Roger Michael Watkins (September 17, 1948 â€" March 6, 2007) was an
American film director best known for the 1970s grindhouse movie Last
House on Dead End Street. He also directed several adult films,
working with pornographic actors such as Jamie Gillis, Vanessa del
Rio, and Samantha Fox.The Internet Movie Database lists a number of
Watkins' aliases (see the information box at right), most of which
seem to have been used in Last House on Dead End Street to conceal the
fact that he worked in several capacities on that film (director,
actor, writer, editor, and producer).Watkins was born in Binghamton,
New York. He graduated from Oneonta State College in 1971 with a
Bachelor's degree in English Literature. While studying for his degree
he visited England and served as an apprentice for film director
Freddie Francis. On returning to the U.S. he continued his
apprenticeship, working for Otto Preminger and Nicholas Ray. He
married Marcia Elliott in 1972, with whom he fathered two
daughters.Watkins began his career in adult film by writing the
screenplay for Mystique (1979) which was directed by Roberta Findlay
and for which he was uncredited. The following year he began writing
and directing adult feature films under the pseudonym Richard Mahler,
which he took from combining the names of two of his favorite
composers, Richard Wagner and Gustav Mahler. His best known adult
films (Her Name Was Lisa (1980), Midnight Heat (1983), Corruption
(1983), and American Babylon (1985) are considered by many to be more
cult films or arthouse films than pornography due to their multi
layered narratives that are downbeat in tone, comtaining elements of
avant-garde, horror and satire.
American film director best known for the 1970s grindhouse movie Last
House on Dead End Street. He also directed several adult films,
working with pornographic actors such as Jamie Gillis, Vanessa del
Rio, and Samantha Fox.The Internet Movie Database lists a number of
Watkins' aliases (see the information box at right), most of which
seem to have been used in Last House on Dead End Street to conceal the
fact that he worked in several capacities on that film (director,
actor, writer, editor, and producer).Watkins was born in Binghamton,
New York. He graduated from Oneonta State College in 1971 with a
Bachelor's degree in English Literature. While studying for his degree
he visited England and served as an apprentice for film director
Freddie Francis. On returning to the U.S. he continued his
apprenticeship, working for Otto Preminger and Nicholas Ray. He
married Marcia Elliott in 1972, with whom he fathered two
daughters.Watkins began his career in adult film by writing the
screenplay for Mystique (1979) which was directed by Roberta Findlay
and for which he was uncredited. The following year he began writing
and directing adult feature films under the pseudonym Richard Mahler,
which he took from combining the names of two of his favorite
composers, Richard Wagner and Gustav Mahler. His best known adult
films (Her Name Was Lisa (1980), Midnight Heat (1983), Corruption
(1983), and American Babylon (1985) are considered by many to be more
cult films or arthouse films than pornography due to their multi
layered narratives that are downbeat in tone, comtaining elements of
avant-garde, horror and satire.
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