Wes Bishop(1932-1993)

Writer/actor/producer Wes Bishop frequently collaborated with exploitation filmmaker Lee Frost on a bunch of enjoyably down-'n'-dirty drive-in features made throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Bishop was born as Charles Pelletieri on September 12, 1932, in Nashville, Tennessee. He served a hitch in the US army as a paratrooper and intelligence officer in the Korean War. He and Frost first crossed paths in the early 1960s on the tongue-in-cheek softcore horror comedy Le vampire érotique (1962). Their subsequent cinematic ventures include the trailblazing Nazisploitation outing Le Camp spécial N° 7 (1969), the gritty Chain Gang Women (1971), the passable biker opus Chrome and Hot Leather (1971), the hilariously campy La chose à deux têtes (1972), the immensely fun Cette femme est un flic (1974), the gnarly blaxploitation winner Black Gestapo (1975) and the rowdy redneck romp Dynamite express (1976). In addition, Frost often had sizable supporting roles in their movies; he's especially memorable as trouble-making convict Coleman in "Chain Gang Women" and sleazy mobster Ernest in "The Black Gestapo." In addition, Frost and Bishop wrote the witty and inspired script for Jack Starrett's terrific Satan-worship/car-chase horror/action treat Course contre l'enfer (1975); Bishop also produced the picture and appears in a minor part as a small-town deputy.

Bishop did guest spots on such TV series as Perry Mason (1957), Combat! (1962), Bonanza (1959) and Le grand Chaparral (1967). Wes Bishop died at age 60 from a liver ailment on June 25, 1993.