- Born
- Died
- Birth nameMonte Jay Himmelbaum
- Monte Hellman was born on July 12, 1929, in New York City, where his parents were visiting, but he grew up in Los Angeles. He studied drama at Stanford University--on an NBC scholarship--and film at UCLA. After a few years directing in summer theater, Hellman hooked up with legendary "B" movie producer Roger Corman in the late 1950s. Corman helped finance Hellman's production of "Waiting For Godot", the the first time that Samuel Beckett's play had been staged in Los Angeles; the Los Angeles Times said it was "directed with wisdom, devotion and perception." Hellman made his film directorial debut with La Bête de la Caverne Hantée (1959) and directed portions of Corman's L'Halluciné (1963).
Hellman joined forces with frequent collaborator Jack Nicholson for two pictures shot back-to-back in the Philippines: Back Door to Hell (1964) and Flight to Fury (1964), then re-teamed with Nicholson for two existential westerns filmed in Utah under similar conditions: The Shooting ou La Mort Tragique de Leland Drum (1966) and L'ouragan de la vengeance (1966). After editing several films for Corman, including Les Anges sauvages (1966), Hellman directed what many consider to be his best work, Macadam à deux voies (1971), which starred Warren Oates and featured singer James Taylor and The Beach Boys' drummer Dennis Wilson in dramatic roles. It was included in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 2012.
Hellman's next film was Cockfighter (1974), an adaptation of Charles Willeford's novel, also starring Oates. Hellman collaborated with the actor once more on the European western China 9, Liberty 37 (1978). After completing Avalanche Express (1979) following the death of its original director, Mark Robson. Hellman made Iguana (1988) and the darkly humorous Douce nuit, sanglante nuit: coma dépassé (1989).
Hellman's work was a major influence on Quentin Tarantino, and he served as executive producer on Tarantino's directorial debut, Reservoir Dogs (1992). After a lengthy absence from the screen, he returned to directing with the short Stanley's Girlfriend (2006), included in the horror anthology Trapped Ashes (2006), and the feature film Road to Nowhere (2010), which won a Special Golden Lion at Venice: the award was presented by jury president Tarantino, who introduced Hellman as "a great cinematic artist and a minimalist poet".
Hellman was one of 70 directors asked to contribute a 90-second movie to _Venice 70: Future Reloaded (2013), which opened the 70th Venice Film Festival in 2013. His latest project is "Love or Die", which is scheduled to commence shooting in Lisbon, Portugal, in March 2014.
-------------- Biography by Woodyanders. Corrected by A. Nonymous. Revised, corrected and updated by Brad Stevens, author of 'Monte Hellman: His Life and Films', in 2014. Corrected by A. Nonymous.- IMDb mini biography by: woodyanders (qv's & corrections by A. Nonymous)
- SpousesLaurie Bird(November 29, 1974 - May 1975) (divorced)Jaclyn Hellman(April 18, 1962 - April 1971) (divorced, 2 children)Barboura Morris(October 31, 1954 - ?) (divorced)Emma Webster (divorced)
- One of 115 people invited to join AMPAS in 2007.
- He was the son of Gertrude (Edelstein) and Fred Himmelbaum. His parents were both born in Missouri, both of them to Russian Jewish immigrants.
- Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume Two, 1945-1985". Pages 418-422. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1988.
- Was member of the dramatic jury at the Sundance Film Festival in 1989.
- Was very angry with good friend and frequent collaborator Warren Oates at the time of the latter's death. Oates had refused to see a doctor for chest pains for weeks before his death and he died at the young age of 53 in 1982. Hellman said he was angry because had Oates seen a doctor he could have gone on to do more great movies.
- [on L'ouragan de la vengeance (1966) and The Shooting ou La Mort Tragique de Leland Drum (1966), which were shot simultaneously but released several years apart] We thought there would be a couple of more Roger Corman movies that would play on the second half of a double bill somewhere. So any thoughts about doing something different were for our own personal satisfaction. We never thought that anybody would ever notice.
- I like to work on a film where it's continually opening up its secrets to me. I think any work of art, not just a film, is a mystery. I think it was Jean Cocteau who said it should reveal its secrets slowly.
- [on Macadam à deux voies (1971)] It's a film about inner life rather than outer life. It's not a film about other films; it's not a pastiche.
- When I was selling Eskimo Pies in Hollywood as a teenager, pushing a wagon around Paramount, Columbia and all the studios, my dream was to have my own parking space in any studio -- I didn't care where. My problem has always been that I've had my little parking space, but I was never in a studio long enough to have my name painted on one.
- I believe the best movies are road movies. The road is very enigmatic. The road is life.
- Macadam à deux voies (1973) - 18,000
- La Bête de la Caverne Hantée (1959) - 1,000
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