Mel Welles Movies, TV Shows, and Filmography
Mel Welles
Acting
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Mel Welles (February 17, 1924 - August 18, 2005) was an American film actor. His best-remembered role may be that of hapless flower shop owner Gravis Mushnik in the 1960 low-budget Roger Corman dark comedy, The Little Shop of Horrors (which featured Jack Nicholson as a masochistic dental patient). Not much is known of Welles' early life, except that he was born Ira Meltcher in New York City. He graduated from Mt. Carmel High School, in 1940. He went on to receive a Bachelor of Arts degree from Penn State University, a Master of Arts degree from West Virginia University, and a Ph.D. in psychology from Columbia University. Welles held a number of jobs during his lifetime; at one time or another he worked as a clinical psychologist, radio DJ, television actor, writer and film director. He did some stage work before traveling to Hollywood, where in 1953 he appeared in his first film, Appointment in Honduras. His favorite role (The Little Shop of Horrors) was also his last in the U.S. for many years. In the early 1960s, he left the United States to act, produce and direct primarily in European film productions including the cult horror films Maneater of Hydra (1967) and Lady Frankenstein (1971). His fluency in five languages proved to be most helpful. He also served as a film consultant. Later he returned to the U.S., appearing in a number of films, doing voice work, and teaching voice acting. Probably his most widely seen work in the late 1970's was his English adaptation of the Japanese television show, "Spectreman" which was seen on UHF and cable across the United States. While he shares writing credit with two other people, it's clear that most of the English voice work, and the offbeat humor, is his. In 1998, Welles took to the stage in a community theater production of Little Shop of Horrors (musical) as Mushnik, the role he created in the original Roger Corman film. Welles had never performed in the musical and was happy to be asked to do the role, which he described as a "mitzvah" for Scotts Valley Performing Arts. Jonathan Haze, who played Seymour in the original film, attended the opening, and Welles also received a visit from Martin P. Robinson, the designer of the Audrey II plant puppets used in the off-Broadway production (Robinson is also famous for his puppetry on Sesame Street). Welles was working on a horror screenplay, tentatively titled House of a Hundred Horrors, at the time of his death. Description above from the Wikipedia article Mel Welles, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Filmography Movies
Acting
Homework
Good-looking but virginal "rockstar" teen Tommy tries to score with some of the local high school girls. But a classmate's mom decides to make a man out of him.
Spy Chasers
Slip and the gang foil foes of the exiled, incognito king of Truania.
Wizards of the Lost Kingdom II
Three kingdoms have been overtaken by three evil lords and only Tyor, a teenage boy with magical powers, can restore peace to the land with the help of a bumbling elder, wizard and a hero in each kingdom. Tyor fights alongside them and eventually becomes a powerful wizard in his own right.
The Little Shop of Horrors
Seymour works in a skid row florist shop and is in love with his beautiful co-worker, Audrey. He creates a new plant that not only talks but cannot survive without human flesh and blood.
Code of Silence
An ex-mafioso moves to Mexico to become a writer, revealing mob secrets in his books which are met with understandable displeasure. He is soon pursued by hit-men as well as the FBI, who need his testimony in a court case.
Attack of the Crab Monsters
A group of scientists travel to a remote island to study the effects of nuclear weapons tests, only to get stranded when their airplane mysteriously explodes. The team soon discovers that the tests have given rise to crabs mutated into intelligent, impervious, telepathic giants intent on increasing their numbers by breeding, then travelling to populated areas to feed, and which do not intend to be stopped by their discoverers.
Chopping Mall
High-tech robots equipped with state-of-the-art security devices have been recruited as the new mechanical "night watchmen" for the Park Plaza Mall. When a jolting bolt of lightning short-circuits the main computer control, the robots turn into "killbots" on the loose after unsuspecting shoppers!
The Undead
Two psychics place a prostitute under hypnosis in order to learn about her past-life experiences. When they unwittingly send her back in time, she finds herself in the Middle Ages, suspected of being a witch and on the verge of being executed.
