Stanley Sheff

Stanley Sheff is a Los Angeles-based director, editor, and writer whose career spans network television, cult cinema, live theater, and experimental storytelling. He is the only filmmaker to have shared a co-directing credit with Orson Welles, having collaborated with him on The Orson Welles Show (1979) - Welles' final completed work.

Sheff began his career with his first feature film, Sinister Flesh (1976), a black-and-white horror spoof that received critical acclaim among horror and science fiction fans. He and writing partner Bob Greenberg sold their first screenplay, Revenge Of The Saucermen, to American-International Pictures, and later collaborated on L'homme homard venu de Mars (1989), a science-fiction comedy that Sheff directed. Starring Tony Curtis, Billy Barty, and Patrick Macnee, the film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival and became a cult favorite.

Sheff went on to direct and edit major network and cable specials, including:

An NBC-TV special, TV - The Fabulous Fifties, featuring Lucille Ball, Red Skelton, Dinah Shore, Mary Martin, Michael Landon, and David Janssen

Marilyn Beck's Second Annual Hollywood Out-Takes (1978) with George Burns

Amos 'n' Andy: Anatomy of a Controversy (1983)

Chevy Chase & Friends (1978) starring Chevy Chase, a comedy special for HBO

Motown Returns to the Apollo (1985), an Emmy award winning show

Vincent Price: The Sinister Image (1987), a one-hour interview with Vincent Price that aired on the A&E Network as part of the Biography (1987) series

He also worked with Antenne 2 (French Television), directing and editing international documentaries, and later co-founded a video post-production company in Hollywood - where he began working exclusively with Welles on The Orson Welles Show, which featured Burt Reynolds, Angie Dickinson, and The Muppets.

In addition to film and television, Sheff produced, directed, and performed a popular comedy radio show on KROQ-FM Los Angeles called The Young Marquis And Stanley. He also applied his talents to directing and performing for the stage, including:

The comedy improvisational group The Plush Life Players in The Plush Life, a live sitcom-style serial

A role as Professor Klystron in Queen Of Outer Space: The Musical

Dancing Cavalcade - Swing of the 1920s and 1930s, Vaudeville Comes Home, The Black Pirate Musical Spectacular, and Broadway Confidential for the Los Angeles Conservancy

These stage productions played to sold-out audiences of over two thousand at the historic Orpheum Theatre in downtown Los Angeles.

Sheff resides in Los Angeles, where he continues to write, produce, and direct new cinematic projects that integrate stylized storytelling with emerging technologies such as AI-driven visuals and virtual LED stage production.