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1-5 of 5
- Producer
- Additional Crew
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James H. Nicholson was a longtime theater owner and exhibitor and worked as a promo man for Realart Pictures prior to 1954, when he founded American Releasing Corp., Two years later, he decided he wanted to expand globally and, with lawyer Samuel Z. Arkoff, formed American International Pictures. The company turned out hundreds of movies over the next 35 years. AIP discovered an audience that was being ignored by mainstream Hollywood--teenagers--and in its early years, it turned out movies about monsters, hot rods and rock'n'roll, and the drive-ins filled with kids. In the 1960s, AIP turned out a string of zany, inexpensive but highly profitable "Beach Party" movies full of sand, songs, surf and (tame) sex. In 1964, 48-year-old Nicholson divorced his wife Sylvia and married 24-year-old actress Susan Hart. When the biker craze hit, AIP was there with The Wild Angels (1966). Nicholson continued to make AIP movies until June 1972, when he resigned as AIP's president and immediately formed a new company, Academy Pictures Corp., headquartered at the brand new Luckman Building, 9200 Sunset Blvd. He soon announced a six-picture deal with 20th Century Fox, who had sought him out. The six pictures included "The Legend of Hell House," "Dirty Mary Crazy Larry," "The Blackfather," "Street People" and "The Thousand Year Old Man," the latter based on a Nicholson original. (The sixth title, unannounced, was to have been "Death Race," on which he had collaborated with his good friend Robert Thom. Nicholson re-titled it "Death Race 2000.") In December 1972, two of those movies were "in the can" when Nicholson died of lung cancer that had metastasized. "Dirty Mary Crazy Larry," budgeted at $1,000,000, reaped $28,000,000, 20th's largest grossing film of that year; it has been reported that its huge profits enabled 20th to make "Star Wars." In the meantime, the floundering AIP became a subsidiary of Filmways, with Filmways' head Richard Bloch now calling the shots. When Arkoff left Filmways in 1980, he attempted to follow in Nicholson's footsteps, basing his new distribution company Arkoff International Picture (notice the identical initials, AIP) at 9200 Sunset. It was responsible for just one theatrical release, the sex- and nudity-filled "Hellhole" (1985).- Hakki Derman was born on 30 January 1907 in Istanbul, Turkey. He was an actor, known for Istanbul geceleri (1950) and Tas bebek (1960). He died on 10 December 1972 in Istanbul, Turkey.
- Camera and Electrical Department
Harry L. Underwood was born on 22 November 1907 in Kansas, USA. He is known for Big Daddy (1969) and Tank Battalion (1958). He died on 10 December 1972 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actress
- Music Department
Chia-Hua Hsieh was born in 1927 in China. She was an actress, known for Yin hai xian ge chu chu wen (1957), Tian tang mei nu (1954) and Man cheng feng yu (1947). She died on 10 December 1972 in Hong Kong, China.- American Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and literary critic, Mark Van Doren was born on June 13, 1894. He graduated from the University of Illinois in 1914, and earned his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1920. He was the brother of Carl Clinton Van Doren (1885-1950), a noted historian and author. Van Doren was a brilliant and dedicated English teacher at Columbia for 39 years. Filmmaker Stanley Kubrick monitored his classes at Columbia. He served on the staff of "The Nation" intermittently during the 1920s and 1930s. His many published works included a collaboration with brother Carl on "American and British Literature since 1890" (1939), the play "The Last Days of Lincoln," critical studies, collections of poems, stories, and the memoirs of his wife, Dorothy Graffe Van Doren. The Toronto-based band Our Lady Peace, formed in 1992, took its name from one of Van Doren's poems. Mark Van Doren was awarded the coveted literary prize for his 1940 "Collected Poems." Van Doren was interred at Cornwall Hollow Cemetery in Connecticut in 1972.