Charles B. Griffith

Charles Byron Griffith (September 23, 1930 – September 28, 2007) was an American screenwriter, actor, and film director. He was best known for writing Roger Corman productions such as A Bucket of Blood (1959), The Little Shop of Horrors (1960), and Death Race 2000 (1975).

He was credited with 29 movies, but is known to have written many more. He had also directed at least six films, acted in six films, was second unit director in six films, produced three films, and was the production manager of two films.

During the late fifties and early sixties, Griffith created both redneck classics such as Eat My Dust! and black comedies such as A Bucket of Blood and The Little Shop of Horrors. He had a small role in It Conquered the World, which he also wrote, as Dr. Pete Shelton.

Griffith died on September 28, 2007, in San Diego, aged 77, from a heart attack

Quentin Tarantino dedicated his film Death Proof to Griffith, whom he referred to as one of his main influences and called "the father of redneck cinema".^{[citation needed]}

Griffith was born into a family of actors and performers: his mother, Donna Damerel, and grandmother, Myrtle Vail, were actresses, his father was in vaudeville and his grandfather was a circus performer. His mother died in childbirth in 1941, and Griffith was raised by his grandmother and attended military school.

He broke into the industry writing scripts for the radio serial, Myrt and Marge, in which his mother and grandmother had appeared as actresses. He then worked on the TV adaptation on the serial which ended up not being filmed.

Griffith began writing film scripts, which an actor friend of his, Jonathan Haze showed to Roger Corman, who hired Griffith as a writer. He wrote two Westerns for Corman: Three Bright Banners, based on the Battle of Brownsville, and Hangtown. Neither was made, but Corman hired Griffith to do an uncredited rewrite on It Conquered the World (Griffith says he asked to take his name off).