Alan Ormsby (born December 14, 1943) is an American director, screenwriter, make up artist, actor and author.^[1]

Film career

Ormsby began work in feature films with the Bob Clark-directed Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things (1972), co-writing the script with Clark, providing the make-up effects and starring as the lead, Alan, alongside his then-wife Anya Ormsby.^[2] Two years later, Ormsby and Clark re-teamed on Deathdream, directed by Clark and penned by Ormsby.^[3] Deranged (1974), a horror film inspired by serial killer Ed Gein, saw Clark producing with Ormsby writing and co-directing the feature (with Jeff Gillen).^[4]

In the 1980s, Ormsby continued working as a screenwriter, penning the screenplays for The Little Dragons (1980),^[5] My Bodyguard (1980), Paul Schrader's Cat People (1982) and Clark's Porky's II: The Next Day (1983).^[6] Ormsby returned to directing with Popcorn (1991), which he'd also written, but left the production early on and was replaced by Porky's actor Mark Herrier.^[7] Ormsby's work includes the three "films-within-a-film" in the finished movie.^[8] In the early 1990s, he was initially recruited to write the screenplay for a remake of The Mummy for Joe Dante, although it was later re-written by John Sayles.^[9] In 1996, he co-wrote The Substitute.^[10]

Other works

In addition to his work in film, Ormsby is known for having authored the 1970s special make-up effects book Movie Monsters, as well as creating the doll Hugo: Man of a Thousand Faces,^[11] the latter of which was featured in The Pee-wee Herman Show and on Uncle Floyd's variety show.^{[citation needed]}