|
|
|||||||
|
||||||||
Blob Director Dies In Accident As you may know, Steve McQueen is my idol. But many years before I really knew who he was, I saw him, on TV, in The Blob (the Criterion Collection offers a loaded DVD, which is also more expensive, The Blob). It was probably the first McQueen film I ever saw. It's a silly movie, and very B, but it's relatively entertaining 50s sci-fi -- to a degree (of course, not the degree of Hawks' The Thing, or Siegel's Invasion of the Body Snatchers) -- especially if you're a child. Also notable, was a very goofy theme song -- but an early effort by Burt Bacharach, who would go on to do some great film music: Casino Royale, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, After the Fox, What's New Pussycat?, etc -- adding to the large McQueen canon of film music available (see: Thomas Crown Affair, Bullitt, Cincinnati Kid, etc). From AP, and others, Fri, 30 July 2004, re: Blob Director Dies In Accident: Irvin "Shorty" Yeaworth Jr., director of the 1958 cult movie The Blob and other films with various social messages, was killed in a car accident in Jordan in the Middle East. He was 78. Yeaworth was traveling in the Middle Eastern kingdom when his vehicle went off the road on July 19, his wife told the Associated Press. "We think he fell asleep," she said. Yeaworth did not consider helming the The Blob a high point of his career. "He was not very proud of it," his wife said. Much of the camp classic was filmed in the director's Pennsylvania backyard. Interest in The Blob continues, however. Just last week, fans held their annual "BlobFest." From imdb: Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr. Mini biography: Irvin S. Yeaworth began his career in radio, singing (at age ten) on the first radio station in the world, KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He later became a radio and TV producer. His first feature, Twice Convicted, was shot in Chester Springs, Pennsylvania, in the early 1950s. He directed three sci-fi films in the late '50s/early '60s (The Blob, 4D Man and Dinosaurus!), then went back to his first love: making religious movies (including some with Billy Graham). He presently works in World's Fair and theme park pavilion design and production. Was completing an entertainment complex in Jordan at the time of his death. It was a similarly themed park like Disneyland called "Jordanian Experience at the Aquaba Gateway". Director Filmography Producer Filmography Writer Filmography
|
Irvin "Shorty" Yeaworth Jr.