The Fighting Chance
A horse trainer and his friend, a jockey, fall in love with the same girl. Complications ensue.
The Brothers Karamazov
Ryevsk, Russia, 1870. Tensions abound in the Karamazov family. Fyodor is a wealthy libertine who holds his purse strings tightly. His four grown sons include Dmitri, the eldest, an elegant officer, always broke and at odds with his father, betrothed to Katya, herself lovely and rich. The other brothers include a sterile aesthete, a factotum who is a bastard, and a monk. Family tensions erupt when Dmitri falls in love with one of his father's mistresses, the coquette Grushenka. Two brothers see Dmitri's jealousy of their father as an opportunity to inherit sooner. Acts of violence lead to the story's conclusion: trials of honor, conscience, forgiveness, and redemption.
Production
Lady Frankenstein
When Dr. Frankenstein is killed by a monster he created, his daughter and his lab assistant continue his experiments.
Lady Frankenstein
When Dr. Frankenstein is killed by a monster he created, his daughter and his lab assistant continue his experiments.
Our Man in Jamaica
The FBI sends agents to Jamaica to investigate arms smuggling to revolutionaries in Santo Domingo.
Island of the Doomed
A group of tourists arrive to see the botanical gardens on a small island off the Italian coast. The only inhabitants of the island are the famous botanist Baron von Weser and his two faithful servants; all of the other residents fled after a series of mysterious deaths. When the car driven by the tourists' guide hits one of the baron's servants, von Weser explains that the death was due to a rare and incurable disease, not the accident. That night, the guide and Cora Robinson, one of the guests, are found murdered with all the blood drained from their bodies.
The Last Mercenary
After the war in Congo, two mercenaries take a mission to safeguard uranium transportation in a South American jungle, fighting bandits and local miners.
Island of the Doomed
A group of tourists arrive to see the botanical gardens on a small island off the Italian coast. The only inhabitants of the island are the famous botanist Baron von Weser and his two faithful servants; all of the other residents fled after a series of mysterious deaths. When the car driven by the tourists' guide hits one of the baron's servants, von Weser explains that the death was due to a rare and incurable disease, not the accident. That night, the guide and Cora Robinson, one of the guests, are found murdered with all the blood drained from their bodies.
Island of the Doomed
A group of tourists arrive to see the botanical gardens on a small island off the Italian coast. The only inhabitants of the island are the famous botanist Baron von Weser and his two faithful servants; all of the other residents fled after a series of mysterious deaths. When the car driven by the tourists' guide hits one of the baron's servants, von Weser explains that the death was due to a rare and incurable disease, not the accident. That night, the guide and Cora Robinson, one of the guests, are found murdered with all the blood drained from their bodies.
Secret Agent 00 Soul
James Brown III, also known as Secret Agent 00 Soul, is an elite international operative who finally tells off the government and fulfills his longtime dream of opening a detective agency in his hold neighborhood. His once plush workspace is no a ramshackle hole-in-the-wall above a chicken and ribs joint, and instead of being surrounded by glamourous female agents, the is being shaken down by his son Junior, a 400-pound ne'er-do-well who wouldn't know hard work if it hit him in the face. Nonetheless, 00 Soul is able to transform an unlikely bunch of misfits into the wackiest group of oddball detectives ever to hit the 'hood.
Joyride to Nowhere
Teenage friends Cindy and Leah have decided to leave their abusive homelives behind, stealing Cindy's father's car and setting out on the road to freedom. On the way, they meet up with a sleazy guy named Tank who invites them up to his place. As Tank showers, the two girls decide to take off, stealing Tank's wallet and his car. His car, however, happens to contain $2 million from a bank job he just pulled off, and Tank is now rather intent on tracking the pair down and reclaiming what's his.
The Little Shop of Horrors
Seymour works in a skid row florist shop and is in love with his beautiful co-worker, Audrey. He creates a new plant that not only talks but cannot survive without human flesh and blood.
Gallery
