Don Edmonds was born on September 1, 1937, in Kansas City, MO.
He came to Hollywood in the mid to late 1950s. He
studied acting with noted acting coach Estelle Harmon and began
performing in various California stage productions. His initial
forays into television acting included such live TV shows as
Playhouse 90 (1956),
Studio One (1948) and
Ihr Star: Loretta Young (1953).
He was usually cast as a goofy sidekick in such "beach
party"-type movies as
April entdeckt Hawaii (1961),
Beach Ball (1965) and
Wild Wild Winter (1966).
He made guest appearances on such TV shows as
Hunter (1984),
Green Acres (1965),
Combat! (1962),
Petticoat Junction (1963),
Die Munsters (1964),
Gidget (1965) and
Vater ist der Beste (1954).
Edmonds made his directorial debut with the soft-core features
Wilder Honig (1972) and
Tender Loving Care (1973). He
achieved his greatest enduring cult exploitation cinema popularity by
directing the infamous Nazisploitation classic
Ilsa: Die Hündinnen vom Liebeslager 7 (1975)
and its marvelously outrageous sequel
Ilsa Haremwächterin des Ölscheichs (1976).
After "Ilsa" Edmonds went on to direct the superbly gritty urban action
winner Action Man - Ein Mann, ein Kämpfer (1977), the
cruddy slasher horror entry
Terror on Tour (1980), the action
comedy Tomcat Angels (1991) and
the pilot of the TV series
Palm Beach-Duo (1991). As the
vice president of production at Producers Sales Organization, Don was
responsible for getting movies like
Nummer 5 lebt! (1986),
8 Millionen Wege zu sterben (1986)
and
Ayla und der Clan des Bären (1986)
greenlit and subsequently made. He had also been involved as
either a producer, co-producer or executive producer on a sizable
number of pictures, including Larceny (2004),
Fast Money - Treibjagd nach Tijuana (1996),
True Romance (1993) (he was part of
the production team which helped
Quentin Tarantino get his early
professional filmmaking career off and running), Skeeter (1993) and
Rächer der Nacht (1986).
In later years, Don attended screenings of his 1970s drive-in flicks and
appeared as a guest at film conventions held all over the country.
He died at age 71 of liver cancer on May 30, 2009.
