Ed Wood

During his childhood, the Ed Wood developed a considerable interest in movies, particularly westerns and anything concerning the occult. He frequently skipped school to take the opportunity to see the latest movies at the local movie theater.

It is said that his mother, who always wanted a girl, would often insist on dressing the young Ed in girls' clothing up until he was aged around 12 years old. As an adult he continued cross-dressing.

Wood was given his first movie camera on his 12th birthday and one of his first pieces of footage that he shot was of the Hindenburg over the Hudson river, just minutes before it famously crashed in flames.

Wood served in the Marines from 1942-1946, joining shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Legend has it that he participated in the Battle of Tarawa secretly wearing women's underwear under his uniform!

Following his discharge from the marines, Wood joined a carnival employing his acting skills for the freak show. Amongst other parts, he played the bearded lady during which he wore women's clothing and the prosthetic breats that he himself had created.

Ed Wood was making movies from 1953 until 1977. His films are notable for their bizarre plots, clumsy dialogue, blatant continuity errors, eccentric casting and frequent use of completely irrelevant stock footage. Ed Wood notariety only really began, however, when two years after his death he was awarded "The Golden Turkey" award as Worst Director of All Time.

Ed Wood's early attempts at breaking into Hollywood were entirely unsuccesful, until that is, in 1953, he was landed the opportunity to direct a movie based on the sex-change of Christine Jorgensen. However, when Jorgensen decided to have nothing to do with the project, Wood took the movie in an entirely different direction.

The result was the semi-autobiographical "Glen or Glenda", in which Wood also took on the starring role. It is the story of a man with a particular liking for cross-dressing and angora sweaters coming to terms with his identity. The movie also features Bela Lugosi in a rather strange narrator role overseeing Glen's life and inner turmoil.

Glen or Glenda was shot in just four days and cost a mere $26,000. This was achieved through shooting up to 30 scenes a day and with extensive use of stock footage.

In 1955 Wood produced and directed his first horror film, "Bride of the Monster". The movie stars Bela Lugosi (in his last speaking role) as Dr Eric Vornoff, a mad scientist whose mission is to create an army of atomic supermen. His henchman "Lobo" is played by former Swedish wrestler Tor Johnson. The female lead part was played by Loretta King who spends most of the movie wearing an angora hat - a reflection of Wood's particular penchant for angora.

"Bride" is padded out with plenty of stock footage of lightning, explosions, a nuclear blast. An "atomic" octopus was inserted is also featured. During the filming of the final scenes, the motor that was needed for the rubber octopus could not be found. Rather that delay production, the by now elderly Bela Lugosi was reduced to flailing around in the mud with the octopus.

Another Wood "classic", Plan 9 is a mixture of horror and science fiction. The story is one of alien invaders who rise zombies from the grave. Despite its subject matter, probably the most expensive special effect was the Cadillac hubcaps that Wood used for the flying saucers. The movie features TV horror host, Vampira, Swedish wrestler, Tor Johnson and Bela Lugosi in his final moments on celuloid. Lugosi tragically died during filming. Wood, never one to underterred, employed his chiropractor as a double for Lugosi, with his face rather obviously hidden behind a cape. The movie was shot in just four days with a cost of just $20,000. Costs were kept down with the help of extensive use of stock footage.

The death of Bela Lugosi meant that Ed Wood lost his biggest star. From this point his already largely unsuccessful career fell into a long drawn out decline. His involvement in movie making from the late 60s and into the 70s was reduced to collaborations on porn movies.

Ed Wood's creative urges were not confined to the movies; he also wrote a number of books. The most famous of these were "A Killer in Drag" and "Death of a Transvestite". Ironically, Wood also wrote a book entitled "The Hollywood Rat Race" on how to find success in the movies.

Wood sadly died as a penniless alcoholic in 1978, aged just 54.

Following his death however, Wood's movies (particularly his earlier work) were re-discovered and achieved cult status. As a result, his work has reached a far wider audience than Wood could ever have hoped for.

Whilst Ed Wood's work demonstrates (or perhaps celebrates) movie making at its most inept, no-one can deny his boundless enthusiasm, his aspiration to push the boundaries and his desire to entertain.

Tim Burton's movie about Ed Wood's life and work, entitled simply "Ed Wood", was released in 1994. It stars Johnny Depp as Ed Wood, and Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi (for which Landau received an Oscar nomination). It is a sympathetic tribute to Wood and his work, depicting him with boundless energy, enthusiasm and a sheer love of the medium in which he worked.