Haller was born in
Glendale, California on September 14, 1929. He studied at the
Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles. In 1953, Haller started as an art director in television and then later made
low budget feature films. Haller designed sets for
Roger Corman's
Edgar Allan Poe film series, including
House of Usher (1960) and
The Pit and the Pendulum (1961). Haller directed his first film,
Die, Monster, Die!, in 1965 for
American International Pictures, based on
H. P. Lovecraft's
short story "
The Colour Out of Space". After directing two motorcycle pictures, ''
Devil's Angels (1967) and The Wild Racers (1968), Haller filmed another Lovecraft adaptation, The Dunwich Horror (1970). That same year he directed his sole studio film, Pieces of Dreams''(1970) starring Robert Forster and Lauren Hutton for United Artists. It was nominated for the Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Original Song. From 1972, all of Haller's subsequent work has been in television, including directing episodes of
Night Gallery,
Kojak,
Sara,
Battlestar Galactica,
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and the pilot episode of
Knight Rider. Haller died on December 18, 2024, at the age of 95. ==References==