The Only Major Actors Still Alive From 1960's House Of Usher
Roger Corman's 1960 feature films "House of Usher" was the first film in a long series of Edgar Allan Poe-based movies at American International Pictures. From 1960 to 1964, Corman directed eight Poe films, with all but one of them starring Vincent Price. After "House of Usher," Corman made "The Pit and the Pendulum," "The Premature Burial," the anthology film "Tales of Terror," "The Raven," "The Haunted Palace," "The Masque of the Red Death," and "The Tomb of Ligeia." Technically, 1963's "The Haunted Palace" isn't a Poe movie. It was named after Poe's 1893 poem but was in fact based on the 1927 short novel "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" by H.P. Lovecraft. Poe, it seems, was a bigger marquee name than Lovecraft, so the latter author's story was merely folded into Corman's short-lived but well-remembered Poe subgenre.
Fans of gothic horror would do well to marathon all eight movies. They're all colorful and wicked and melodramatic and fun. They may be among the prolific director's best work.
The first film in the series, "House of Usher" stars Mark Damon as the protagonist Philip who has traveled to the crumbling Usher estate to visit his fiancée Madeline Usher (Myrna Fahey). While at the manse, Philip is confronted by Madeline's brother Roderick (Vincent Price) about how their bloodline is cursed and that marrying into the Usher family is gravely dangerous. All the Ushers have a tendency to go insane. This is followed by a dark plot involving Madeline's catalepsy, a condition that makes her appear dead, and an insisted premature burial. Only the Usher butler Bristol (Harry Ellerbe) has the whole story.
The legendary Roger Corman is still alive at 97, but only one of the film's four cast members is alive today.
Mark Damon (Philip Winthrop)
Of the film's four cast members, only one remains with us. Vincent Price passed in 1993 at the age of 82. Myrna Fahey passed in 1973 at the age of 40 (f*** cancer), and Harry Ellerbe passed at the age of 91 in 1992. Only Mark Damon, who played the handsome hero Philip, is still with us.
Now 90 years old (at the time of this writing), Damon was still producing films as recently as 2019; his last credit was Todd Robinson's soldier-boosting flick "The Last Full Measure" about a lawyer attempting to get the real-life deceased veteran William H. Pitsenbarger a posthumous Medal of Honor. That film starred Sebastian Stan, Christopher Plummer, William Hurt, Ed Harris, Samuel L. Jackson, and Peter Fonda in his final film appearance.
Damon has been producing indie films, thrillers, potboilers, major studio far, and softcore sex thrillers ever since 1974 when he retired from acting. He oversaw "The NeverEnding Story" and "Das Boot" as well as "9½ Weeks" and "Wild Orchid." He was behind "Flight of the Navigator," "The Lost Boys," and "Short Circuit." He even produced the notorious turkey "Mac and Me." In the 2000s, he produced awards-ready hits like "Monster," "The Upside of Anger," and "Beyond the Sea."
As an actor, Damon spent many years in Italy, and he appeared in a few dozen movies while living abroad. He was frequently seen in war pictures, Westerns, and horror movies. After 44 acting credits, Damon decided to move into producing, as his connections abroad inspired him to spread American fare around Europe. He founded a company called the Producers Sales Organization, and he has been credited as one of the brainchildren of the thriving foreign sales market.
Mark Damon is not related to Matt Damon. Mark's birthname is Alan Harris.