Larry Buchanan

Larry Buchanan (January 31, 1923 − December 2, 2004), born Marcus Larry Seale Jr., was a film director, producer and writer, who proclaimed himself a "schlockmeister." Many of his titles have landed on "worst movie" lists or in the public domain, but all at least broke even and many made a profit. He is perhaps most famous for the films In the Year 2889, The Eye Creatures, Zontar, the Thing from Venus, Curse of the Swamp Creature, It's Alive!, and Mars Needs Women.

Buchanan was born in Mexia, Texas in 1923. He was orphaned as a baby and was raised in Dallas in an orphanage. It was while growing up there that he became fascinated with the movies which were shown in the orphanage's theater. He considered becoming a minister early in life, but got into the movie industry instead.

Buchanan visited Hollywood and landed a job in the props department at 20th Century Fox. It was while working here where his film career got off the ground. He enlisted in the United States Army Signal Corps in order to learn how to direct. He was based in New York, which allowed him to act on stage in the evenings.

In the early 1950s Buchanan began producing, writing, editing, and acting in his own movies. The first was a one-reeler, The Cowboy in 1949, shot back in Dallas for $900. His first feature was Grubsteak (1952); he knew Stanley Kubrick from working around New York at this time and Kubrick offered to be cinematographer but wanted more money than Buchanan was willing to pay. Buchanan worked as an assistant to director George Cukor on The Marrying Kind (1952).

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