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Harry Essex is a Director, Scriptwriter, Producer and Additional Dialogue American born on 29 november 1910

Harry Essex

Harry Essex
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Nationality USA
Birth 29 november 1910
Death 6 february 1997 (at 86 years)

Harry Essex, né le 29 novembre 1910 à New York dans l’état de New York et décédé le 5 février 1997 à Los Angeles en Californie, est un réalisateur, scénariste, producteur, écrivain et dramaturge américain. Il est notamment connu pour être le premier réalisateur à avoir mis en scène au cinéma le personnage du détective privé Mike Hammer. Il est également connu pour ses nombreux scénarios, notamment de films policiers et noirs écrits dans les années 1950.

Biography

Après avoir été diplôme de l'Université de Saint John en 1936, il travaille comme journaliste pour le The Daily Mirror et le The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Il publie également des nouvelles dans les magazines Collier's Weekly et The Saturday Evening Post et écrit des pièces de théâtre. Sa création Something for Nothing est notamment joué à Broadway, sans succès. Il s'oriente alors vers le cinéma et participe à l'écriture du film d'horreur L'Échappé de la chaise électrique (Man Made Monster) de George Waggner.

Il est engagé dans la United States Army Signal Corps pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Il quitte l'armée en 1946 et est engagé comme scénariste par la Columbia. Pour elle, il signe de nombreux scénarios de la fin des années 1940 au milieu des années 1950. Dès 1946, il écrit ainsi le scénario du film policier Boston Blackie and the Law de D. Ross Lederman, l’un des nombreux films de la série consacré au détective privé Boston Blackie produite dans les années 1940. Il écrit ensuite le scénario des films policiers Dragnet de Leslie Goodwins et Bodyguard de Richard Fleischer.

En 1951, il s'inspire de l'émission de radio The Fat Man réalisé autour de l’œuvre de Dashiell Hammett pour signer le scénario du film policier The Fat Man de William Castle. Pour Phil Karlson, il travaille ensuite sur le film noir Le Quatrième homme (Kansas City Confidential). La même année, il utilise une histoire de Jay Dratler pour écrire le scénario d'un autre film policier, Scandale à Las Vegas (The Las Vegas Story), de Robert Stevenson.

En 1953, il adapte pour Jack Arnold une nouvelle de Ray Bradbury, travail qui donne le film Le Météore de la nuit (It Came from Outer Space). Il adapte ensuite une nouvelle d’Ivan Tors pour Fred F. Sears qui réalise le film sur la guerre froide The 49th Man . La même année, il passe à la réalisation avec le film policier J'aurai ta peau (I, the Jury), écrit d’après le roman éponyme de l’écrivain américain Mickey Spillane. Il s’agit de la première apparition du détective privé Mike Hammer au cinéma.

En 1955, il écrit le scénario du film d'horreur L'Étrange Créature du lac noir (Creature from the Black Lagoon) pour Jack Arnold. Il participe comme consultant aux deux suites produites par le studio Universal, La Revanche de la créature (Revenge of the Creature) du même Jack Arnold en 1955 et La créature est parmi nous (The Creature Walks Among Us) de John F. Sherwood en 1956. Il s'essaie ensuite au western avec le scénario du premier film de John Sherwood, La Proie des hommes (Raw Edge) puis signe Jicop le proscrit (The Lonely Man) de Henry Levin en 1957.

Il travaille ensuite pour la télévision en écrivant des scénarios d'épisodes pour des séries télévisées. En 1971, il réalise un troisième film, Octaman, un film de monstre avec l’actrice italienne Pier Angeli dont c’est le dernier rôle au cinéma. Il tourne un dernier film d'horreur en 1972, The Cremators.

Il décède en 1997 à l'âge de 86 ans et est enterré au Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery à Los Angeles.

