John Hayes(1930-2000)

John Patrick Hayes was a writer, director, editor, producer and occasional actor who made a wide variety of offbeat and interesting low-budget independent pictures throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Born in New York, he began his film career making short movies in the 1950s--his 1958 short "The Kiss" was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. John made his feature-length debut with the obscure drama The Grass Eater (1961). He went on to make a diverse array of drive-in exploitation outings in such sub-genres as World War II potboilers (Groupe de choc (1964), The Cut-Throats (1971)), rowdy redneck romps (The Farmer's Other Daughter (1965), All the Lovin' Kinfolk (1970)), sleazy crime fare (Viol au pensionnat (1973), Mama's Dirty Girls (1974)), horror (Dream No Evil (1970), Le jardin des morts (1972), Bébé vampire (1972)), low-brow comedy (Up Yours (1979)) and even science-fiction (Destruction planète Terre (1977)). In addition to directing, Hayes usually produced and edited, as well as often penning the scripts for his films. He pops up in bit parts in the wholesome Disney family features Un candidat au poil (1976) and Le trésor de Matacumba (1976) (he also has cameo roles in two of his own movies).

His last directing credit was an episode of the horror anthology TV series Histoires de l'autre monde (1983).