- Born
- Died
- Birth nameWilliam Brent Girdler
- Nicknames
- Billy
- Bill
- Height5′ 8″ (1.73 m)
- Born October 22, 1947 in Jefferson County, Kentucky, William Brent Girdler launched his filmmaking career with the 1972 release of Asylum of Satan. He made a total of nine films in six years and provided the music for the Pat Patterson quickie Dr. Gore. Girdler died in a helicopter accident in the Philippines after completing his final movie The Manitou.
Girdler wore many hats in respect to his filmmaking, writing six of his nine films and composing the music for three. He also produced two of his own movies. His early works were filmed in his hometown of Louisville, KY with the assistance of many friends and local investors. Girdler's first two low budget horror entries, Asylum of Satan and Three on a Meathook, made only a slight impact on the drive-in movie scene, but they got his foot in the door with Sam Arkoff and AIP. Girdler subsequently made three blaxploitation films: Zebra Killer, Abby, and Sheba Baby. After his AIP stint ended, Girdler directed the political thriller Project Kill starring Leslie Nielsen. Eager to return to horror, Girdler sought finances from Edward Montoro and thus brought Grizzly and Day of the Animals into the world. Girdler hoped to strike gold when he bought the rights to Graham Masterton's 1976 best-selling novel 'The Manitou' for $50,000, and he did just that. Within three months of securing the rights, Girdler began shooting the movie with Tony Curtis and Susan Strasberg in the leading roles.
William Girdler's most successful effort is Grizzly, a bleak Jaws knockoff starring a giant fuzzy bear. Made on a fairly tight budget, Grizzly ranked among the most successful films of 1976. Abby, a 1974 Exorcist rip-off which prompted a lawsuit from Warner Brothers, was also a box-office hit and made more money via domestic rentals than Blacula. Legal issues prevented Girdler from seeing profits for both films. Other box office hits born of Girdler include the Pam Grier vehicle Sheba Baby and The Manitou (a posthumous hit).- IMDb Mini Biography By: www.williamgirdler.com
- SpouseAvis Smith(July 1977 - January 21, 1978) (his death)
- Frequently uses (odd and low) music by Ragland, Robert O. and Schifrin, Lalo
- Died when the helicopter in which he was a passenger hit electrical power lines and crashed. He was 30 years old.
- Sued Film Ventures Internatonal chief Edward L. Montoro for profits from Grizzly (1976).
- He was a big fan of Alfred Hitchcock.
- Frequently used music by Lalo Schifrin and Robert O. Ragland.
- [Starlog issue 13, 1978] The Manitou (1978) was something that was never done before. So I did it. It's a cross between The Exorcist (1973) and Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977). It has a lot of shock in it as well. I'm a director who believes a lot in the instant shock theory as well as build up shock. Under the [Alfred Hitchcock] theory, it's better to build an audience up, then get them to relax, then hit them over the head with everything you got. It keeps them constantly tense.
- I know what my other pictures were. I know what was bad about them. I also know that they were pretty good when you consider how inexpensively they were made. Anybody should be able to make a good movie if they spend $20 million the way they did on The Exorcist (1973). Comparatively speaking, for what we spent on it, Abby (1974) was probably a better picture than "The Exorcist."
- Other people learned how to make movies in film schools. I learned by doing it. Nobody saw [William Friedkin's] or Steven Spielberg's mistakes, but all my mistakes were right up there on the screen for everybody to see.
- I love making movies so much that hard work doesn't bother me. I work 12 hours a day, seven days a week. Some days, I'm so excited about what we're doing I can't wait to get out of bed the next morning and start again. If I were an attorney or running a factory, I would probably die or spend all my time on a golf course. I would have been miserable and ended up an alcoholic by the time I was 30.
- I'm constantly called an egomaniac, but you have to have an ego to survive. I don't pretend to be anything I'm not. I don't think I'll ever be a D.W. Griffith.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content