Kent Osborne aka Ken Osborne was an American film director and occasional actor. The films he has directed have mainly been exploitation types. His films include Wild Wheels in 1969, Cain's Cutthroats in 1971, The Ballad of Billie Blue in 1972, Women Unchained in 1974 and Hollywood Confidential in 2008.
Career (director) 1960s His earliest directorial work includes Raw Love which was released in 1965. It featured Suzanne Anderson and Mike Perry.Turner Classic Movies - Raw Love(1965), Cast & Crew Osborne both directed the 1996 biker exploitation flick Wild Wheels as well as co-writing the story. The film starred Don Epperson, Robert Dix, Casey Kasem, Terry Stafford, and Dovie Beams who would later find notoriety for her affair with President Ferdinand Marcos.Wild Beyond Belief!: Interviews with Exploitation Filmmakers of the 1960s and 1970s, by Brian Albright - Page 49TV Guide - Wild Wheels, Cast & Crew During the filming of Wild Wheels, Osborne was shooting a segment with a foreground and background scene. He told the men in the background that he wanted some fighting but he forgot to tell them it was only supposed to be faked. Some of it got carried away and Osborne was yelling at them to stop it and repeatedly to cut.Wild Beyond Belief!: Interviews with Exploitation Filmmakers of the 1960s and 1970s, by Brian Albright - Page 55 Robert Dix
1970s to 1980s He found a good degree of success with Cain's Cutthroats aka The Blood Seekers, a sleazy violent vengeance western that was set in the civil war era, which starred John Carradine, Scott Brady, Robert Dix, Darwin Joston, and Adair Jameson.The Sleaze Merchants: Adventures in Exploitation Filmmaking from the ’50s to the 90s, edited by John McCarty - Al AdamsonAmerican Film Institute - Cain's Way (1970) Osborne directed and co-wrote the story for The Ballad of Billie Blue, a Christian-themed film with a warning message which was about a country singer who ends up in jail then finds stardom with gospel music.American Film Institute - The Ballad of Billie Blue (1972)Celluloid Sermons: The Emergence of the Christian Film Industry, 1930-1986, By Terry Lindvall, Andrew Quicke - Page 162 The film premiered in Grand Rapids, Michigan in February, 1972,Turner Classic Movies - The Ballad of Billie Blue(1972) also opened Thursday April 20, 1972 at the Holland Theatre and was showing for a week. It was nominated for two Image Awards.The Holland Evening Sentinel, Friday, April 21, 1972 - Page 15 'Billie Blue' in Holland Women Unchained, which he directed was a story about five women who during a riot, try to escape from a maximum security prison and while on the run will do what it takes to get to the Mexican border.Video Hounds Golden Movie Retrievee 2001 - Page xlixLetterboxd - Women Unchained 1974 Directed by Ken Osborne
1990s to 2000s In 2008, Hollywood Confidential was released. It starred Vernon Wells, Joe Estevez, James MacPherson, and Jesse Hlubik.
Career (actor) His earliest acting roles included Dragnet in 1954, Good Morning, Miss Dove and The View from Pompey's Head.Interfilmes.com - •Nome, Ken Osborne, Filmes no Site: He played the bartender in the 1969 horror film Nightmare in Wax, a Bud Townsend directed film which starred Cameron Mitchell, Scott Brady and Anne Helm.EOFFTV - Nightmare in Wax (1969), CREDITS Osborne played the part of Dave Miller in the Al Adamson directed Five Bloody Graves, which was released around 1969, 1970.Rotten Tomatoes - Five Bloody Graves (1970) He played the part of Sergeant Osborne in the Ewing Miles Brown film The Stoneman which was released around 2002. The film starred Christopher Atkins, Pat Morita and Robin Riker.Prehistoric Humans in Film and Television, By Michael Klossner - Page 264Filmweb - The Stoneman (2002), pełna obsada i twórcy, przejdź do:obsada (23), obsada
He died at his West Hollywood, California, home on February 20, 2024, at age 97 of natural causes.
Filmography list + Director and other Title Role Director Year Notes # Raw Love Director Kent Osborne 1965 The Sorcerers Sound mixer Michael Reeves 1967 Planet of the Apes Makeup artist Franklin J. Schaffner 1968 Wild Wheels Director, writer Kent Osborne 1969 Blood of Dracula's Castle Special makeup effects Al Adamson 1969 As Kenny Osborne Five Bloody Graves Makeup artist Al Adamson 1969 The Rebel Rousers Makeup artist Martin B. Cohen 1970 Cain's Cutthroats Director, producerWriter: additional dialogue Kent Osborne 1971 Layout for 5 Models Sound recordist John Gaudioz 1972 The Ballad of Billie Blue Director Kent Osborne 1972 An Eye for an Eye Makeup artist Larry G. Brown 1973 Remember Me This Way Sound recordist Bob FosterRon Inkpen 1974 As Ken Osbourne Women Unchained Director, writer Kent Osborne 1974 Crime of Crimes Boom operator Alfredo Zacarias 1989 Nude Aerobics Director Kent Osborne 1991 The Stoneman production supervisor Ewing Miles Brown 2002 Dismembered Production coordinator Ewing Miles Brown 2003 Hollywood Confidential Director, producerwriter Kent Osborne 2008 Behaving Badly Carpenter Juan Drago 2009 IMDb - Ken Osborne (I), Filmography - Director, Makeup Department, Writer, Sound department, Producer, Art department, Production manager, Miscellaneous Crew
+ Actor Title Role Director Year Notes # Dragnet Thief Jack Webb 1954 The View from Pompey's Head Brother Philip Dunne 1955 Good Morning, Miss Dove Brother Henry Koster 1955 Nightmare in Wax Bartender Bud Townsend 1969 Blood of Dracula's Castle Telegram Delivery Man Al Adamson 1969 As Ken Osborne The Ice House Killer Stuart McGowan 1969 As Ken Osborne Five Bloody Graves Dave Miller Al Adamson 1969 Hell's Bloody Devils Al Adamson 1970 Born on the Fourth of July Paraplegic #2 - Miami Convention Oliver Stone 1989 Crime of Crimes Alfredo Zacarias 1989 The Stoneman Sgt. Osborne Ewing Miles Brown 2002 As J. Kenneth Osborne Hell Is for Bastards Narrator Alex JustingerBen Robertson 2008 IMDb - Ken Osborne (I), Filmography, Actor
References
External links
Kent Osborne at AFI