Mark Damon, B-movie heartthrob, spaghetti Western cowboy and later indie movie mogul – obituary

mark damon, b-movie heartthrob, spaghetti western cowboy and later indie movie mogul – obituary

Mark Damon as Philip Winthrop in Roger Corman's 1960 film House of Usher - Alamy

Mark Damon, who has died aged 91, enjoyed two bites at the Hollywood cherry, first as a toothy B-movie performer, then as a financier and producer of several worldwide hits, including Das Boot (1981) and The Lost Boys (1987).

His company Producers Sales Organization rethought the way films were sold internationally; initiating the now-standard practice of pre-selling titles to foreign distributors based on creative personnel and advance publicity materials. The tactic – securing funds often before a single frame of film had been shot – proved a gamechanging success; in 1983, PSO did more overseas business than any of the major American studios.

As an actor, Damon was one of the many stolidly pretty figures forming the backbone of the post-war studio system. Signed to Fox in 1958, he often “played handsome leads in inconsequential films”, as the biographer Ephraim Katz summarised. Yet he found more notable work outside his contract, winning the Golden Globe for Best Male Newcomer as Philip Winthrop in Roger Corman’s Poe adaptation House of Usher (1960).

mark damon, b-movie heartthrob, spaghetti western cowboy and later indie movie mogul – obituary

Damon with Vincent Price and Myrna Fahey in House of Usher - Alamy

Upon moving to Italy in 1962, Damon – and his cerulean eyes, newly piercing in gaudy Eastmancolor – became a fixture of the emergent spaghetti Western genre. An agent blocked him from appearing in A Fistful of Dollars (1964), but he headlined Sergio Corbucci’s Ringo and His Golden Pistol (1966) and made an especially dastardly villain in Requiescant (1967).

“I was surprised, because I had never ridden a horse in my life,” Damon later told an interviewer. “Cowboys had to be tall and blond, and I’m not that tall. I had very dark hair at the time, but they said, ‘It doesn’t matter. You’re American.’ I said OK and learned to ride a horse.”

Yet Damon grew tired of typecasting, taking a job with an Italian distributor – “they really wanted me because they thought I knew everyone in Hollywood and could get them bigger pictures” – before returning to the US with a greater understanding of the hardscrabble involved in making low-budget pictures.

mark damon, b-movie heartthrob, spaghetti western cowboy and later indie movie mogul – obituary

Mark Damon, centre, in the 1967 spaghetti Western Requiescant - Alamy

His producing career began with the Pam Grier vehicle The Arena (1974), which bore the semi-irresistible tagline “See Wild Women Fight to The Death”. The rights for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) eluded him, but he assumed mogul status soon thereafter: Das Boot (1981) netted six Oscar nominations, while its director Wolfgang Petersen’s well-packaged follow-up, The NeverEnding Story (1984), yielded big box-office and a top ten pop hit.

Juggling such family fare with altogether more adult material, including 9½ Weeks (1986), Damon grasped what his legacy would be: “My claim to fame will be the fact that I basically […] became what they call the godfather of independent films… How did somebody do what I did? Because I didn’t know better. I came in with such a fresh viewpoint because I’d been an actor and didn’t know anything.”

Damon was born Alan Harris on April 22, 1933 in Chicago, where his parents were grocers. A keen actor from his schooldays, he studied dentistry at UCLA – briefly rooming with Jack Nicholson – before switching courses, eventually emerging with a literature BA and an MA in business administration. He made his screen debut in a 1952 episode of true-crime compendium Gang Busters, and his feature debut in the union drama Inside Detroit (1956).

mark damon, b-movie heartthrob, spaghetti western cowboy and later indie movie mogul – obituary

Damon's memoir

Much like Corman, whom he outlived by three days, he was both prolific and catholic in his tastes, negotiating deals for Zalman King’s Red Shoe Diaries (1992), the Second World War epic Stalingrad (1993) and Disney’s first live-action take on The Jungle Book (1995). Few projects achieved critical glory, although Monster (2003) landed Charlize Theron an Oscar for playing the serial killer Aileen Wuornos.

He worked well into his eighties, producing the Nicolas Cage actioner Willy’s Wonderland (2021), while his 2008 memoir From Cowboy to Mogul to Monster: The Neverending Story of Film Pioneer Mark Damon became a touchstone for independently minded creatives. Flexibility, he admitted, had been key to his success: “If you don’t succeed in the field of your dreams, you may one day succeed in the field you never dreamed of. That’s the story of my career.”

