SCIENCE FICTION STARS AND HORROR HEROES

SCIENCE FICTION STARS AND HORROR HEROES: Interviews with Actors, Directors, Producers, and Writers of the 1940s through 1960s. Tom Weaver. McFarland; 1991. 

This is another great collection of interviews conducted by Tom Weaver [Attack of the Monster Movie Makers], some of which appeared previously in various magazines. In this collection we look at everyone from Acquanetta of Captive Wild Woman fame to Robb White, who wrote House on Haunted Hill and Homicidal for William Castle. We learn that Noel Neill was rude to Phyllis Coates because Coates was hired first as Lois Lane for the TV Superman after Neill had been in two Superman serials. Yvette Vickers talks about working on Attack of the 50 Foot Woman and Attack of the Giant Leeches. Herk Harvey discusses making his low-budget classic Carnival of Souls, with its spooky amusement park scenes filmed at an abandoned pier called Saltair near Salt Lake. Nancy Kovack of Jason and the Argonauts frankly discusses her disappointment in her career. Interestingly enough, the person who comes off the worst is Richard Matheson, who seems boastful and even implies that he's better or more important than either Poe or Lovecraft! Kim Hunter, Anna Lee, Janet Leigh, composer Albert Glasser, and many others are interviewed in the book, which offers many fascinating behind-the-scenes details of the picture business, especially low-budget filmmaking. 

Verdict: Very worthwhile series of interviews. ***1/2.