Ed Wood

Edward D. Wood Jr. (or Ed Wood, as he was most commonly known) was an American screenwriter, film director, actor, producer, editor, author, war veteran, ex-side show freak, and crossdresser. He has famously been cited as being The Worst Director Of All Time due to the clumsy, rushed look of his films, their cheaply made special effects, and many technical errors. But it was with Wood's immense passion for film, his love of the craft, and his enthusiasm at his job, that he has also become an inspiration for many of his fans who understand that no matter how bad of a director he was, at least he chased his dreams.

Born on October 10, 1924, Wood's passion for film began almost immediately. During his childhood he was known to have adored movies and at 12 years old he had acquired his first camera. His first paying job was even as an usher at a cinema. It was at movie theaters such as these where Wood first began salvaging stills from movies that the theaters had left out for the trash.

Also during his childhood Ed Wood first began his lifelong love for crossdressing. It is said that his mother, who had always longed for a girl, dressed her son in girls clothing. She would continue dressing her son up like this up until he was around 12 years old. The habit never left Ed Wood and he continued to wear women's clothing openly for the rest of his life (his favorites were angora sweaters); it is believed that he even wore a bra and panties beneath his uniform when he was in the Marines.

Wood's first big break in the film making business was with the semi-autobiographical film about transvestism, entitled Glen or Glenda. This was also the first Ed Wood film to feature horror movie legend Bela Lugosi. Lugosi, who had become typecast and was having troubles finding a job, was in his latter years when he began his friendship and working relationship with Ed Wood, and Wood used Lugosi's name to help get the studios to recognize his scripts and help him get his movies made. The two made several films together, including the cult classic Plan 9 From Outer Space, which was shot after Lugosi's death (using film footage Wood had leftover and a lookalike who stood in for Lugosi's character by covering the lower half of his face with a cape during all of his scenes). During Wood's final years he had resorted to making mostly nudie and exploitation films, and wrote many pulp, horror, and sex novels and short stories. Up until his death in 1978, Wood had written over 80 novels in addition to hundreds of short stories and non-fiction pieces for magazines

While he never received much recognition during his lifetime, Wood, as a person and a film maker, has since become a legend in his own right. In 1994, director Tim Burton made a film about Wood's life that starred Martin Landau and Johnny Depp, and won 2 Academy Awards.

Did you know...

• He prided himself on the fact that he was the only filmmaker of his era other than Welles to be writer, director, and actor in his own films, although it is likely that Wood took on all of these functions to save time and money.
• The continued interest in Wood led to two of his steamy adult paperbacks being reset and republished. They included "Death of a Transvestite" (1967, aka "Let Me Die in Drag") republished in 1995 and 1999, and "Killer in Drag" (1965) that was republished in 1999.
• A surviving non-fiction manuscript, supposedly written by Wood, about working in Hollywood was published as "Hollywood Rat Race" in December 1998.
• His first wife, Norma McCarty, kicked him out of their house on their wedding night when she discovered he was wearing women's underwear. The marriage was never consummated, serving as grounds for an annulment less than six months later.
• Upon returning to the US following WWII, he briefly attended Northwestern University in Chicago before joining a travelling carnival where he started out as the Geek, biting the heads off of live chickens, before becoming the Bearded Lady.
• Enlisted in the US Marine Corps in May of 1942. His claims to wearing women's underwear in battle never seem to distract him from his duty: In addition to taking part in combat in the Marshall Islands and Naumea, he also survived the bloody battle for Tarawa. By all accounts he was a fierce combat soldier. During the invasion he had most of his front teeth knocked out in hand-to-hand combat with a Japanese soldier. Wood later served in a G-2 (intelligence) unit in the South Pacific, until he was machine-gunned up one of his legs which then became gangrenous. He served out the remainder of his time as an office typist, and was honorably discharged in 1944. He was decorated with the Silver and Bronze Stars, two Purple Hearts, and Sharpshooter's Medal. By all accounts, Wood was an exemplary combat soldier.
• Born October 10th, the same day that his idol Orson Welles died many years later.
• Four of his films have been lampooned on the television series "Mystery Science Theater 3000" (1988): The Unearthly (1957), Bride of the Monster (1955), The Violent Years (1956) and The Sinister Urge (1960). MST's producers considered including Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959), but found it had too much dialog for the show's format, and that it would make too obvious a target, stating that "Everyone's made fun of 'Plan 9 From Outer Space'." Series regular and head writer Michael J. Nelson would, however, go on to do an audio commentary for a 2006 DVD release.
• Hired Lyle Talbot and Bela Lugosi at the nadir of their careers. Both actors would be paid off daily in cash, not necessarily by their demands (although Lugosi was often insistent due to his heroin habit). Wood habitually paid off everyone, cast and crew, in cash. In the last few years of his life this habit led to him being rolled stumbling out of liquor stores in the seedy neighborhood he lived in.
• At the time of his death, the industry newspaper, Variety, failed to run his obituary.

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