Monte Hellman

Monte Hellman was born on July 12, 1929, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, to Gertrude (née Edelstein) and Fred Himmelbaum, who were vacationing in New York at the time of his birth. The family ended up settling in Albany, New York, before relocating to Los Angeles, California, when Hellman was 5 years old. Hellman graduated from Los Angeles High School, and attended Stanford University, graduating in 1951. He then attended graduate school at the University of California, Los Angeles, but did not complete his studies. ==Career==

Hellman was among a group of directing talent mentored by Roger Corman, who produced several of the director's early films. Hellman began by working on "low budget exploitation films with a personal slant," yet learned from Corman the art of producing commercially viable films on a tight budget while staying true to a personal vision. Hellman's most critically acclaimed film is considered to be Two-Lane Blacktop (1971), a road movie that was a box-office failure at the time of its initial release but, according to Danny Peary in 1981, it has become a perennial cult favorite. Hellman's two acid westerns starring Jack Nicholson, Ride in the Whirlwind and The Shooting, both shot in 1965 and premiered at festivals in 1966 before being widely released directly to television in 1968, have also developed followings, particularly the latter. A third western, China 9, Liberty 37 (1978), was far less successful critically, although it too has its admirers, as do Cockfighter (1974) (aka Born to Kill) and Iguana (1988). In 1989, he directed the straight-to-video slasher film Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! In addition to his directorial career, Hellman worked on several films in different capacities., and second-unit director on Paul Verhoeven's RoboCop (1987). Hellman finished two pictures in post-production that were started by other directors who died after the movies were shot, the Muhammad Ali bio The Greatest (1977) (started by Tom Gries) and Avalanche Express (1979) (begun by Mark Robson). , Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961) and Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars (1964). Among the movies on which Hellman served as editor are Corman's The Wild Angels (1966), Bob Rafelson's Head (1968), Sam Peckinpah's The Killer Elite (1975), and Jonathan Demme's Fighting Mad (1976). In 2006, he directed "Stanley's Girlfriend", a section of the omnibus horror film Trapped Ashes. Hellman's section of the film was presented by the Cannes Film Festival that year out of competition as an "Official Selection," and Hellman was named president of the festival's "Un Certain Regard" jury. At the 2010 Venice Film Festival, he was awarded a special career prize. Later in the year he completed a new feature film, the romantic noir thriller Road to Nowhere, which competed for the Golden Lion at the 67th Venice International Film Festival. As of 2011, he taught with the Film Directing Program at the California Institute of the Arts. == Death ==

Hellman fell at his home on April 19, 2021. In critical condition, he died the next day at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California, at the age of 91. ==Filmography==

Films Other film work • A Fistful of Dollars (1964; director of 1977 ABC TV version prologue) • The Killer Elite (1975; co-editor) • The Greatest (1977; finished film on behalf of Tom Gries, post-production supervisor) • Avalanche Express (1979; finished film on behalf of Mark Robson, post-production supervisor) • RoboCop (1987; uncredited second-unit director, he directed several action scenes on behalf of Paul Verhoeven) • Reservoir Dogs (1992; executive producer) ==References==