Usually with

Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Harry Essex (25 films)

Display filmography as list

Director

The Cremators, 1h15
Directed by Harry Essex
Origin USA
Genres Science fiction, Horror
Rating26% 1.348781.348781.348781.348781.34878
Octaman
Octaman (1971)
, 1h16
Directed by Harry Essex
Origin USA
Genres Science fiction, Horror
Actors Pier Angeli, Kerwin Mathews, Jeff Morrow, Read Morgan, David Essex, Jerome Guardino
Rating34% 1.720371.720371.720371.720371.72037
A scientific expedition to a remote Mexican fishing community, led by Dr. Rick Torres (Kerwin Mathews) and Susan Lowry (Pier Angeli), discovers unhealthy amounts of radiation in the local waters. They find a small mutant octopus that can crawl on land, and Torres travels back to the States to present his findings, hoping to be granted more funding. Reception from the scientific establishment is lukewarm, so Torres makes a deal with Johnny Caruso, a circus owner who is interested in the bizarre mutation as a carny act. After their departure, a humanoid octopus, Octaman, attacks the camp and slaughters the remaining crew.
I, the Jury, 1h27
Directed by Harry Essex
Origin USA
Genres Noir, Crime
Actors Biff Elliot, Preston Foster, Peggie Castle, Margaret Sheridan, Alan Reed, Mary Anderson
Rating60% 3.0479353.0479353.0479353.0479353.047935
Shortly before Christmas in New York City, one-armed insurance investigator Jack Williams (Robert Swanger) is looking at a college yearbook photo of John Hansen when someone slips into his apartment and shoots him to death. Hot-headed private investigator Mike Hammer (Biff Elliot), Jack's war buddy, vows to avenge his friend's death despite a warning from Pat Chambers (Preston Foster), captain of the homicide squad, to let the police handle the case. Pat is unable to calm Mike, who roughs up a wisecracking reporter before leaving the crime scene. Knowing that Mike will forge ahead with an investigation regardless of his advice, Pat urges the offended reporter to publish an article disclosing that Mike is on the job.

Scriptwriter

Deaf Smith & Johnny Ears, 1h31
Directed by Paolo Cavara
Genres Western
Themes Films about disabilities, Buddy films
Actors Anthony Quinn, Franco Nero, Pamela Tiffin, Franco Graziosi, Adolfo lastretti, Antonino Faà di Bruno
Roles Writer
Rating55% 2.754292.754292.754292.754292.75429
The Republic of Texas has just gained its independence from Mexico. Erastus "Deaf" Smith, who is a deaf mute, and his partner Johnny Ears are sent by President Sam Houston to stop general Morton, who plots against the annexation of Texas by the USA.
The Cremators, 1h15
Directed by Harry Essex
Origin USA
Genres Science fiction, Horror
Roles Ecrivain
Rating26% 1.348781.348781.348781.348781.34878
Octaman
Octaman (1971)
, 1h16
Directed by Harry Essex
Origin USA
Genres Science fiction, Horror
Actors Pier Angeli, Kerwin Mathews, Jeff Morrow, Read Morgan, David Essex, Jerome Guardino
Rating34% 1.720371.720371.720371.720371.72037
A scientific expedition to a remote Mexican fishing community, led by Dr. Rick Torres (Kerwin Mathews) and Susan Lowry (Pier Angeli), discovers unhealthy amounts of radiation in the local waters. They find a small mutant octopus that can crawl on land, and Torres travels back to the States to present his findings, hoping to be granted more funding. Reception from the scientific establishment is lukewarm, so Torres makes a deal with Johnny Caruso, a circus owner who is interested in the bizarre mutation as a carny act. After their departure, a humanoid octopus, Octaman, attacks the camp and slaughters the remaining crew.
The Sons of Katie Elder, 1h57
Directed by Henry Hathaway
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Action, Adventure, Western
Themes Films about families
Actors John Wayne, Dean Martin, Martha Hyer, Michael Anderson Jr., Earl Holliman, George Kennedy
Rating70% 3.5492953.5492953.5492953.5492953.549295
The four adult sons of Katie Elder – John (John Wayne), who is a famous (or infamous) professional gunman; Tom (Dean Martin), a professional gambler; Bud (Michael Anderson, Jr.), the youngest brother, still in school; and Matt (Earl Holliman), an unsuccessful hardware dealer – reunite in their hometown of Clearwaters, Texas (approximately 2 hours east of Dallas, Texas), in 1898 for their mother's funeral, sharing regret that none of them has lived up to her high expectations of them.
The Lonely Man, 1h28
Directed by Henry Levin
Origin USA
Genres Action, Western
Actors Jack Palance, Anthony Perkins, Neville Brand, Robert Middleton, Elisha Cook, Jr., Claude Akins
Roles Ecrivain
Rating63% 3.1967353.1967353.1967353.1967353.196735
Un tireur d'élite tente de revenir à un métier honorable, mais il est rejeté par son fils.
Raw Edge
Raw Edge (1956)

