Gene Curtis Harrington (September 17, 1926 â€" May 6, 2007) was an
American film and television director whose work included experimental
films, horror films and episodic television. He is considered one of
the forerunners of New Queer Cinema.Harrington was born on September
17, 1926 in Los Angeles, the son of Isabel (Dorum) and Raymond Stephen
Harrington. He grew up in Beaumont, California. His first cinematic
endeavors were amateur films he made while still a teenager. He
attended Occidental College and the University of Southern California,
then graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles with a
film studies degree.He began his career as a film critic, writing a
book on Josef von Sternberg in 1948. He directed several avant-garde
short films in the 1940s and '50s, including Fragment of Seeking,
Picnic, and The Wormwood Star (a film study of the artwork of Marjorie
Cameron). Cameron also co-starred in his subsequent film Night Tide
(1961) with Dennis Hopper. Harrington worked with Kenneth Anger,
serving as a cinematographer on Anger's Puce Moment and acting in
Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954) (he played Cesare, the
somnambulist). Harrington had links to Thelema shared with his close
associates Kenneth Anger and Marjorie Cameron who frequently acted in
his films. One of Harrington's mentors was avant-garde film pioneer
Maya Deren, an initiated voodoo priestess.Roger Corman assigned
Harrington to direct two American films and use Russian science
fiction film footage in both; the result was Voyage to the Prehistoric
Planet (1965) and Queen of Blood (1966), which then led to further
films such as Games.
American film and television director whose work included experimental
films, horror films and episodic television. He is considered one of
the forerunners of New Queer Cinema.Harrington was born on September
17, 1926 in Los Angeles, the son of Isabel (Dorum) and Raymond Stephen
Harrington. He grew up in Beaumont, California. His first cinematic
endeavors were amateur films he made while still a teenager. He
attended Occidental College and the University of Southern California,
then graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles with a
film studies degree.He began his career as a film critic, writing a
book on Josef von Sternberg in 1948. He directed several avant-garde
short films in the 1940s and '50s, including Fragment of Seeking,
Picnic, and The Wormwood Star (a film study of the artwork of Marjorie
Cameron). Cameron also co-starred in his subsequent film Night Tide
(1961) with Dennis Hopper. Harrington worked with Kenneth Anger,
serving as a cinematographer on Anger's Puce Moment and acting in
Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954) (he played Cesare, the
somnambulist). Harrington had links to Thelema shared with his close
associates Kenneth Anger and Marjorie Cameron who frequently acted in
his films. One of Harrington's mentors was avant-garde film pioneer
Maya Deren, an initiated voodoo priestess.Roger Corman assigned
Harrington to direct two American films and use Russian science
fiction film footage in both; the result was Voyage to the Prehistoric
Planet (1965) and Queen of Blood (1966), which then led to further
films such as Games.
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