6 Things You Didn’t Know About the Cult Film Director Ed Wood
Whether you think he’s an outsider genius who never got his due, or agree with the characters on Seinfeld that the Wood-directed 1959 film Plan 9 From Outer Space is “the worst movie ever made,” you have to admit that Ed Wood Jr. was an original and would have been 100 on Oct. 10, 2024.
A former commercial director, Wood’s passion for film — paired with his lack of funding, experience and directing skills — led him to become an accidental pioneer in the world of ultra-low budget and exploitation filmmaking. Though he never received much attention for his work in his brief life — he died of a heart attack in 1978, at the age of 54 — Wood’s works went on to gain steam as underground classics in the ’80s. Then, Tim Burton‘s loving (and Academy Award-winning) 1994 biopic Ed Wood introduced him to the wider world. Today, Wood is considered a camp icon and an influence on micro-budget cinema.
What to learn more about about the angora-loving auteur? Then read on.
1He Was A Marine Corporal
Wikimedia Commons/ Public Domain
Though film had been Wood’s passion since childhood (he was known to often skip school to attend film screenings in his hometown of Poughkeepsie, New York), Wood enlisted in the Marines shortly after Pearl Harbor, at the age of 17. Wood served for four years, and was discharged in 1946.
2He Also Worked As a Stunt Double
In 1947, Wood moved to Hollywood to make good on his cinematic dreams. But he was not able to immediately secure film or acting-related work, so he was briefly employed as a stuntman in the 1950 Western, The Baron of Arizona.
3His Ex-Girlfriend Wrote Songs for Elvis
Everett Collection
If you’ve seen Ed Wood, you may recall his early girlfriend, Dolores Fuller (played by Sarah Jessica Parker), who is unsympathetic to Ed’s Hollywood dreams (and desire to wear angora sweaters). Fuller was Wood’s real-life longtime girlfriend, who appeared in several of his movies, including Glen or Glenda — and she did also actually leave him due to his desire to wear women’s clothing.
A struggling actress, Fuller had an unexpected pivot to songwriting while trying to get cast in Elvis’ film Blue Hawaii. She approached one of the film’s producers, with whom she was friendly, in search of a role; he instead connected her with Elvis’ music publishers. She ended up co-writing “Rock-A-Hula Baby” for the film, the beginning of a long collaboration with Presley; she wrote a number of songs for other Elvis films, including “I Got Lucky” and the title song from Spinout.
4His Roommate Co-Founded the Most Important B-Movie Production Company of All Time
Everett Collection
If you’re a fan of B-movies and exploitation films, you know what American International Pictures is. And even if you’re not, you’ve likely heard of some of the company’s biggest films, including Rock ‘n’ Roll High School, Black Sunday and Vincent Price‘s Edgar Allan Poe movies. You’ve also probably heard of their house director, legendary schlockmeister Roger Corman.
Corman was one of four major minds behind AIP; another was Alex Gordon, who had also been Wood’s one-time roommate. Gordon did more than just split the rent with Wood; he also collaborated with him on multiple films, including Jail Bait (1954) and Bride of the Monster (1955).
But his most profound contribution to Wood’s life was introducing him to Bela Lugosi. The actor, who was in declining health, addicted to morphine, and near the end of his life, would become Wood’s closest collaborator.
5Plan 9 From Outer Space Was Bela Lugosi’s Final Film … Sort Of
Everett Collection
After spending several years staging his own plays, making short films, pitching films that could not get funding, and shooting films that could not be finished, Wood completed his first feature film in 1953, the cross-dressing faux documentary Glen or Glenda. This film was his first collaboration with Bela Lugosi, who serves as the narrator (one whose tone is a bit incongruous with the subject matter). They also collaborated on 1955’s Bride of the Monster, and had plans for multiple future projects, including a TV series called Dr. Acula. To this end, Wood shot some silent footage of Lugosi wandering around various locations in a neighborhood, sometimes dressed in his Dracula costume.
Remind The final film Lugosi shot before his death in 1956 was gothic horror film The Black Sheep. However, after Lugosi’s death, Wood began work on a film then called Grave Robbers From Outer Space and decided to incorporate the footage he had previously shot of Lugosi into it. He also marketed it as “Lugosi’s last movie.” He hired his chiropractor to shoot additional footage in Lugosi’s outfit for the film, though the man and Lugosi bore little resemblance. Released in 1959 as Plan 9 From Outer Space, Lugosi’s character is mysterious and unclear … kind of like everything else in the movie.
6He Became Famous for Being “The Worst Director of All Time”
Though Wood got very little professional attention in his lifetime — he died penniless and unable to find steady work — that started to change in 1980, when he was dubbed the Worst Director of All Time in a book called The Golden Turkey Awards. Plan 9 From Outer Space was also singled out as the Worst Film of All Time.
Plan 9 had been aired for years as part of TV horror film packages like Chiller Theater, but after The Golden Turkey Awards, interest in the film jumped. The film was screened on midnight movie circuits, which increased interest in Wood further. The film was the topic of a 1992 documentary called Flying Saucers Over Hollywood, and Wood the man was the subject of the 1992 biography Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D Wood. Burton’s 1994 film, in which Johnny Depp played Wood as an open-hearted, lovable dreamer, cemented Wood’s place in the pantheon of beloved Hollywood outsiders.
Plan 9 is turning 65 this year, and many repertory theaters are hosting screenings. If there’s one in town, consider giving it a watch, and discover for yourself if Ed Wood really was the worst director of all time.
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