Directed by John Sherwood
Origin USA
Genres Romance, Western
Actors Rory Calhoun, Yvonne De Carlo, Mara Corday, Neville Brand, Rex Reason, Emile Meyer
Rating60% 3.0002153.0002153.0002153.0002153.000215
En 1842, dans l'Oregon, des hommes s'affrontent pour l'amour d'une femme.
Creature from the Black Lagoon, 1h19
Directed by Jack Arnold
Origin USA
Genres Science fiction, Fantastic, Adventure, Horror
Actors Richard Carlson, Julie Adams, Richard Denning, Ben Chapman, Antonio Moreno, Nestor Paiva
Rating68% 3.449013.449013.449013.449013.44901
A geology expedition in the Amazon uncovers fossilized evidence from the Devonian period of a link between land and sea animals in the form of a skeletal hand with webbed fingers. Expedition leader Dr. Carl Maia (Antonio Moreno) visits his friend and former student, Dr. David Reed (Richard Carlson), an ichthyologist who works at an aquarium in California and has been a guest at Maia's marine biology institute in Brazil for over a month. Reed persuades his boss, the financially-minded Dr. Mark Williams (Richard Denning), to fund a return expedition to the Amazon to look for the remainder of the skeleton.
Southwest Passage, 1h15
Directed by Ray Nazarro
Origin USA
Genres Western
Actors Rod Cameron, Joanne Dru, John Ireland, John Dehner, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, Darryl Hickman
Roles Idea
Rating57% 2.855032.855032.855032.855032.85503
This script must be run from the command line
It Came from Outer Space, 1h21
Directed by Jack Arnold
Origin USA
Genres Science fiction, Horror
Themes Films based on science fiction novels
Actors Richard Carlson, Barbara Rush, Charles Drake, Joe Sawyer, Russell Johnson, Dave Willock
Rating64% 3.2480453.2480453.2480453.2480453.248045
Author and amateur astronomer John Putnam (Richard Carlson) and schoolteacher Ellen Fields (Barbara Rush) watch a large meteorite crash near the small town of Sand Rock, Arizona. At the crash site, Putnam notices a strange, partially buried object lodged in the large crater; he comes to the realization that it wasn't a meteorite that crashed but a large alien spaceship. After a landslide completely covers the mysterious spacecraft, his story is later scoffed at by the townspeople of Sand Rock, including its sheriff (Charles Drake), and the local media.
The 49th Man, 1h13
Origin USA
Genres Thriller
Themes Political films
Actors John Ireland, Richard Denning, Peter Marshall, Robert Foulk, Suzanne Dalbert, Mike Connors
Rating59% 2.953822.953822.953822.953822.95382
After a fatal car crash in Lordsburg, New Mexico, investigators find a mysterious machine component that they turn over to the nearby Los Alamos National Laboratory for identification. Scientists there declare that it is one component of an advanced portable nuclear weapon designed by an unknown, presumably hostile power. The discovery prompts Paul Reagan (Richard Denning), chief of the Security Investigation Division (SID), to send agent John Williams (John Ireland) to investigate the source of these components and to prevent them from being assembled into a functioning weapon. As more parts are smuggled into the United States, the investigation expands and a pattern begins to emerge which points to Marseilles, France.
Devil's Canyon, 1h32
Directed by Alfred L. Werker
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Action, Crime, Western
Actors Virginia Mayo, Dale Robertson, Arthur Hunnicutt, Stephen McNally, Robert Keith, Jay C. Flippen
Roles Adaptation
Rating54% 2.7091852.7091852.7091852.7091852.709185
Arizona, 1897: A female outlaw, Abby Nixon, warns a lawman, Billy Reynolds, that her accomplices Bud and Cole Gorman are nearby. Reynolds manages to kill both in a gunfight, but finds himself arrested for murder, convicted and sentenced to a desert prison known as Devil's Canyon.