He is survived by his second wife, the actress Margaret Markov, and their two children; he was previously married to the actress Barbara Frey.

Mark Damon, born April 22 1933, died May 12 2024

Play The Telegraph’s brilliant range of Puzzles - and feel brighter every day. Train your brain and boost your mood with PlusWord, the Mini Crossword, the fearsome Killer Sudoku and even the classic Cryptic Crossword.

OTHER NEWS

17 minutes ago

Millwall head coach Neil Harris pays tribute to Matija Sarkic after his death at 26

17 minutes ago

The IRS wants to end another major tax loophole for the wealthy and raise $50 billion in the process

17 minutes ago

Italy Coast Guard searches missing migrants after shipwreck off Calabrian coast: 12 rescued, 1 dead

17 minutes ago

England fans call for urgent review of Euro 2024 travel plans after ‘dangerous overcrowding’ at Serbia game

17 minutes ago

Rory McIlroy makes swift Pinehurst exit after US Open heartbreak

17 minutes ago

Is this pint-sized electric vehicle about to be big disruptor in US?

17 minutes ago

Bosch: Legacy Season 3- What's Happening With The Jerry Edgar Spin Off Series?

17 minutes ago

Report debunks 33 false claims about renewable energy

17 minutes ago

Beauty fans bag ‘free’ Kiehl’s eye cream worth £30 in deal that’s cheaper than Boots

22 minutes ago

She thought pain was a pulled muscle... but scans revealed blood clots

22 minutes ago

Dan Walker says he's missed out on amazing jobs because of his Christian beliefs

23 minutes ago

Lion City Sailors’ Song Ui-young relishing new roles on and off the field

23 minutes ago

Sabalenka to skip Paris Olympics

23 minutes ago

ST Full-time Report: Hassan Sunny to donate money from China fans to charity | Shanti Pereira announces engagement

23 minutes ago

Chinese premier’s Australia visit overshadowed by officials’ apparent attempt to block Cheng Lei’s view at event

23 minutes ago

'Trump had severe memory issues': Writer details his meetings with Trump for new book

23 minutes ago

London trains cancelled as drivers refuse to work extra shift during England's Euro 2024 opener

23 minutes ago

Euro 2024 diary: missing underpants and lost confidence as Scotland hit Germany

23 minutes ago

PFF Names 1 Browns Player To All-Breakout Team

23 minutes ago

Explosion at Military Training Ground Results in Casualties

23 minutes ago

Mavericks vs. Celtics odds, score prediction, time: 2024 NBA Finals picks, Game 5 best bets from proven model

27 minutes ago

Search for missing woman in South Carolina ends with discovery in Australia

29 minutes ago

Treasury, IRS unveil plan to close ‘major tax loophole’ used by large partnerships

29 minutes ago

Britain's Airbnb hotspots revealed: The 'ruined' coastal towns with the most holiday rentals

29 minutes ago

Revealed: Why Thibaut Courtois isn't playing for Belgium at Euro 2024 despite playing in the Champions League final... as Nottingham Forest's Matz Sels and Luton's Thomas Kaminski get the nod

29 minutes ago

Wout Weghorst underlines desire to start for the Netherlands after the former Man United forward's instant impact against Poland

32 minutes ago

Reform UK manifesto launch - what Nigel Farage's party will claim amidst BNP row

32 minutes ago

Veteran investor David Roche 'optimistic' U.S. rate cuts are coming

32 minutes ago

‘Insidious forces are at work’: ‘Inaction’ by government on Jew hate speech is ‘capitulation’

32 minutes ago

Tony Awards 2024: The Complete Winners List

32 minutes ago

Stock Market Today: Stocks mixed ahead of Juneteenth week split

33 minutes ago

US tourist dies in Greece as heat toll rises to three

33 minutes ago

Go to Bat with Viggo Mortensen: My films that deserved more love

34 minutes ago

Roger Mayne review – destitute kids running wild in the battered, bombed-out city

34 minutes ago

How is Paramount still alive

37 minutes ago

Virgin Mary statue 'crying tears of blood' is being investigated by church officials

38 minutes ago

Martin Lewis fan shares how money tip helped turn £31 payment into 'thousands'

38 minutes ago

Cost of living help worth up to £200 to be given to struggling households

38 minutes ago

Startup aims to revolutionize wind power with new bladeless rooftop turbines: 'Will play a vital role in helping companies fulfill their need for reliable, reasonably priced electricity'

38 minutes ago

‘Ultraman: Rising' Review: A Famous Japanese Franchise Gets a Heartwarming American Reboot