Michel Levesque(1943-2010)

Michel Levesque was born on August 22, 1943 in Pennsville, New Jersey. His parents were Canadian immigrants. Levesque moved to Los Angeles, California in 1961. After graduating from Cal State Northridge University, Michel built sets for community theater productions. His first film gig was for legendary independent director/producer Roger Corman on Corman's 1967 movie "The Trip." Michel also worked for Corman on the films "Naked Angels" and "Bloody Mama." In the early 70s Levesque teamed with writing partner David M. Kaufman. Michel directed two low-budget 70s exploitation flicks: the cruddy horror clunker "Werewolves on Wheels" and the enjoyable chicks-in-chains outing "Sweet Sugar." Levesque then moved to Europe and co-wrote two movies for the Dutch Cultural Commission. Michel went back to America and resumed his career as an art director in 1975. He worked for notorious soft-core cult director Russ Meyer on three pictures: "Supervixens," "Up!," and "Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens." Among the films he worked as a production designer on are "The Incredible Melting Man," "The Night Before," "Homer and Eddie," and "The Package." Moreover, Levesque handled art director duties on a handful of projects that include "Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw," "Cannonball!," "Foxes," "Borderline," and episodes of the TV series "Hunter" and "Renegade." In 1989 Michel quit working in the film industry and joined forces again with Kaufman to form Digital Video Theatre so he could produce and direct a series of digital video shorts. In more recent years Levesque pursued his love for music by studying jazz piano and composing a cabaret musical. In September, 2009 he married Colleen Kennedy, who was his life partner for thirty years. Michel died of cancer at age 66 on May 14, 2010 at his home in Los Angeles, California.