Lewis Minor Carson (August 12, 1941 – October 20, 2014) was an American actor,

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

, director and

film producer A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, di ...

Career

Carson first gained the notice of the film world when he starred in

Jim McBride Jim or JIM may refer to: * Jim (given name), a given name * Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James * Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy * OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism * ''Jim'' (comics), a series by Jim Woodring * ''Jim' ...

mockumentary A mockumentary (a blend of ''mock'' and ''documentary''), fake documentary or docu-comedy is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events but presented as a documentary. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on c ...

'' David Holzman's Diary'' in 1967 as the title character, a man so obsessed with filmmaking that he allows his obsession to take over his life and ruin his relationships. The two teamed up again in the early 1980s, sharing screenplay credits for the 1983 remake of '' Breathless''; this starred

Richard Gere Richard Tiffany Gere ( ; born August 31, 1949) is an American actor. He began in films in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in '' Looking for Mr. Goodbar'' (1977) and a starring role in ''Days of Heaven'' (1978). He came to prominence with ...

Valérie Kaprisky Valérie Kaprisky ( Chérès; born 19 August 1962) is a French actress. Life and career She was born Valerie Chérès on 19 August 1962 in Neuilly-sur-Seine. Kaprisky is her Polish mother's maiden name. She is of Greek-Ottoman and Argentine de ...

and, in a bit part, Carson's brother David Lee Carson as Mister Maurice. Kit Carson's break-out accomplishment was co-writing, with

Sam Shepard Samuel Shepard Rogers III (November 5, 1943 – July 27, 2017) was an American actor, playwright, author, screenwriter, and director whose career spanned half a century. He won 10 Obie Awards for writing and directing, the most by any write ...

, the screenplay for the 1984 film ''

Paris, Texas Paris is a city and county seat of Lamar County, Texas, United States. Located in Northeast Texas at the western edge of the Piney Woods, the population of the city was 24,171 in 2020. History Present-day Lamar County was part of Red River ...

'', which featured his son

Hunter Carson Hunter Carson (born December 26, 1975) is an American actor, screenwriter, producer and director. He is the son of actress Karen Black and film director L. M. Kit Carson. In 1986, he was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Best Starring Pe ...

in his film debut. Kit Carson also penned the screenplay for the 1986 horror

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 o ...

'' The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2''.

Personal life and death

Carson had a son, actor Hunter Carson, with his former wife Karen Black, to whom he was married from 1975 until 1983. L. M. Kit Carson died in his sleep of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severit ...

on October 20, 2014, in his native

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

, aged 73.

Filmography

Films

*'' David Holzman's Diary'' (1967) - actor *'' The American Dreamer'' (with

Lawrence Schiller Lawrence Julian Schiller (born December 28, 1936) is an American photojournalist, film producer, director and screenwriter. Career Schiller was born in 1936 in Brooklyn to Jewish parents and grew up outside of San Diego, California. After atten ...

) (1971) - director *'' Breathless'' (1983) - writer *''

'' (1984) - writer *'' The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2'' (1986) - writer *'' Running on Empty'' (1988) - actor *''

Hurricane Streets ''Hurricane Streets'' (also known as ''Hurricane'') is a 1997 American coming-of-age drama film directed and written by Morgan J. Freeman in his feature directorial debut. It shows the story of Marcus ( Brendan Sexton III), a teenage inner-city ...

'' (1997) - actor *''

Bullfighter A bullfighter (or matador) is a performer in the activity of bullfighting. ''Torero'' () or ''toureiro'' (), both from Latin ''taurarius'', are the Spanish and Portuguese words for bullfighter and describe all the performers in the activity ...

'' (2000) - writer, producer *'' CQ'' (2001) - actor *''

Perfume Perfume (, ; french: parfum) is a mixture of fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds (fragrances), fixatives and solvents, usually in liquid form, used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living-spaces an agreeable scent ...

'' (2001) - writer, producer

Television

*''

Miami Vice ''Miami Vice'' is an American crime drama television series created by Anthony Yerkovich and produced by Michael Mann (director), Michael Mann for NBC. The series stars Don Johnson as James "Sonny" Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo ...

'' - Season 5 Episode 13, "The Cell Within" - actor

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Carson, L.M. Kit 1941 births 2014 deaths American male film actors American male screenwriters American male television actors Deaths from pneumonia in Texas Film producers from Texas Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas alumni Male actors from Dallas Screenwriters from Texas University of Dallas alumni