Roger Michael Watkins (September 17, 1948 – March 6, 2007) was an American filmmaker best known for the 1970s grindhouse movie '' Last House on Dead End Street''. He also directed several adult films, working with pornographic actors such as Jamie Gillis,

Vanessa del Rio Vanessa del Rio (born March 31, 1952) is an American retired pornographic actress. Early years Vanessa del Rio was born Ana María Sánchez and raised in Harlem, New York, the only child of immigrants from Cuba and Puerto Rico. Her mother would ...

, and

Samantha Fox Samantha Karen Fox (born 15 April 1966) is an English pop singer and former glamour model from East London. She rose to public attention aged 16, when her mother entered her photographs in an amateur modelling contest run by ''The Sunday Peopl ...

. The Internet Movie Database lists a number of Watkins' aliases (see the information box at right), most of which seem to have been used in '' Last House on Dead End Street'' to conceal the fact that he worked in several capacities on that film (director, actor, writer, editor, and producer).

Biography

Watkins was born in

Binghamton, New York Binghamton () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the conflue ...

. He graduated from Oneonta State College in 1971 with a Bachelor's degree in English Literature. While studying for his degree he visited England and served as an apprentice for film director Freddie Francis. On returning to the U.S. he continued his apprenticeship, working for Otto Preminger and

Nicholas Ray Nicholas Ray (born Raymond Nicholas Kienzle Jr., August 7, 1911 – June 16, 1979) was an American film director, screenwriter, and actor best known for the 1955 film ''Rebel Without a Cause.'' He is appreciated for many narrative features pr ...

. He married Marcia Elliott in 1972, with whom he fathered two daughters. Watkins began his career in adult film by writing the screenplay for ''Mystique (1979)'' which was directed by

Roberta Findlay Roberta Findlay (née Hershkowitz; born 1948) is an American film director, cinematographer, producer and actress. She is best known for her work in the exploitation field. Her work has received increasing critical appreciation in recent years. ...

and for which he was uncredited. The following year he began writing and directing adult feature films under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

Richard Mahler, which he took from combining the names of two of his favorite composers,

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

and

Gustav Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...

. His best known adult films (''Her Name Was Lisa (1979), Midnight Heat (1983)'', ''Corruption (1983)'', and ''American Babylon (1985)'' are considered by many to be more

cult film A cult film or cult movie, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase which forms an elaborate subculture, members of which engage ...

s or arthouse films than pornography due to their multi layered narratives that are downbeat in tone, containing elements of

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

horror Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction ** Japanese horror, Japanese horror fiction **Korean horror, Korean horror fiction * Horror film, a film genre *Horror comics, comic books focusing o ...

and

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming ...

. Watkins died at his home in Apalachin, New York on March 6, 2007, aged 58.

Partial filmography

References

External links

Richard Mahler
at the

Internet Adult Film Database The Internet Adult Film Database (IAFD) is an online database of information pertaining to, in United States, the pornography industry: actors, actresses, directors, studios, distributors and pornographic films. History The predecessor to IAFD ...

* 1948 births 2007 deaths American film directors American pornographic film directors State University of New York at Oneonta alumni {{US-film-director-1940s-stub