William Girdler(1947-1978)

Born on October 22, 1947 in Jefferson County, Kentucky, William Brent Girdler launched his filmmaking career with the release of the horror film "Asylum of Satan" (1972). He made a total of nine films in six years and provided the music for Pat Patterson's quickie horror film "Dr. Gore". Girdler died in a helicopter accident at the age of 30 in the Philippines that happened when the helicopter hit electrical power lines and crashed after he had completed his final film, "The Manitou" (1978).Girdler wore many hats in respect to his filmmaking, writing six of his nine films and composing the music for three of those six films. He also produced two of his own films. His early works were filmed in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky with the assistance of many friends and local investors. Girdler's first two films, two low budget horror films named "Asylum of Satan" and "Three on a Meathook", made only a slight impact on the drive-in movie scene, but they did get his foot in the door with Sam Arkoff and American International Pictures. Girdler then made three blaxploitation films for the studio: "The Zebra Killer", "Abby" and "Sheba Baby". After his time at AIP ended, Girdler directed the political thriller film "Project Kill" starring Leslie Nielsen. Eager to return to horror, Girdler sought financing from Edward L. Montoro and thus brought the two horror films "Grizzly" (1976) and "Day of the Animals" (1977) into the world. He then hoped to strike gold again when he bought the rights to Graham Masterton's best-selling horror novel "The Manitou" (1976) for $50,000 and to everyone's surprise, he did just that. Within three months of securing the rights to the novel, Girdler began shooting the film with Tony Curtis and Susan Strasberg in the starring roles.William Girdler's most successful film of all was "Grizzly", an imitation of the film "Jaws" (1975) featuring a man-eating grizzly bear instead of a man-eating great white shark. Made on a fairly tight budget, "Grizzly" ranked among the most successful films of 1976. "Abby" (1974), a blaxploitation rip-off of "The Exorcist" which prompted a lawsuit from Warner Brothers that Warner ultimately lost, was also a box office hit and made more money via domestic rentals than the earlier blaxploitaion horror film "Blacula" (1972) did. Legal problems prevented Girdler from seeing profits for both films. Other box office hits that Girdler made include the blaxploitation film "Sheba Baby", starring Pam Grier, and "The Manitou" (a posthumous hit).