X-M'' (a.k.a. ''Expedition Moon'' and originally ''Rocketship Expedition Moon'') is a 1950 American black-and-white science fiction film from Robert L. Lippert, Lippert Pictures, the first outer space adventure of the post-World War ...

'' (1950) (additional dialogue) *''

Lost Continent Lost lands are islands or continents believed by some to have existed during pre-history, but to have since disappeared as a result of catastrophic geological phenomena. Legends of lost lands often originated as scholarly or scientific theor ...

'' (1951) (uncredited) *''

Outlaw Women ''Outlaw Women'' is a 1952 American Western film directed by Sam Newfield and Ron Ormond and starring Marie Windsor, Richard Rober and Carla Balenda.Pitts p.239 It is set in a remote small town run entirely by women. The film was made in Cinecol ...

'' (1952) *''

Mesa of Lost Women ''Mesa of Lost Women'' is a 1953 American low-budget black-and-white science fiction film directed by Herbert Tevos and Ron Ormond from a screenplay by Tevos and Orville H. Hampton who is given on-screen credit only for dialogue supervision. Pl ...

'' (1953) (dialogue supervisor, uncredited writer) *''

'' aka ''Scotland Yard Inspector'' (1952) *''

The Big Chase ''The Big Chase'' is a 1954 American crime drama film directed by Arthur Hilton and starring Glenn Langan, Adele Jergens, Lon Chaney Jr., Jim Davis and Douglas Kennedy. One of the film's scenes was directed by producer Robert L. Lippert Jr. Thi ...

'' (1954) *''

New Orleans Uncensored ''New Orleans Uncensored'' is a 1955 American film noir crime film directed by William Castle and starring Arthur Franz and Beverly Garland. Plot The Port of New Orleans, docks of New Orleans, Louisiana are controlled by Zero Saxon, a notorious r ...

'' (1955) *''

The Three Outlaws ''The Three Outlaws'' is a 1956 American Western film directed by Sam Newfield and starring Neville Brand as Butch Cassidy, Alan Hale Jr. as the Sundance Kid, and Bruce Bennett.Pitts p.353 Plot Cast * Neville Brand as Butch Cassidy * Alan ...

'' (1956) *''

Submarine Seahawk ''Submarine Seahawk'' is a 1958 World War II film directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet and starring John Bentley and Brett Halsey. The film was originally released as a double feature with ''Paratroop Command''. The plot tells the story of a by-the ...

'' (1958) *''

'' (1959) *''

Dog's Best Friend ''Dog's Best Friend'' is a 1997 American comedy fantasy television film directed by Allan A. Goldstein and starring Richard Mulligan. It premiered on The Family Channel on March 23, 1997. Cast * Richard Mulligan as Fred * Shirley Jones as Eth ...

'' (1960) *'' The Flight that Disappeared'' (1961) *''

Gunfighters of Abilene ''Gunfighters of Abilene'' is a 1960 American Western film directed by Edward L. Cahn and starring Buster Crabbe, Barton MacLane and Judith Ames.

'' (1960) *''

The Snake Woman ''The Snake Woman'' (a.k.a. ''The Terror of the Snake Woman'') is a low budget black-and-white 1961 British horror film produced by George Fowler and directed by Sidney J. Furie. It stars Susan Travers and John McCarthy. The film was shown o ...

'' (1961) *''

The Underwater City ''The Underwater City'' is a 1962 American science fiction film in Eastmancolor, about overcoming engineering obstacles for establishing an underwater living environment. The film was directed by Frank McDonald, produced by Alex Gordon and wri ...

'' (1962) *''

Jack the Giant Killer "Jack the Giant Killer" is a Cornish fairy tale and legend about a young adult who slays a number of bad giants during King Arthur's reign. The tale is characterised by violence, gore and blood-letting. Giants are prominent in Cornish folklor ...

'' (1962) *''

'' (1965) *'' The Young Runaways'' (1968) *''

'' (1973) *''

'' (1975) *''

Fantasy Island ''Fantasy Island'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by Gene Levitt. It aired on ABC from 1977 to 1984. The series starred Ricardo Montalbán as the mysterious Mr. Roarke and Hervé Villechaize as his assistant, Tattoo. Gu ...

'' (1978) (TV series)

References

External links

Orville H. Hampton
at

TCMDB Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of Atl ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hampton, Orville H. American male screenwriters Writers from Rockford, Illinois Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) 1917 births 1997 deaths Screenwriters from Illinois University of Illinois alumni 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters