Del Tenney

Del Tenney was born in Mason City, Iowa, and moved to California with his parents when he was 12. Attending Los Angeles City and State college, he developed an interest in the theater, became an actor and made a living at it for most of his young adult life. He acted on stage, did extra work in films (Stalag 17 (1953), The Wild One (1953)) and then came to New York looking for work. He found it--working in restaurants and as a detective--but he also managed to land roles in summer stock. Deciding to move behind the camera, Tenney started off as assistant director on some risqué low-budget pictures, then co-wrote and co-directed (without credit) his production of Violent Midnight (1963), a Connecticut-made suspenser with Shepperd Strudwick, Jean Hale, 'Sylvia Miles' and Margot Hartman (Mrs. Tenney). Tenney next made schlock horror history, bringing to the screen the cheapo classics The Horror of Party Beach (1964) and (his favorite) The Curse of the Living Corpse (1964).