History Creator / WilliamCastle

Born in New York City and left an orphan by the time he was 11, Castle dropped out of high school at 15 to work in theater. When he was 18, he directed a stage production of ''Franchise/{{Dracula}}''. He began playing uncredited bit parts in movies in 1937, and by the early '40s he had worked his way up to directing {{B Movie}}s for Creator/ColumbiaPictures.

Castle's films after 1961, not all of which fall under the horror genre, employed more subtle gimmicks when they used gimmicks at all. In some cases, the gimmick was the top billing of fading stars from UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfHollywood such as Creator/JoanCrawford. And the biggest success among Castle's later productions, 1968's ''[[Film/RosemarysBaby Rosemary's Baby]]'', had Castle under contract not to direct (Creator/RomanPolanski took the helm instead). After directing ''Shanks'' in 1974, Castle chose not to direct his final film production, 1975's ''Bug''. Also that year he had his final onscreen role, as the director of the doomed [[ShowWithinAShow movie within a movie]] in Creator/JohnSchlesinger's ''Film/TheDayOfTheLocust''.

Born in New York City and left an orphan by the time he was 11, Castle dropped out of high school at 15 to work in theater. When he was 18, he directed a stage production of ''Franchise/{{Dracula}}''. He began playing uncredited bit parts in movies in 1937, and by the early 1940s had worked his way up to directing {{B Movie}}s for Creator/ColumbiaPictures.

Castle co-produced Creator/OrsonWelles' ''Film/TheLadyFromShanghai'' in 1947, and produced a few television series in the 1950s, but his big breakthrough as an independent producer-director came in 1958 with ''Macabre'', which he promoted by insuring audience members for $1000 against death from fright. Over the next three years, Castle directed and produced a string of low-budget [[HorrorFilms horror movies]], each one baiting audiences with its own lurid, trademark gimmick: "Emergo" (''[[Film/HouseOnHauntedHill1959 House on Haunted Hill]]''), "Percepto" (''Film/TheTingler''), "Illusion-O" (''Film/ThirteenGhosts''), the "Fright Break" (''Homicidal''), and the "Punishment Poll" (''Film/MrSardonicus'').

[[caption-width-right:315:''"We all have a common interest: bigger and more horrible monsters... and I'm just the monster to bring them to you."'']]

Castle's films after 1961, not all of which fall under the horror genre, employed more subtle gimmicks when they used gimmicks at all. In some cases, the gimmick was the top billing of fading stars from UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfHollywood such as Creator/JoanCrawford. And the biggest success among Castle's later productions, 1968's ''[[Film/RosemarysBaby Rosemary's Baby]]'', had Castle under contract not to direct (Creator/RomanPolanski took the helm instead). After directing ''Shanks'' in 1974, Castle chose not to direct his final movie production, 1975's ''Bug''. That same year he had his final onscreen role, as the director of the doomed [[ShowWithinAShow film within a film]] in Creator/JohnSchlesinger's ''Film/TheDayOfTheLocust''.

Castle's films after 1961, not all of which fall under the horror genre, employed more subtle gimmicks when they used gimmicks at all. In some cases, the gimmick was the top billing of fading stars from UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfHollywood such as Creator/JoanCrawford. And the biggest success among Castle's later productions, 1968's ''[[Film/RosemarysBaby Rosemary's Baby]]'', had Castle under contract not to direct (Creator/RomanPolanski took the helm instead). After directing ''Shanks'' in 1974, Castle chose not to direct his final production, 1975's ''Bug''. That same year he had his final onscreen role, as the director of the doomed [[ShowWithinAShow film within a film]] in Creator/JohnSchlesinger's ''Film/TheDayOfTheLocust''.

Castle's films after 1961, not all of which fall under the horror genre, employed more subtle gimmicks when they used gimmicks at all. In some cases, the gimmick was the top billing of fading stars from UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfHollywood such as Creator/JoanCrawford. And the biggest success among Castle's later productions, 1968's ''[[Film/RosemarysBaby Rosemary's Baby]]'', had Castle under contract not to direct (Creator/RomanPolanski took the helm instead). Castle also chose not to direct his final production, 1975's ''Bug''. That same year he had his final onscreen role, as the director of the doomed [[ShowWithinAShow film within a film]] in Creator/JohnSchlesinger's ''Film/TheDayOfTheLocust''.

Castle's films after 1961, not all of which fall under the horror genre, used more subtle gimmicks, when they used gimmicks at all. In some cases, the gimmick was the top billing of fading stars from UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfHollywood such as Creator/JoanCrawford. The biggest success among Castle's later productions, 1968's ''[[Film/RosemarysBaby Rosemary's Baby]]'', had Castle under contract not to direct (Creator/RomanPolanski took the helm instead). Castle also chose not to direct his final production, 1975's ''Bug''. That same year he had his final onscreen role, as the director of the doomed [[ShowWithinAShow film within a film]] in Creator/JohnSchlesinger's ''Film/TheDayOfTheLocust''.